Pound for Pound: Good rule, bad rule

Published 4:59 pm Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Inspired by absolutely nothing whatsoever, I feel like now is a good time in the sports calendar to play a game of ‘Good Rule, Bad Rule.’

The game is played just how it sounds. I’ll name a few sports rules – some new, some dating back to the mid-19th century – and will judge whether they help or harm competition. These are my opinion, of course, which is always correct in every way.

Good rule: MLB pitch clock

If it was baseball season and the Braves were playing, they were on in our house when I was growing up. My mom hated it. ‘All they do is spit, kick some dirt around, and spit some more.’

Well there’s a whole lot less spittin’ and dirt-kickin’ in today’s game thanks to the 2023 implementation of the pitch clock. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has done many a dumb thing in his tenure leading the sport, but the pitch clock is a notch in the ‘good’ column.

Pace of play needed to speed up, and has. Game time went down to two hours and 40 minutes, a 24-minute decrease, the first season the clock was put in place. I’ve covered high school baseball games that have lasted longer, though we should probably leave those kids alone. Speeding them up may actually do more harm than good.

Bad rule: Dropped third strike

Who on earth decided that a batter gets the chance to run to first if a third strike in baseball is not caught cleanly? It does bring a little bit of chaos to an otherwise subdued sport, but it makes no sense whatsoever. You’ve just struck out, swinging at a pitch that was so bad the catcher could not catch it, yet you’re rewarded with the opportunity to get on base? Rubbish. Go back to the dugout or go get your eyes checked.

Good rule: Penalizing the horse collar tackle

This one was common sense. You can’t watch a facemask without thinking, ‘Ouch that had to hurt,’ and the same can be said for the horse collar tackle. The NFL added this penalty to the referees’ arsenal in the name of player safety 20 years ago.

Bad rule: New NFL kickoff format

In this case, the NFL tried one fix for two different problems. Kickoffs were becoming obsolete with less than a quarter of them actually being returned. Also, it turns out when you have peak-form athletes running 60-plus yards with a full head of steam, they can cause quite a bit of damage. Both worthy causes to try and address, but I think this one needs to be workshopped a little more.

A new kickoff format was developed (first tested in the XFL) to try and get the kickoff return percentage up as well as to increase player safety. The kicking team no longer lines up with the kicker. Those players are instead further downfield in a “setup zone” with the bulk of the return team standing right across from them.

Good intentions and all, but let’s go back to the drawing board on this one. The new format has also eliminated the surprise onside kick, a chess move that could result in either team’s special teams coordinator having to look for a job.

Unlike the horse collar, the new NFL style of kickoff has not filtered down into the high school or college levels yet. To be fair, it did take a couple of years for that to happen with the horse collar too.

Good rule: High school basketball shot clock

Speaking of rules filtering down, I am forever grateful the shot clock has made its way into high school. It has made unwatchable games slightly less so. Nothing was worse than a team trying to hold onto the basketball for the final two minutes of game time.

I’m reminded of a GHSA Class 4A boys quarterfinal game between McDonough and Monroe of Albany back in 2021. I had my eye on that game because the winner was set to play Baldwin in the Final Four. The final score of the aforementioned ‘Elite’ Eight contest? 29-25. The third quarter was completely scoreless.

No one wants to see that in such a consequential matchup. Kudos to Georgia high schools for adopting the shot clock rules a few years ago.

Wouldn’t mind hearing from the readers out there. Where was I wrong? What sports rules do you hate? Email thoughts to gil.pound@unionrecorder.com and I may just do a follow-up.