The NHL, in attempting to curtail fighting, which is perceived a "violence" on the ice, legislated the "third man in" rule. Of course that did nothing. First of all hockey fans WANT the "fighting" to stay in the game. THAT is not violence. Swinging the stick IS the only REAL violence in hockey. The rules DO punish stick swinging with a 2 minute penalty IF the offending stick is too high. Five minute penalties if they draw blood. Some laugh and say, "TEN minutes if you poke out an eye will be next."
Baseball has been on a crusade to "speed up the game??" Why? So television can get in a few extra paid commercial spots? The game was fine for over 100 years before television. The founding fathers of hockey, football and basketball, as well as boxing made their games run by a clock. But baseball's founders saw no need for a clock. As a matter of fact, when I was a kid, we loved to go to the ball park and spend as much time as we could there just anticipating that SOMETHING just might happen any second. I remember once, during a slight rain delay, a Baltimore Oriole catcher, Rick Dempsey, ran around the bases sliding head first into each base, in the mud! It was a hoot and didn't slow the game down but the fans loved it. One problem with baseball, NOW is that it's become much too predictable. There are no surprise plays or risky plays (like a suicide squeeze or double steal with runners on first and third) to keep everybody on their toes and the fans on the edge of their seats with every pitch. It used to be EXCITING...and with no clock to worry about.
Now the NFL had the most exciting playoffs EVER culminating in the greatest super bowl game of all time. A part of that was the ingenious play calling by Bill Belichick mixing up his offensive plays with unusual formations, all within the rules, that had players that are usually eligible receivers reporting as "ineligible receivers," making it difficult for the defense to set THEIR coverages. AND, it was all within the rules. When the Baltimore coach complained Belichick just said,' Read the rulebook." Exciting? you bet. the fans loved it. It lends more excitement to the game making it less predictable. THE FANS. That's who the NFL rules committee keeps forgetting about. So the NFL rules committee outlaws that practice. WHY? Beats me. Maybe they want to uphold their tradition of total ineptness in making up rules. (as if ONLY to justify their jobs) Hey guys! the LESS rules, the better. The only rules needed are those to protect the players health. How about better helmets??
My last complaint about the NFL rules is the game suspension of a player who breaks a rule. They're not punishing the player. They're punishing the fans who came out to see the player and the whole team who depends on that player in their scheme of play. If the player needs punishment fine him the amount of money he makes per game and MAKE HIM PLAY THE GAME. Everybody knows the best way to punish any player is to hit him in the wallet. Of course I'm pointing directly to the stupidest of all the "suspensions," LeGarette Blount, the running back for the Patriots. He is being suspended for the first game of the season because of a violation that happened when he was with Pittsburgh. Gentlemen, he's now with the Patriots!! Why punish Patriot's fans for something Blount did with another team?? Just hit Blount in the wallet as punishment and make him play the game.
THEN you might get players to stick to the rules. STOP PUNISHING THE FANS!!
I'll end with a recollection of a Boston Celtic game back in the early 90's. They were playing Milwaukee and several fans came to the game to see LARRY BIRD. In the first period the referee called a ridiculous foul on Larry. Very marginal at best. Larry stood there with arms outstretched and said to the ref, "Are you for real? That wasn't a foul" The ref ejected Larry and the fans went wild. The rest of the game almost didn't even matter. The fans were irate at the ref. Every sportswriter in the Garden was preparing their column with THAT in mind. The Celts lost the game by a point or two but that didn't matter. It could have become a HUGE story in every newspaper across the country...but it wasn't and practically nobody remembers it. WHY NOT? Somewhere around the third period the announcement came that the President of the United States, (George H. W. Bush) invaded Iraq.....
You've heard the old joke about, "I went to a refereeing contest and a (football, basketball, baseball, hockey) game broke out. Come on you rules committees, stop trying to micro manage the sports we all grew up with. Forget about the designated hitter, the three point shot (it doesn't produce more scoring). The only thing that even makes a little sense is the point after in the NFL. But other than that...PLEASE, leave my sport alone and stop suspending players...think of the FANS....