The Great Sports Fix-It Thread.

[tiger13x]

Problem: NFL Lockout

Solution: Hire a commish who knows what hes doing. Make these selfish players accept the millions and stay quiet.

[GO2HELL]

Problem: Chelsea Dagger

Solution: Rock and Roll Part 2

Benefit: No more migraines after watching the Canucks play the Blackhawks

[Rockstar Matt]

While true, I think that overstates things. Possession is not fluid and that's why I think NFL Overtime is problematic. How many hockey overtimes result in a score when only one team had possession of the puck?

Exactly. Possession isn't fluid, so if you want that possession you must play defense or create a turnover in order to get the ball back. Another example, last year Ravens vs. Texans. Texans won the toss. Ravens forced the Texans into a tough 3rd and long I believe, and a Raven played picked it off at the Texans 10 yard line and ran untouched into the endzone. Ravens didn't have a offensive possession, but played great D and won it.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the two possession overtime for college football. It gives small schools a chance against superior teams (a la Boise St. vs Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl a couple of years back.) But, that's only good for college ball. Makes it more excited and they're a bunch of amateurs, not professionals. Meanwhile, in the NFL, you have professionals not amateurs. These guys get paid to play football. So if they can't play good enough defense to give their offense a chance, then they didn't deserve to win it.

[DnBronc]

NFL

1. If there isn't an 18-game season, I think that they should move the start of the regular season to the third weekend in August, and have Labor Day weekend be a universal bye for all teams (it will give them an early-season rest after training camp, pre-season, and the start of the season). That would enable the Super Bowl to go back to the month of January, where it belongs.

2. If there is an 18-game season, they should have two byes, and start the season on a week which would make it possible for the Super Bowl to be in early March. That way, it would take away all the dead time between the Super Bowl and March Madness. With the former proposal, it would make it easier to call the season the 2011(or whatever year) season, and with the latter, you can call it the 2011-12(or whatever) season, and the champion would be the 2012 World Champs.

3. Pass interference needs to be overhauled, and they should let defenders bump WR's and TE's up to 10 yards down the field, not five.

NHL

1. Fire Gary Bettman.

2. Move the Coyotes to Winnipeg, the Thrashers to Quebec City, and the Islanders to Kansas City. Also, I would like to see either the Panthers or the Predators move to Milwaukee someday. They may end up losing the Bucks eventually, and it would be nice to see them get an NHL team to replace them. I would also like to see the Blue Jackets move to Cleveland.

NBA

1. Fire David Stern.

2. Donald Sterling somehow forced out of the league.

MLB

1. Salary Cap.

2. Nutting somehow being forced to sell the Pirates to a more appropriate owner.

NCAA Football

1. A 16-Team playoff.

[Epiphanic]

While true, I think that overstates things. Possession is not fluid and that's why I think NFL Overtime is problematic. How many hockey overtimes result in a score when only one team had possession of the puck?

Exactly. Possession isn't fluid, so if you want that possession you must play defense or create a turnover in order to get the ball back. Another example, last year Ravens vs. Texans. Texans won the toss. Ravens forced the Texans into a tough 3rd and long I believe, and a Raven played picked it off at the Texans 10 yard line and ran untouched into the endzone. Ravens didn't have a offensive possession, but played great D and won it.

How is that different than saying if the home team wants a chance to score in extra innings, they must get 3 outs (i.e. "play defense [and] create a turnover in order to get the ball back.") before the opposition scores?

Look, I'm not saying that it's impossible for the team that plays defense first to win the game. Just like it's not impossible for the home team to come back and win the game even if they give a run or two in the top of extra innings. The point is that it is unfair to deny one team a chance to respond.

[tBBP]

I don't really have any great ideas regarding the NFL...I just have a few things, so I'll list them here.

Re: the season...my grand idea for the NFL (even though we all know this ain't gon' happen due to loss of revenue) would be a 3/15 set-up...three preseason games, fifteen regular season games...split into thirds, with two byes for each team, which would leave a 5/5/5 set-up (or, if the league must play every week, stagger those by a game--half the teams play, the other get a bye, and then switch the following week). That'd at least give more players a little bit more recovery time, and it'd still fit into the 17-week window in which the current season is played. I'd also move the start of the season back to Labor Day Weekend...this would get the Super Bowl back into the month of January (where it should be...this February nonsense is just that--nonsense.) Speaking of which, I'd also kill the pre-game bye week. Let's play the big game right after the conference championships...keep it all fresh, and quit dragging it out.

Re: overtime...stick 5:00 minutes on the game clock, and go from there. Team with the most points at the end of that wins. If both teams are still tied after that...go to a second overtime in which each team gets one 2:00 possession to score a touchdown in order to win it. Talk about your two-minute drill, for real. No spotting the ball at the 35 or nothing like that...kick it off, and wherever the returner gets to, start the 2:00 drive from there. If, for whatever reason, teams are still tied after that, call the game a draw...both teams live on to play the next game. Come posteason, if overtime occurs, then make that sudden death the first time around, with the stipulation that a team must score six to win it.

Re: penalties...as others have said, nix this spot-of-foul stuff, chiefly in regards to pass interference. Fifteen-yard penalty, replay down--no automatic first down. Way too many offenses take advantage of that--and yes, I know the current rules are geared to favor the offense (since "people wanna see passes, touchdowns, high scores, yadda yadda yadda")--but as a former defensive back myself, that mess irks me to no end. About those first downs, I'd say the only time an automatic one should be rewarded would be for a blatant personal foul/unnecessary roughness/unsportsmanlike call. Speaking of, if any of those calls warrants a player ejection, it should also come with an automatic one-game suspension without pay. Oh...and kill the damn Brady Rule already. That was a pansy-ass rule change from the start.

Re: playoff seeding, only because this came up this past season...leave it as is. Some people screamed bloody murder at the 7-9 division-winning Seahawks making it into the playoffs over several other NFC teams with a better record (one of those being my 10-6 Buccaneers). Record, schmecord. If a team wins its division, it deserves a playoff spot--otherwise, what's the purpose of having divisional play? If people wanna slot playoff seedings according to records, each conference may as well go single-table. You take away a division winner's spot, you take away something tangible to play for in the regular season.

That's really all I got for right now...feel free to rip it all to shreds if you like.

[Jigga]

Problem: NFL Lockout

Solution: Hire a commish who knows what hes doing. Make these selfish players accept the millions and stay quiet.

Have you been paying attention at all? Didn't the owners opted out of the CBA? Aren't the owners the ones demanding the players give them another billion dollars off the top (though they're willing to take just 500-750 million based on the last offer).

Most people blame the players, no matter what. I'll never understand it.

[Eye]

Problem: NFL Lockout

Solution: Hire a commish who knows what hes doing. Make these selfish players accept the millions and stay quiet.

Have you been paying attention at all? Didn't the owners opted out of the CBA? Aren't the owners the ones demanding the players give them another billion dollars off the top (though they're willing to take just 500-750 million based on the last offer).

Most people blame the players, no matter what. I'll never understand it.

Most people are stupid, Jigga. Just look around this place.

[rams80]

Problem: NASCAR races are boring.

Answer: Arm the vehicles. And the track personnel.

Problem: Baseball can be lengthy and boring.

Answer: Booby trap the stadium. And tie live tigers to the foul pole.

[The_Admiral]

Problem: Baseball can be lengthy and boring.

Answer: Booby trap the stadium. And tie live tigers to the foul pole.

The Astros are working on this for next year.

The NFL players get blamed for their greed more than the owners do because most owners don't engage in the sort of conspicuous consumption that alienates everyday folks, despite having significantly more wealth than the players (though I'll give you Pat Bowlen's fur coat and Jerry Jones's everything). Jerry Richardson is a rich bastard, but nobody really knows or cares who Jerry Richardson is.

[ElwoodCuse]

all yall saying "Fire Gary Bettman":

who is going to replace him and what will the replacement do differently?

[rams80]

all yall saying "Fire Gary Bettman":

who is going to replace him and what will the replacement do differently?

Good point. Fire the owners too.

[Kevin W.]

all yall saying "Fire Gary Bettman":

who is going to replace him and what will the replacement do differently?

For starters, they won't get booed at every arena in the nation.

[nash61]

all yall saying "Fire Gary Bettman":

who is going to replace him and what will the replacement do differently?

For starters, they won't get booed at every arena in the nation.

He gets booed (probably worse) in Canada, too.

[Don]

all yall saying "Fire Gary Bettman":

who is going to replace him and what will the replacement do differently?

For starters, they won't get booed at every arena in the nation.

I dont think that matters.

[Kevin W.]

all yall saying "Fire Gary Bettman":

who is going to replace him and what will the replacement do differently?

For starters, they won't get booed at every arena in the nation.

I dont think that matters.

It was a joke.

[The_Admiral]

I know Bettman has his defenders and apologists here. No, Gary Bettman himself does not sit around fiddling with two-line pass rules or deciding which tropical cities get hockey teams. Yes, Gary Bettman is largely a figurehead for Jeremy Jacobs, Larry Tannenbaum, and other tightfisted power brokers. As a representative of ownership, he's responsible for some successes, some failures, and what's currently shaping up to be an all-time clusterfrick failure. But his biggest and most impermissible failure has been as a public figure, which every commissioner needs to be. It's not enough for a league commissioner to be merely a cutthroat negotiator (which Bettman allegedly is, though a US TV deal of "let's go halfsies on talking gecko commercials" hardly conjures up any sort of knife). Commissioners need to be the faces of their leagues, and Bettman has been the worst face money can buy. He's been on the job for nearly 18 years now, and in that time he has still yet to project any sort of wisdom, vision, preparedness, confidence, or authority. What made David Stern special until the whole Seattle fiasco is that when he would speak, he would always radiate not only wisdom and authority, but a genuinely heartfelt interest in the fortunes of his league. And why not? Stern doesn't just run the NBA, he practically built the NBA we know today. While Bud Selig is kind of a clod in over his head, you know that he still has a passion for baseball, and is thoroughly of baseball. Gary Bettman as a public figure is now and forever just hired legal counsel on loan from the NBA, and not a very good one. He's defensive, dissembling, ill at ease, and just all-around unpleasant. Labor relations attorneys are, relatively speaking, dime a dozen. Among those, the NHL owes it to itself to find one that can put forth some veneer of trust and genuine advocacy for the league and sport.

EDIT: and no, it's not Ken Dryden, either.

[omnivore]

Baseball: Add the 2nd wild card.

College basketball: Go back to a 48-team tournament. (No, I'm not serious.)

[jrh31584]

In no particular order.

1. In major league baseball, impose a stiffer luxury tax and add a salary floor.

2. Eligibility for the NBA Draft would be like that of baseball (players could be drafted straight out of high school, those who go to college would have to wait until 3 years after HS graduation).

3. Contract two teams each from the NHL and NBA.

4. If there is no college football playoff, cut the number of bowls and require 6 wins over FBS teams to be eligible. Have a vote on a playoff to be instituted for the 2014-2015 postseason.

[rangerfan94]

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.

Not saying you are wrong,but the CFL has been playing 18 for I dont know how long.