Biggest pet peeve in sports today?

You want to put him up for adoption?

He owes it all to practice... Practice. Practice!

What? Uhm. Really? Oh, no. I need to sit before I pass out.

 

A critical misunderstanding of incidental contact has destroyed the NFL for me.

Beyond that, the rulebook is just too damned big. An 'edit' would do a great service to the game.

 

How exactly would you define "take the ball into the end zone?"

Does not the end zone begin at the goal line? So once the tip of the ball touches the front edge of the line, has the ball carrier not "taken the ball into the end zone" -- at which point it's a touchdown and the play is over?

Perhaps you could define a touchdown as having the entire ball cross the goal line, but then where would you spot the ball if only half of it crossed the goal line?

And OMG, we've been over the last sentence about 30 times here.

So once more, with feeling.

The scenario of a ball carrier getting into the end zone and a receiver catching pass are COMPLETELY different. They are NOT comparable in any way.

The receiver attempting to catch a pass does not have possession. He must first establish possession with two feet in bounds (or a knee or other body part) before the pass can be ruled complete anywhere on the field, including in the end zone.

A ball carrier does not need to establish possession to score. He already has possession, so the rules for establishing possession do not apply in this situation. All he needs to do to score a touchdown is get the ball into the end zone. Once the ball touches the goal line, it's a TD and the ball is dead from that moment. Anything that happens after that does not matter (well, other than a penalty).

 

The sports talk-ification of ESPN. I don't want to #EmbraceTheDebate, show reruns of last night's SportsCenter and/or random live sports from around the globe. I don't need SAS yelling about things with my Pop-Tarts.

 

Phony praise of clearly weaker opponents.

"We know this will be a tough game against Southwest Georgia Community College," Saban said Friday. "They are well coached and very good on the fundamentals."

 

Gary Danielson

 

Happy Pete Webber day
Sports talk (non sports-shouting show variety) that spends too much time talking about who is going to be the MVP
Replay reviews that take more than one minute
Practically all replay reviews
Basketball reviews that clearly show another infraction, but is ignored because "that's not reviewable".
Joe Lunardi's First Four Out the week after Christmas
ESPN bragging about Joe Lunardi's prowess of getting 67 of 68 correct
Old guy announcers whose voices are shot (Vitale, Hubie Brown). Vin Scully retired for a reason.
PGA tour broadcasts engorged with commercial load. And F-You, "playing through". If I have to hear them telling me how great this financial services company is while I am watching a putter, it is still a commercial.
Your bracket
The same old three men winning the tennis majors. Can some other guys please step up?
I'm gonna say it - the deification of Doris Burke. She's fine. I like the clip of her dribbling the basketball in heels. I don't think she's that great an announcer.

 

Four hour college football games.

Everything being about gambling now.

Mike Leach.

Stephan Curry chewing on his fucking mouth guard. It’s gross.

 

This is a time-honored tradition.

Lou Holtz was a master of it.

Vince Dooley used to say stuff like, "Temple is the toughest team we'll face this year, tendency-wise." And "Vanderbilt has the finest long snapper I have ever seen."

And my personal favorite (and yes, I really did hear him say this): "Tulane may be the best winless team in the history of college football."

 

Halls of Fame and the arguments that ensue.

The runner on 2B in extra innings.

Replay in general, but especially in baseball. Don’t want a game to come down to one blown call? Score more runs.

(EDIT: I WASN’T FINISHED)

The shift. Not that teams put on the shift, but that it always fucking works. Hit it where they ain’t, for chrissakes.

The Olympics in general, but especially the nationalism.

Preseason polls.

 

Quite a list from poin. Just surprised it didn't include showing the Fedex Cup standings during any golf tournament in February and March.

And BYM2, the focus on gambling is only going to grow as more states legalize it and in-game, in person betting becomes as much a part of attending a sporting event as grabbing a hot dog and a beer.

 

I like to see the player have to break the plane, not just the ball.