chewybrian 

Affirmed and Alydar was a bit before my time. I remember clearly the stretch duel in the Belmont between Real Quiet and Victory Gallop. There was a long photo and Victory Gallop (and yours truly) won. But, if he had lost the photo, there would have been a painful inquiry, as Real Quiet did interfere. Can you imagine the responsibility of deciding whether or not to deny a Triple Crown?

More recently, the DQ in the Derby for Maximum Security was a joke for several reasons. Another horse ran up and clipped heels, causing him to drift out. So, put down the horse who ran up on him, if anyone gets put down. But, the objection was made by the connections of Country House, who did not suffer from the drift out (if anyone really did). You should not be able to put up an objection if the alleged interference did not affect your horse! Finally, there was not enough evidence to make a finding against any horse, due tot the spot in the turn where the action occurred. This is clearly shown by the fact that it took them like 40 minutes to make a decision. If you have to look that long, you don't have clear, compelling evidence, obviously.

indyfabz

I think you mean kickoffs. Don't believe punting the ball out of bounds results in a penalty.

Stadjer

The free kick in kick boxing.

chewybrian 

Exactly why I hate the current rules! You have the ball at midfield, and you can just sail a punt over the side line at the 5 and pin the other team with no effort and zero entertainment value. But, if you kick off out of bounds, it goes all the way to the 40. It's inconsistent and stupid and evidently I'm the only one that it bothers.

indyfabz

The penalty yardage for an out of bounds place kick was not always as great. And I think the difference is likely due to the fact that the defense can can rush on a punt attempt. More of a chance to boot one out of bounds. Kickoff is essentially a free try, so no excuse. Also, you just scored, so you should have to put the ball in play for the other side.

Hondo Gravel

The ground should cause a fumble.

skijor

Page 3, and no mention of Calvinball?!

Flatforkcrown

The whole no performance enhancing drugs thing. Let them do it under the care of a doctor and let us have supercharged sports.

Wildwood

Worst rule in athletic entertainment?

the rule that says the State College’s football coach has to be (usually by far) the highest paid public employee in the State! Which is true in nearly every State. A few exceptions.

Gives perspective on what we value in our local communities. Winning at the biggest athletic events drives the flow of mega-dollars. Money drives power & influence. The ‘sporting rules’ aspect is muchly a matter of respectability and liability.

Wildwood

Not sure it is a rule?
But as a True-ism = it seems to get repeated.

???Dallas Cowboys - America’s Team???

(NFL’s “America’s Team” seems to be wherever Tom Brady plays)

jack pot 

with the race yellow flagged the stewards allowing the pace car to pass the lapped cars at the Saudi F1 GP ........... this move allowed Max Verstaffen to win the F1 drivers championship because Max had gotten new tires and Hamilton didn't pit but even tho Hamiltons Mercedes was on fading tires the race and driver championship(a record 8th) would have been here's because there was only 1 lap left to go and Max could not have got thru without the stewards help

canklecat

TBH, I would have supported a free groin punch rule in boxing against some opponents.

While Andrew Golota was a notorious offender, especially against Riddick Bowe, his low blows were so obvious he was disqualified.

But the worst offender in recent history was welterweight champion Felix "Tito" Trinidad. Tito was a master of dirty tricks and got away with it most of the time -- elbows, forearms, shoving, holding behind the head, and low blows. One of his favorite stunts was to buy himself time after being stunned by a punch by hitting the opponent low. He'd do it only once, as hard as possible while trying to make it seem like an accident. This would avoid being DQ'd while giving the opponent up to five minutes to recover. That also gave Trinidad more time to recover from being stunned by a head punch. He did it against Fernando Vargas and other opponents, and it always worked out in Trinidad's favor.

If I had my druthers, the opponent who was hit by a low blow would get the option of either up to five minutes to recover, or an immediate retaliatory free groin shot with the understanding that the fight must resume immediately.

If both opponents are rolling on the canvas vomiting after 10 seconds, the fight is a no contest.

Oddly, in his bout against the equally notorious dirty fighter Bernard Hopkins (former middleweight and light heavyweight champ), both Tito and B-Hop fought perhaps the cleanest fight of their careers. I can't recall a single obvious foul. I'm not sure whether the promoter and referee warned them to be on their best behavior, or they were promised bonuses for keeping it clean, or the two just unofficially decided to keep it clean.

Compare that with some of Hopkins' histrionics -- against Robert Allen, Roy Jones Jr and a few others -- when Hopkins would collapse to the canvas looking like he was about to weep from a gentle tap on the belt line.

skidder

Back in the 1980s there was a period when the Dallas Cowboys became known as 'South America's Team' because there were so many players being arrested for illegal drug possession/drug use.

To be fair, the Miami Dolphins weren't far behind in the number of guys with drug problems.

Hondo Gravel

Just saw KC best LA 34-28 in OT. KC got the ball first and because they scored a TD the game was over even without LA every getting the ball. Unfair. If KC only got a field goal LA would have had an opportunity on offense. Each offense should get a chance regardless if the first offensive possession results in a TD. Glad KC won Mahomes is a phenomenal QB.

chewybrian 

Deal4Fuji

exactly, the coin flip can determine the winner when you have 2 powerful offensive teams

boozergut

One more for soccer - If a player kicks the ball over the top of the crossbar then the defending team is given a corner kick at the opposite end of the field.

boozergut

It looked like San Diego was escorting Kelse to the end zone on that final TD. Maybe the fix was on :-)

StupidlyBrave 

Hondo Gravel

I was thinking the same thing! It was fixed… sure looked like it.

skidder

Track & Field (aka 'Athletics') is basically 'pro' now, so its fair game. The jumps/throwing event usually have 12 persons in the final with 6 jumps/throws to determine a winner. However, a lot of times the bottom 6 after the first three attempts get eliminated and don't get their final three attempts; even the top guys/gals in the world could get eliminated if they had a few lousey throws/jumps at the start! The practice is supposed to speed up the competition, but there's already time limits to take a jump, so no real reason to eliminate the bottom 6.

And the rules in running events for contact/bumping, tripping, shoving are even more vague and rarely enforced. Sometimes it looks like a 'full-contact' sport out there on the track with all the jostling going on!