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If I were in charge of sports for a day
By Mark StoryHERALD-LEADER SPORTS COLUMNIST
Welcome to the coup.
For one day, I'm declaring myself Czar of all Sports. My absolute power will be used to rewrite sports rules whose illogic drives me batty.
Rule one that needs to go: If a player commits five fouls in college basketball (six in the NBA), they are disqualified from the game.
What bothers me: As Dick Vitale has noted, in no other major American sport do players lose the right to participate for committing rules infractions.
My solution: Instead of having players “foul out” once they reach five (or six) fouls, they should be allowed to stay in the game. However, for every foul the player commits above the limit, the opposing team shoots two free throws and keeps possession of the ball.
That would remove the incentive for teams to have hatchet men commit, say, 20 fouls in the second half. Yet it would allow the best players to stay on the floor and decide the games.
Given what fans are paying to attend big-time college (and NBA) games these days, is that too much to ask?
Rule two that needs to go: A player entering the NBA must be either 19 or his class one year out of high school before they can turn pro.
What bothers me: The new rule is forcing players who are athletically ready for pro hoops to spend a year in college basketball when many have little desire to be there.
That's all good for the NBA, which after that one year gets a more mature player and a better-known athlete.
As the O.J. Mayo situation at USC showed, however, these one-and-doners come with complicated side issues for college basketball programs.
My solution: Adopt the major-league baseball draft formula.
In baseball, you can turn pro right out of high school. However, if you choose not to and instead attend a major college, you are not eligible to re-enter the pro draft until after your junior year.
If applied to basketball, that would allow the truly exceptional player to go pro early. It would stabilize college rosters and end the issue of having guys parked in universities for only one season.
(In a world without Czars, that would have to be collectively bargained with the NBA Players Association).
Rule three that needs to go: NASCAR drivers that qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup receive 10 bonus points for each race they won during “the regular season” — but get no bonus points for races won during the Chase.
What bothers me: Races you win before the Chase actually count for more points in the “playoff” than events won in the 10-race sequence that determines the season champion.
It's the equivalent of giving NFL teams one point for each touchdown they score during the regular season at the start of playoff games.
My solution: What NASCAR is trying to do is put more premium on winning races, which makes sense. But the “bonus for regular-season wins” smacks of gimmickry.
Scrap it.
Now, you get 15 more points for winning than finishing second (not counting bonus points). I say increase that differential to 50.
That would really put an emphasis on winning while also allowing you to use the same points system for both the Chase and “regular-season” events.
Rule four that needs to go: Weight allowances — the best horses are required to carry more pounds — in elite-level horse racing.
What bothers me: It punishes success. Because he has a track record as the fastest, Tyson Gay does not have to run while carrying 20-pound weights in both hands.
Why should Curlin be handicapped for past excellence?
My solution: In all horse races, each entrant carries the same weight — and may the best horse win.
Rule five that needs to go: The league that wins the Major League Baseball All-Star Game earns home-field advantage in the World Series for its representative.
What bothers me: It's stupid.
You may as well use a pancake-eating contest between National and American League representatives to determine which league gets to play the most home games in the World Series. That would have every bit as much relevance to determining which is the best team in baseball as the outcome of a mid-season exhibition of All-Stars.
My solution: Accept that the All-Star Game is what it is — a meaningless, albeit fun, exhibition.
Then try something radical like rewarding home-field advantage in the World Series to the participating team that had the best regular-season record.
The Czar hath spoken.