I'm interested to know who else finds certain sports rules (or thier failure to be enforced) annoying and screams at thier TV for thier eternal banishment every time they are invoked during a game.  Here are some of mine:

Football:
Spiking the ball to stop the clock.
Clearly, within the boundaries of the rules in effect for every other play of the game, this behavior would result in an intentional grounding penalty and loss of down. Yet, in this one unique circumstance, the rules are suspended, the clock is stopped, and no penalties are assessed. Why not at least require the QB to get outside the hashmarks, and then throw the ball out of bounds to a spot close to an eligible receiver?

Baseball:
Brushing only the dirt near 2nd base when turning the double play.
This one is so stupid I can't believe no one has argued this. Oh wait, they have. You gotta tag a runner at home with the ball or with the glove carrying the ball, and yet you dont even need to touch the bag on a DP?? (I feel the jokes coming on this already)

Basketball: 
Traveling
This has surely taken a beating over the years. When I was playing HS ball in the 70s, 3 steps bought you a traveling violation. Now I see 4 and sometimes 5 steps, and a lot of what used to be double dribble but now seems to be self-contained ball handling, is all legal. Jumping in place, moving the pivot foot, etc, all seems to be the norm today.

I never played hockey or soccer, and don't know much about the rules in either of them, but im sure there are some dumb ones in there as well.  I hear a lot of complaints about icing and offsides.  Interested in hearing about others.

---

"Remember Red, Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."  - Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption

There's a lot of dumb rules in football.
I never thought of spiking the ball, but you're right, there are better ways to handle that. Like when you're out of timeouts, but you have the ball, they could just let you call timeout but since you don't have any, you lose a down instead.

---

My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

I'm interested to know who else finds certain sports rules (or thier failure to be enforced) annoying and screams at thier TV for thier eternal banishment every time they are invoked during a game.  Here are some of mine:

Football:
Spiking the ball to stop the clock.
Clearly, within the boundaries of the rules in effect for every other play of the game, this behavior would result in an intentional grounding penalty and loss of down. Yet, in this one unique circumstance, the rules are suspended, the clock is stopped, and no penalties are assessed. Why not at least require the QB to get outside the hashmarks, and then throw the ball out of bounds to a spot close to an eligible receiver?

Baseball:
Brushing only the dirt near 2nd base when turning the double play.
This one is so stupid I can't believe no one has argued this. Oh wait, they have. You gotta tag a runner at home with the ball or with the glove carrying the ball, and yet you dont even need to touch the bag on a DP?? (I feel the jokes coming on this already)

Basketball: 
Traveling
This has surely taken a beating over the years. When I was playing HS ball in the 70s, 3 steps bought you a traveling violation. Now I see 4 and sometimes 5 steps, and a lot of what used to be double dribble but now seems to be self-contained ball handling, is all legal. Jumping in place, moving the pivot foot, etc, all seems to be the norm today.

I never played hockey or soccer, and don't know much about the rules in either of them, but im sure there are some dumb ones in there as well.  I hear a lot of complaints about icing and offsides.  Interested in hearing about others.

In the NBA, players continuously palm the ball too when they bring the ball up the court as well.

---

I think Intentional Grounding shouldn't be a penalty at all. The QB should be allowed to give up on the play by throwing it away.

---

“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

I think Intentional Grounding shouldn't be a penalty at all. The QB should be allowed to give up on the play by throwing it away.

Sack numbers would go way down. No way that happens.

---

I think Intentional Grounding shouldn't be a penalty at all. The QB should be allowed to give up on the play by throwing it away.

I don't agree with that, that would totally change the game.
It would help the offense too much.  Maybe if it was paired with a rule change that made the game simpler but helped the defense.

---

Ever since the Tom Brady tuck rule game in 2001, I've thought the whole idea of a forward pass should be re-thought.
It shouldn't matter what direction the QBs arm was moving when the ball came out. A rule like that is hard to enforce even with slow mo replay, and impossible without.
It should matter where the ball lands. If it lands (or is caught) forward of the QB's plant foot, it's a forward pass. If it's sideways or backwards, it's a fumble. Much easier to see where the ball ends up than to figure out the exact moment it came out of the QB's hand.

---

My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

I think Intentional Grounding shouldn't be a penalty at all. The QB should be allowed to give up on the play by throwing it away.

Sack numbers would go way down. No way that happens.

If you counted the delayed spike/throwaway as a sack, it accomplishes the task. Saves a lot of knees in the process, too.

I would rather allow a delayed spike than have "in the grasp" rules....seems that ends up a lot more subjective, if the refs feel a QB is more elusive, mobile, they let the play drag on, but whistle the play dead prematurely for less "spectacular" QB.

---

I don't know how we can't talk about frustrating/dumb rules without bringing every sport's overtime into the conversation.

Pro FB: You have to score 6 on your first drive to win, even if the game has been a defensive showdown and your FG made it 6-3. In a game as violent as football, prolonging regular season games just to avoid a tie (or finally resolve that the teams were equally matched after a fifth quarter) seems contradictory to the league's notion that they care about player safety.

College FB: That's not even football. It has soured my enjoyment of the game.

Baseball: Putting runners on bases automatically to help force an end to a game, one of 162 in the season. In the long run, the win or loss of one game is practically negligible.

Hockey: Took ties out of the game, shootouts, and now special point scoring based on whether you win in regulation, shootout, or whatever.

Basketball is the only one that just continues playing the same game under the same rules, everything else is either just one facet of the sport, or some contrived way to force an outcome.

Just infuriates me, across the board.

---

Just allow regular season games to end in a tie. Problem solved.

---

“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

Just allow regular season games to end in a tie. Problem solved.

Preachin' to the choir, friend.

---

Just allow regular season games to end in a tie. Problem solved.

Preachin' to the choir, friend.

Thirded.

---

My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.