Friday, February 15, 2008

A Big Thumbs Down to Rules Changes

Snippets from what other bloggers are saying about the rules changes that were announced this week.
Get The Picture: "It sounds like they’re trying to find the happy medium between last year’s clock rules and those from the year before. I’m sure the networks will let them know when they hit the sweet spot."Sunday Morning Quarterback: "Absolutely no love this Valentine's Day for the NCAA Rules Committee, which continued its never-ending quest Wednesday to break what was already fixed. The bizarre, football-stealing spectre of 3-2-5-e was hated by one and all from the moment it was adopted in 2006, and subsequently — wisely and mercifully — repealed, a day of great celebration. No harm, no foul, guys.

"But no, no, why did you have to do this? ... Why does the Rules Committee hate football."
AOL Fanhouse: "The beauty of college football is that it isn't so clean, so regimented like the NFL. Some games can be done well under three hours, some seem to take forever. It's a bit like baseball in that regard.

"The game's fans are presumably watching because they enjoy the experience, which should override any concerns about how long each game takes. I say the longer the game, the better. Saturday is about football, I'm in no hurry to see it end."
Every Day Should Be Saturday: "The NCAA Football Rules Committee, you breathe in vain. Air’s supposed to be moving smoothly into the lungs, transitioning between the alveoli and the blood, and thus traveling to important football organs like the muscles, heart, and lastly the brain.

"We say 'lastly, the brain', since the continual tinkering of the Rules Committee has resulted in a yearly series of dadaist proclamations and naked attempts to give fans less football and make officiating more, not less difficult. This is either brainless, disingenuous, or both. Given our nature, we suspect both."

6 comments:

Jefe said...

Those are horrible comments. Of course someone who is addicted enough to college football to blog about it wants 4 hour games. But 99% of people in the stands also do other things on Saturdays.

Most college football fans are casual fans who do not eat, drink, and breathe the sport. Those fans will appreciate shorter games.

The other changes seem good - the horsecollar is a safety issue. The sideline warning and the facemask both take ref's judgment out of the picture. Who cares about the replay rule?

It seems like these guys were ready to pounce on anything that was suggested.

Here's hoping that someday college football can do away with the ridiculous clock stoppages on 1st downs.

Anonymous said...

Jefe, you're way off base. These new rules won't shorten the game -- that's what these bloggers are complaining about.

TV timeouts are the real culprit here, which the NCAA conveniently ignores while it swims naked in buckets of network cash.

Anonymous said...

"But 99% of people in the stands also do other things on Saturdays."

Yeah, the extra 15 minutes they gain is really going to free up their lives....give me a break.

Anonymous said...

Why don't we just shorten the games to first team to score wins, then we can all "do other things on Saturdays."

And while we're at it, let's have a running clock for all college basketball games and shorten college baseball games to three innings.

When will the rules committee get it - the reason the games run so long is television not the timing. Non-televised DI games and small colleges games are almost always over in about 2 1/2 hours.

Anonymous said...

"But 99% of people in the stands also do other things on Saturdays."

Then they can leave the games or not watch on TV...no one is forcing them to stand around till the game ends if they have better things to do.

Honey Brown said...

This shows that the terrorists have won, or the networks at least.