The Great Sports Fix-It Thread.

[infrared41]

This idea came to me when I was listening to the B.S Report of all things. Normally I'm an avid Howard Stern listener but lately the timing on my drive to work had me catching the same parts of the show I'd already listened to at home. So about a week ago I decided to give The B.S. Report a shot on my way to work. Bill Simmons is a 50/50 proposition with me. He'll write something that makes me hate his guts one day and then the next he writes something that I really enjoy. Anyway, today I was listening to Simmons and Chuck Klosterman. They were talking about ways to solve the labor issues in the NBA and NFL. That led to the two of them discussing the impact of "The Decision" and the current trend of NBA players creating their own "super teams" etc. To make a long story short, the problems they brought up and their solutions for those problems were the inspiration for this thread.

The idea here is for us to tell the world how we would fix what we think is wrong with a particular sports. Be it the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, etc., post what you think is wrong and what you think a solution might be. It could be fun and it just might keep all the worn out debates that permeate other threads contained to this one thread. Consider this one-stop shopping for things like your plan for a college football playoff or a solution to the NFL lockout etc.

It seemed like a good idea so I figured why not give it a try?

[nash61]

NHL-

Problem: Gary Bettman

Solution: Fire him

[IronChefShark]

Oh great, another "lets move all NHL sunbelt teams to Canada immediately" thread

[NEW.ERA]

Nascar started it off by not letting Sprint Cup drivers compete for the Nationwide title, but lets even go further how about not letting Cup drivers compete at all in the Nationwide series (I know that's how it's been for pretty much ever) but c'mon how else are the younger guys supposed to learn when the Cup drivers with better equipment are passing them by. If you have to cut the field to 30 cars so be it let the younger guys learn the ropes against their own competition, it's pretty bad when the last full time Nationwide driver to win a race was Justin Allgaier at Bristol last spring and the last full time Nationwide driver to win the title was Martin Truex in 2005.

It'd be nice to see some new blood come to Nascar and actually know what is up. I'm sick of watching the same old drivers win, maybe I'm saying this as I haven't really cheered for any particular since Rusty Wallace retired.

[Camden Crazy]

Problem: Chase for the Cup

Solution: Go back to traditional points system without the stupid reset

Problem: Seattle has no basketball team

Solution: Give them one, now

Problem: David Stern has turned the NBA into an underground mafia operation

Solution: Someone rat him out

Problem: MLB payrolls

Solution: Salary floor and cap

Problem: Stupid uniform trends

Solution: Fire Nike

Problem: All teams switching to some combination of red, white, and blue

Solution: Fire Nike

[OnWis97]

Problem: Interleague play too focused on intra-city at the expense of integrity of races and makes the "rivalries" too frequent/not special.

Solution: NFL-style interleague scheduling (Yes, Yanks/Mets only every three years)

Problem: Perception of fixed NBA has some merit in that superstar teams (which are a TV draw) get calls (since they have superstars).

Solution: Stop with preferential treatment for star players.

Problem: In small conferences, the best team loses at the buzzer in their conference tourney and does not play postseason, thereby nullifying their regular season.

Solution: Dump conference tournaments.

Problem: NCAA Tourney has this odd 68 team format.

Solution: Go back to 64 and allow the last few mediocre bubble teams accept the NIT. Further, limit the number of teams per conference...make 'em finish in the top half at least.

Problem: Schools/coaches "self-punishing" actually seems to work in placating the NCAA.

Solution: Don't allow self-punishment.

Problem: Only two teams get a shot at the national title in FBS.

Solution: 16 team tourney with 11 conference champs and five at large

Problem: The coin flip is too important in NFL overtime.

Solution: Eliminate the kickoff in overtime. Have the team that gets the ball just start on the 20 and make 'em put together a nice drive. There will still be special teams (i.e., punts), but this eliminates the great un-equalizer, that one team has to have the disadvantage of kicking off, which too often results in a very short field to winning field goals.

[loogodude90]

NBA:

-Stop giving preferential treatment to superstars. As I type this, Kobe Bryant "saved" a ball inbounds, even though there was a split second when his foot was out of bounds and he was holding the ball. At the most crucial point in the game so far.

-Stop giving preferential treatment to home teams. Get some refs who have the nuts not to cave into calling what crowd wants when making important calls.

NHL:

-Wear white/light-colored jerseys at home. (Sorry that's not really a "functional" problem.)

MLB:

-Ditch Interleague Play.

[The_Admiral]

Oh great, another "lets move all NHL sunbelt teams to Canada immediately" thread

Strawman. Nobody sensible has ever said this and you know it.

Pains me to say it, but I think it's time to cap baseball. It doesn't have to be the labyrinthine wonkery of the NBA and NHL (I loathe the NHL's dumbass carnival of unintended consequences, but admit it: if ever there were a sport that could make a game-within-a-game of assigning dollar values to players and making them all add up to a given number, it's baseball). It can be something as minimal as putting a limit on years and salary, so that, say, the Cardinals--and everybody else--can only offer Pujols a league-maximum eight years at $20 mil per year. Call me crazy, but I fear some sort of bubble bursting in baseball, where all the escalating dollar figures finally can't be sustained any longer and the whole economy of the sport will need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Jim Bouton has said that the owners screwed the players for a hundred years and now it's the players' turn to screw the owners for the next hundred, but I don't think we can afford that much screwing.

[srj34]

NBA

Problem: The shot clock doesn't display in tenths of seconds. When it reads "1", it could actually be "0.1".

Solution: Seems obvious enough

Benefit: More accurate timekeeping

Problem: A team can call time-out and advance the ball to halfcourt, but when they throw the inbounds pass they can throw the ball into the backcourt.

Solution: Consistent with the live ball rule, the new rule would forbid a dead ball to be thrown into the backcourt.

Benefit: The defense is treated fairly by rule.

NFL

Problem: You can punt the ball out of bounds all you like, but there's 40 yards of hell to pay if the kickoff goes out

Solution: Make punting out of bounds illegal (I'd prefer that) or allow kickoffs to go out of bounds

Benefit: Consistent rule application and, if all kicking out of bounds is made illegal, more return plays.

Problem: Sudden death overtime.

Solution: I don't know exactly how I'd fix it. The only thing I've come up with is this: Field goals are out, and the team who scores first still has an advantage but there is a drawback too: The second team has only one series to score a tying touchdown, but they have draw odds, thus winning the game if they tie the overtime score.

Draw odds for the second team more or less forces the first team to go for two with their TD. Because when they score, sure may kick the extra point, but they know that if they give up the tying touchdown, it is exceedingly likely that the second team will convert the PAT - and there's the win. Anyway:

Benefit: One possession overtimes go away.

MLB

Problem: Bats break all the time. They're too thin.

Solution: Implement a minimum circumference rule.

Benefit: Fewer broken bats, safer for players and spectators.

Problem: All the throws to first base.

Solution: A team gets two free unsuccsessful throws to first per inning; each one after that adds a ball to the hitter's count. (Successful pickoffs don't count)

Benefit: Base-stealing attempts increase, grown men playing catch almost disappears.

Problem: Umpires grant time outs all the time.

Solution: MLB must direct umpires to only allow time outs for unusual situations, not just so the batter can throw off the pitcher and vice versa.

Benefit: At bats don't take all day. We don't go to the ball park to watch guys adjust their batting gloves or conference with their catchers.

[RyanB06]

NBA

Problem: The shot clock doesn't display in tenths of seconds. When it reads "1", it could actually be "0.1".

Solution: Seems obvious enough

Benefit: More accurate timekeeping

Been done at the college level. I remember the University of New Mexico's shot clocks did this, and thought it was really cool. Of course, then the Pit had to go and replace all the scoreboards/shot clocks, so this unique feature is gone.

[The_Admiral]

Problem: All the throws to first base.

Solution: A team gets two free unsuccsessful throws to first per inning; each one after that adds a ball to the hitter's count. (Successful pickoffs don't count)

Benefit: Base-stealing attempts increase, grown men playing catch almost disappears.

This can't be very well thought out. What you'd have happen is baserunners feigning steals and jumping back all the time to load the count for their batter. This ruins the entire dynamic of stealing bases. By taking your lead off first base, you can either go for it and successfully take second (that's good!), go for it and fail to take second (that's bad!), or jump back to first base and keep playing (meh). You have distinct positive, negative, and neutral outcomes. By making the neutral outcome a positive one, you give a huge advantage to the batting team. Say it's a full count, the runner is taking a big lead but stopping short of breaking for second. At this point you need to concede the stolen base because a pickoff throw to reel him back would walk the batter and put the baserunner on second without having to sprint for it, in addition to putting the batter at first, whereas letting the runner steal would only advance him while letting you concentrate on making the out. Essentially, you could have pitchers conceding bases on defensive indifference in the top of the first inning. I think this is a case where baseball figured it out just fine already. Besides, we need more base-stealing like we need more cocaine and astroturf, so the whole premise is flawed from the outset.

[Lights Out]

Problem: The NBA is corrupt.

Solution: Clean house, starting with the refs, then Stern, then the league's worst owners.

Benefit: A fair league with parity.

[Sport]

A lot of the nfl's problems would be solved if the owners would forget about the 18 game schedule. The players can't physically handle it and I'm not sure it's what fans want either.

[srj34]

This can't be very well thought out. What you'd have happen is baserunners feigning steals and jumping back all the time to load the count for their batter.

That wouldn't happen because pitchers would hardly ever throw over anymore.

Say it's a full count, the runner is taking a big lead but stopping short of breaking for second. At this point you need to concede the stolen base because a pickoff throw to reel him back would walk the batter

Not necessarily - if the pitcher hasn't thrown over twice, he'll can throw over without the penalty. Also, successful pickoffs don't count, so if the lead is big enough you may get him out on the throw.

Essentially, you could have pitchers conceding bases on defensive indifference in the top of the first inning.

The catcher still has the option to throw to the base after a pitch. Those throws wouldn't count as unsuccessful pickoffs.

Besides, we need more base-stealing like we need more cocaine and astroturf, so the whole premise is flawed from the outset.

There's...too much base-stealing going on right now? And you're not a fan of the stolen base? Different strokes and what not, but I wouldn't call your preference flawed.

[CS85]

NBA: nip the 'big 3' syndrome in the bud, not sure how precisely but star players should not dictate free agency upon what clusters of major superstars will be joining them.

MLB: salary cap, it's gotta be done.

NCAAF: playoff, just get it done, there is a way. Also cut down bowl games for the love of god. A .500 team shouldn't be playing another .500 team at some obscure stadium for some fabricated/corporately whored bowl that'll be on ESPN8.

NCAAB: ditch conference tournaments. Pointless. Also don't call play-in games Round 1. This insults all sports fans intelligences.

[The Six]

Oh great, another "lets move all NHL sunbelt teams to Canada immediately" thread

Strawman. Nobody sensible has ever said this and you know it.

Pains me to say it, but I think it's time to cap baseball. It doesn't have to be the labyrinthine wonkery of the NBA and NHL (I loathe the NHL's dumbass carnival of unintended consequences, but admit it: if ever there were a sport that could make a game-within-a-game of assigning dollar values to players and making them all add up to a given number, it's baseball). It can be something as minimal as putting a limit on years and salary, so that, say, the Cardinals--and everybody else--can only offer Pujols a league-maximum eight years at $20 mil per year. Call me crazy, but I fear some sort of bubble bursting in baseball, where all the escalating dollar figures finally can't be sustained any longer and the whole economy of the sport will need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Jim Bouton has said that the owners screwed the players for a hundred years and now it's the players' turn to screw the owners for the next hundred, but I don't think we can afford that much screwing.

Salary caps are artificial ways of controlling teams and players. They really make no sense.

[TheOldRoman]

This can't be very well thought out. What you'd have happen is baserunners feigning steals and jumping back all the time to load the count for their batter.

That wouldn't happen because pitchers would hardly ever throw over anymore.

Say it's a full count, the runner is taking a big lead but stopping short of breaking for second. At this point you need to concede the stolen base because a pickoff throw to reel him back would walk the batter

Not necessarily - if the pitcher hasn't thrown over twice, he'll can throw over without the penalty. Also, successful pickoffs don't count, so if the lead is big enough you may get him out on the throw.

Essentially, you could have pitchers conceding bases on defensive indifference in the top of the first inning.

The catcher still has the option to throw to the base after a pitch. Those throws wouldn't count as unsuccessful pickoffs.

Besides, we need more base-stealing like we need more cocaine and astroturf, so the whole premise is flawed from the outset.

There's...too much base-stealing going on right now? And you're not a fan of the stolen base? Different strokes and what not, but I wouldn't call your preference flawed.

Dude... no. Nothing against you personally, but that is a terrible idea.

[Sport]

Oh great, another "lets move all NHL sunbelt teams to Canada immediately" thread

Strawman. Nobody sensible has ever said this and you know it.

Pains me to say it, but I think it's time to cap baseball. It doesn't have to be the labyrinthine wonkery of the NBA and NHL (I loathe the NHL's dumbass carnival of unintended consequences, but admit it: if ever there were a sport that could make a game-within-a-game of assigning dollar values to players and making them all add up to a given number, it's baseball). It can be something as minimal as putting a limit on years and salary, so that, say, the Cardinals--and everybody else--can only offer Pujols a league-maximum eight years at $20 mil per year. Call me crazy, but I fear some sort of bubble bursting in baseball, where all the escalating dollar figures finally can't be sustained any longer and the whole economy of the sport will need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Jim Bouton has said that the owners screwed the players for a hundred years and now it's the players' turn to screw the owners for the next hundred, but I don't think we can afford that much screwing.

Salary caps are artificial ways of controlling teams and players. They really make no sense.

They make perfect sense. It's an equalizer and without it the other sports would have the same problems that baseball does.

[infrared41]

To be honest folks, when I started this thread I was hoping for more of this...

Pains me to say it, but I think it's time to cap baseball. It doesn't have to be the labyrinthine wonkery of the NBA and NHL (I loathe the NHL's dumbass carnival of unintended consequences, but admit it: if ever there were a sport that could make a game-within-a-game of assigning dollar values to players and making them all add up to a given number, it's baseball). It can be something as minimal as putting a limit on years and salary, so that, say, the Cardinals--and everybody else--can only offer Pujols a league-maximum eight years at $20 mil per year. Call me crazy, but I fear some sort of bubble bursting in baseball, where all the escalating dollar figures finally can't be sustained any longer and the whole economy of the sport will need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Jim Bouton has said that the owners screwed the players for a hundred years and now it's the players' turn to screw the owners for the next hundred, but I don't think we can afford that much screwing.

And less of this...

NHL-

Problem: Gary Bettman

Solution: Fire him

The idea behind the thread was for us to post detailed solutions.

[Lights Out]

They make perfect sense. It's an equalizer and without it the other sports would have the same problems that baseball does.

Well, except for the NBA, where the cap is less of an equalizer and more of a tangled, unintelligible mess of exceptions and levels and taxes and god knows what else, and it's done absolutely nothing to increase parity in its current state.

That leads me to my next suggestion for the NBA: simplify the freaking salary cap. It shouldn't be this difficult to figure out where your team stands financially. The NFL has thrived for years with a simple salary cap, why can't the NBA? And certain owners (*coughSterlingcough*) might actually open the wallet more often while others (*coughHeisleycough*) might spend more responsibly if the current mess of a cap was replaced by a far less intimidating system.