Sports rules

[Jens]

I'm not much of a sports fan, so I might be asking a silly question, but I wonder if there are well known examples of the rules of a sport being changed deliberately to put a certain athlete or team at a disadvantage. I'm thinking of a situation where one person always won, so the rules were changed to "level the field", so to speak.

[Delvo]

The Raiders once had a habit of "fumbling" (allegedly faking a fumble) over the goal line in the direction of another Raider who would "recover" it for a touchdown. It would get them around the fact that the other team was going to prevent the ball carrier from making it but wouldn't be preventing that other guy (the "recoverer") from getting into position because he didn't have the ball. The rule that was invented to prevent this is named "the Raider Rule".

When I was talking about car racing with some NASCAR fans a few years ago, they said that the rules limiting the cars' equipment were invented to bring back competetiveness because Ford had invented an engine that no other cars could beat.

[Maksutov]

The Raiders once had a habit of "fumbling" (allegedly faking a fumble) over the goal line in the direction of another Raider who would "recover" it for a touchdown. It would get them around the fact that the other team was going to prevent the ball carrier from making it but wouldn't be preventing that other guy (the "recoverer") from getting into position because he didn't have the ball. The rule that was invented to prevent this is named "the Raider Rule"....Ah, the old "fumblerooskie" play. Al Davis loved it.

Pretty sure the three second paint rule was instituted to keep basketball teams with towers from completely dominating the area under the basket.

Re the Ford engine story, that's right, you can't outrace an engine that's in the pit. http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/566/iconwink6tn.gif

[mike alexander]

Re: engines. Didn't They (woooo! whoever they are) change the rules on engines when Andy Granitebelly brought his gas turbo to Indy and would have won if a gearbox hadn't failed?

[darkhunter]

. . .

When I was talking about car racing with some NASCAR fans a few years ago, they said that the rules limiting the cars' equipment were invented to bring back competetiveness because Ford had invented an engine that no other cars could beat.

Back in the day NASCAR changed the rules so the Dodge Hemi couldn't be used. They also changed the rule because Dodge and ford started building the aero cars and getting some insane speeds...

[Donnie B.]

Just about every sport tweaks its rules periodically to keep things competitive, or to change the game a bit to make it more appealing to fans. It's rare to see rule changes directed at a specific player or team, though.

Baseball may have had the most rule adjustments over time. An early example is the Infield Fly Rule, designed to prevent the defense from deliberately dropping a short fly ball to get a double play instead of a single out. The height of the pitcher's mound has been changed several times to correct imbalances between the skills of pitchers and hitters. Other rules have been added to prevent technological changes from having too much impact. Some claim that the construction of the baseball itself has been modified to change the offense/defense balance -- there was a period in the 1990s that is referred to as the "juiced ball" era. (Others might suggest that it was really a "juiced player" era.)

In baseball and other sports, addition of expansion teams can cause statistical changes due to dilution of talent. Sometimes this is counteracted by rule tweaks to bring things back to baseline.

You could argue that such things as profit sharing, salary caps, and rookie drafts are directed at big-market teams like the Yankees, preventing them from buying up all the best players. Those seem to be only partially successful.

Sometimes a rule is changed not because of a specific player or team, but because of a specific play. One example is the NFL "tuck rule" that was instituted in response to an incident in a Patriots/Raiders playoff game, in which an apparent fumble was ruled an incomplete pass (correctly, by the rules then in force). By the new rule that same play would be considered a fumble and the outcome of the game would be reversed.

[Tog_]

Wasn't there a baseball field that was built lopsided so that it was easier for an X-handed batter to hit a home run than a Y-handed one. Like the right field wall was built 100 feet closer than the left field one. By co-incidence that team just happened to have a big hitter who was one of the few that hit on the side needed for the advantage.

I may be remembering that totally wrong, or maybe I'm recalling an urban myth. Does this ring any bells?

How about moving the goal posts back to the end of the field in football to stop team A from picking off the defender on team B by running them into the posts?

[schlaugh]

Wasn't there a baseball field that was built lopsided so that it was easier for an X-handed batter to hit a home run than a Y-handed one. Like the right field wall was built 100 feet closer than the left field one. By co-incidence that team just happened to have a big hitter who was one of the few that hit on the side needed for the advantage. I may be remembering that totally wrong, or maybe I'm recalling an urban myth. Does this ring any bells?

See: Yankee Stadium and Babe Ruth

http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/YankeeStadium.html

Babe hit left handed; i.e. his fly balls would generally head towards right field where the wall was less than 300 feet away. Didn't hurt Maris and Mantle either... ;)

[Parrothead]

NHL early 80's - the "Edmonton Rule". Edmonton was so adept at 4 on 4 play, they changed the rule to "offsetting" minors, if both teams were penalized at the same time. They continued playing 5 on 5, instead of playing 4 on 4 (at the ref's discretion). IIRC, the rule was removed following the lock-out.

[Jim]

In soccer, football and baseball, the groundskeepers will cut the grass based on athe home team's strengths/weaknesses. Shorter grass is good for team's that have speed; longer grass slows things down.

Also, some keepers will over water a field to soften it, slowing things down more and making sudden cuts harder. This will help a team that is naturally slow when playing a faster opponent.

And, there have been keepers who will slope the foul line or touch line, so balls either stay on the field or run off easier. (One soccer association used deisel to mark the boundary lines; this killed the grass. The dead grass was always shorter than the live grass; a rolling ball would hit the boundary line and run along it for several yards, like a bowling ball in the gutter, which kept the ball in play.)

[farmerjumperdon]

Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul Jabar and the cycle of rules changes around dunking that followed his college career.

Most ballparks have a "short porch" in right, as well as being deep in the alleys either side of center. There do not seem to be many perfectly symetrical ballparks.

[Hydro]

Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul Jabar and the cycle of rules changes around dunking that followed his college career.

Most ballparks have a "short porch" in right, as well as being deep in the alleys either side of center. There do not seem to be many perfectly symetrical ballparks.

They are getting away from the "cookie-cutter" style of baseball fields, and adding unique touches.

Exhibit A: A silly sloping grass knoll in fair territory at Minute Maid Park complete with flagpole, which is also in play, although it is a distant 430' from home plate :)

[Jim]

Tal's Hill. It makes for some interesting plays. Hunter Pence chased a ball behind the flag pole in one game.

Exhibit B would be the Crawford Boxes, deceptively close to home plate in left field. Lots of visiting batters have simply popped up trying to reach them.

All MM needs to complete the trifecta is an old Chevy up on blocks in right field. If the ball bounces through the open window and into the back seat, it's a groundrule double.

[tony873004]

This is a cool thread. I read the OP, thought of a few examples, read further, and they're all here.

[matt.o]

In Australia, there are salary caps which limit the amount of money rugby league clubs can spend buying players. This levels the playing field somewhat.

[Jens]

I'm not sure how old this is, but I suppose the addition of weight classes in boxing and wrestling would be an example. Presumably, the bigger guy would win most of the time in boxing, so having weight categories allows small people to have a chance to win (not the heavyweight title, though).

I think also that rules about ski length would also favor or disfavor certain groups, i.e. tall or short athletes. Making the ski length equal for everybody in ski jumping would favor short jumpers, whereas making them height + some length would presumably favor taller jumpers. The current rule in ski jumping is a calculation, the skiier's height x 1.21 or something like that. I don't know who this would favor.

[Maksutov]

[edit]I think also that rules about ski length would also favor or disfavor certain groups, i.e. tall or short athletes. Making the ski length equal for everybody in ski jumping would favor short jumpers, whereas making them height + some length would presumably favor taller jumpers. The current rule in ski jumping is a calculation, the skiier's height x 1.21 or something like that. I don't know who this would favor.Probably not Eddie the Eagle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_%27the_Eagle%27_Edwards), who wound up with his own special rule.

[jfribrg]

Basketball is not my sport, but I recall being told that Wilt Chamberlain was able to take a running jump from the foul line and dunk the ball, so the rule was changed to require both feet to remain on the floor and behind the foul line. I have no idea if this is true.

Then there was the American football player in the 70's or very early 80's who put some sticky material on his hands to help him hold onto the ball. That lasted for one season.

In 1974 and 1975 the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team beat up every other team on the way to the Stanley Cup. Fred Shiro was the coach and realized that the tactical advantage you get from breaking the rules is far greater than the penalties. After that, the penalties were increased substantially and that style of play didn't work anymore.