Things I don't like about each sport

[bandl]

Things that I don’t like about each professional televised sport:

Feel free to add your own. But before you do, please note that there are ALWAYS exceptions to the reasons that people might not like watching a sport. We don't need an example of a baseball game that only took 90 minutes, or a football game that had 15 minutes of action, or a soccer game that had 9 goals.

NBA – Players flopping to get the foul. This sport has more divas than any other. Laziness for the majority of the game. Fouling at the end of the game, dragging out 2 or 3 minutes of playing time into 20 to 30 minutes.

NFL – Only 11 minutes, on average, of actual playing time in a game. Too many damn commercials. The overtime rules (both teams should be allowed one possession).

MLB – Too many games in a season. Games can be ridiculously long. The amount of time between pitches and between innings. Too many useless stats (I love math but some stats are just ridiculous). Low-scoring games. Intentional walks (do we really need to see you throw all 4 pitches?).

Hockey – Low scoring games. The back and forth up and down the ice without any ebb and flow. Lengthy intermissions (I should not be able to take a quality deuce during an intermission). Hockey fans; you know the ones that I am talking about, the ones who think it is ‘their’ game and that you have no business watching it with them.

Soccer, er football, er soccer? – Low scoring games. Diving and acting as if a player cut off your leg when they kicked the ball out from under you. The silly nomenclature (pitch for field; match for game; cap for appearance; kit for uniform; pace for speed). The god-like power the refs have. Overtime should never be determined by penalty-kicks; golden goal, or take a player off the field every 15 minutes, anything but penalty-kicks.

Rugby – Too many rule variations on the sport depending on which country the sport is played, which league, which level (pro, college, etc.), number of players, etc. The fact that it is generally very difficult to find on TV might add to the confusion.

Golf – IMO, except for the majors, it is too boring to watch in general. And I’ll only watch the majors when one of the better known players is in contention (Tiger, Phil, Els, etc.). The silence; crowds should be allowed to talk/yell/heckle throughout.

Tennis – IMO, except for the majors, it is too boring to watch in general. And I’ll only watch the majors when one of the better known players is playing (Nadal, Federer, Roddick, etc.). The silly scoring system. 0-15-30-40-deuce-advantage-WTF is that, really?

Bowling – Fuck off.

Nascar – The races are just too long. I might consider watching if it was only, say, 100 miles. Or even less, with more contact permitted and encouraged. Yes, I want it to be more dangerous.

[bandl]

Eff all you guys. I lay this thread out there so you can properly vent about what you don't like about each sport, and you give nothin'. Meh.

[Rob Iola]

Bocce - played by whining effeminate douchebags...

[bandl]

Bocce - played by whining effeminate douchebags...

Bocce ball is a professional sport??? In which country?? And on what channel did you see Bocce played on?

[ASUG8]

Just keep watching Lifetime or the Oxygen network like you usually do.

Actually, a pretty good list - not much to disagree with. It's no secret that's the reason Sportscenter is so popular - I'm usually not willing to give up an afternoon to watch an entire baseball game or Nascar race. I like attending minor league baseball games, but it's mostly for the cheap hot dogs and stale beer. Obviously most of us enjoy attending college football games, and I'll flip back and forth between NFL games on a lazy Sunday. I'll turn on golf if I'm having trouble napping.

[GannonFan]

Cricket - seriously, what the hell does that box score mean? It's like reading a sports haiku except without any meaning. I can watch a match and know what's going on, but then they flash the score up there and it's like it's been passed through the Enigma machine and I lack the key to break the code.

[bandl]

Cricket - seriously, what the hell does that box score mean? It's like reading a sports haiku except without any meaning. I can watch a match and know what's going on, but then they flash the score up there and it's like it's been passed through the Enigma machine and I lack the key to break the code.

Agreed there. I tried to watch/learn it in New Zealand since it is pretty big over there, but I just couldn't understand the scoring. Where do you watch it in the U.S.?

[GannonFan]

Cricket - seriously, what the hell does that box score mean? It's like reading a sports haiku except without any meaning. I can watch a match and know what's going on, but then they flash the score up there and it's like it's been passed through the Enigma machine and I lack the key to break the code.

Agreed there. I tried to watch/learn it in New Zealand since it is pretty big over there, but I just couldn't understand the scoring. Where do you watch it in the U.S.?

Only on ESPN occassionally. It's not really easy to find. But I've watched it in the UK and tried to figure the damn boxscore out and it just eludes me. I swear there's some kind of code I need to do it.

Btw, the one sport that should be showed here more is the one that ESPN had to show extensively when they first started up in the early 80's because they didn't have anything else to show - Australian Rules Football. Now that is just a flat out, awesome game to watch. And yes, the scoring is really easy to understand.

[AZGrizFan]

NBA - Divas getting preferential treatment. It's as bad as fuckin' soccer. If it's a foul on Lou Amundsen, then it's a foul on Kobe when he does the exact same thing. And I agree on the flopping thing.

MLB - pitch limits. Overmanaging (see - Tony Larussa). Lack of instant replay.

NFL - Zone defenses. They ought to REQUIRE defensive backfields to man up only. Balanced schedules based on how you finished the year before. You get penalized for doing well. Parity sucks.

NHL - Its existence (disclaimer: NHL players are the toughest SOB's on the planet).

Soccer - the way they keep time...not knowing when the end of the game is actually going to occur. The flopping. the horrible officiating and obvious errors that even a novice like me can see but somehow seem to escape that ref that's been involved in the game for 30 years.

[youngterrier]

Polish Kickball is the greatest game ever invented:)

[Grizalltheway]

Curling-wait, never mind, curling is pretty much the perfect sport.

[93henfan]

Curling-wait, never mind, curling is pretty much the perfect sport.

Fuckin' A.

[green&gold75]

NBA - Divas getting preferential treatment. It's as bad as ****' soccer. If it's a foul on Lou Amundsen, then it's a foul on Kobe when he does the exact same thing. And I agree on the flopping thing.

MLB - pitch limits. Overmanaging (see - Tony Larussa). Lack of instant replay.

NFL - Zone defenses. They ought to REQUIRE defensive backfields to man up only. Balanced schedules based on how you finished the year before. You get penalized for doing well. Parity sucks.

NHL - Its existence (disclaimer: NHL players are the toughest SOB's on the planet).

Soccer - the way they keep time...not knowing when the end of the game is actually going to occur. The flopping. the horrible officiating and obvious errors that even a novice like me can see but somehow seem to escape that ref that's been involved in the game for 30 years.

Agree completely about NBA.
Tennis: my favorite sport, but some pros think the crowd should act like a golf gallery, and get annoyed by any sound. The tennis center where I play is near a freeway. Also---too much grunting!
MLB: I can get pretty irritated trying to figure out where the strike zone is from game to game.

[BlueHen86]

Any sport that has guaranteed contracts. Guaranteed contracts are the single greatest evil in sports.

NBA - preferential treatment of star players by officials and the fact that this is expected and accepted by players and announcers.

NHL & NBA - season is too long and too many teams make the playoffs.

MLB - inter-league play. I'm tired of the Phillies having to play the Yankees and Red Sox every year. Either don't have inter-league play, or rotate the opponents.

NFL - instant replay rule. Let teams challenge as much as they want, if they win there is no penalty, if they are wrong charge them a time out. If they are out of timeouts it's a 15 yard penalty.
Preseason is too long, it's dumb to have a preseason game if the starters aren't going to play. Two preseason games ought to be enough.

[SuperHornet]

Any sport that has guaranteed contracts. Guaranteed contracts are the single greatest evil in sports.

NBA - preferential treatment of star players by officials and the fact that this is expected and accepted by players and announcers.

NHL & NBA - season is too long and too many teams make the playoffs.

MLB - inter-league play. I'm tired of the Phillies having to play the Yankees and Red Sox every year. Either don't have inter-league play, or rotate the opponents.

NFL - instant replay rule. Let teams challenge as much as they want, if they win there is no penalty, if they are wrong charge them a time out. If they are out of timeouts it's a 15 yard penalty.
Preseason is too long, it's dumb to have a preseason game if the starters aren't going to play. Two preseason games ought to be enough.

NBA -- I agree, though I would also include flopping, SportsCenter posing, and overexpansion on my list of complaints.

NHL -- Agreed. I'd also add the expectation of fights.

NFL -- I'm not sure I agree with as far as you're taking the replay stuff. Your complaint about preseason may be acted upon very soon. It's in discussions. The CFL has played an 18-game schedule for years with no ill-effects; I see no reason why the NFL can't do likewise. I'd also like to eliminate the rules putting a skirt on the QB; this legalized intentional grounding is freaking disgusting.

MLB -- The idea for interleague is to have two blocks, one of which is for the analagous division and the other for one of the other divisions on a rotating basis. That said, as a purist, I'd rather do away with both that and the bloody DH. While enforcing this would be impossible, I'd definitely like to eliminate this stupid wait-for-the-jack attitude and start running the bases again. Billy Ball is WAY better than Bochy Ball.

[MrTitleist]

This should be fun.

NBA: Fuck this league. Seriously, demolish it. The players are overpaid and divas to boot. Watching college basketball is FAR more exciting than these assholes. These guys forget how to play basketball, they play streetball. If you watch them in the Olympics they look like thugs compared to other countries, and the refs in the Olympics don't let them get away with the crap that they get away with in the NBA. I was really hoping some foreign team would bitch slap team USA and put these dummies in their place.. no such luck. My hate for the NBA knows no limits.. and don't even get my started on their flopping..

NFL: Someone mentioned the actual play time.. I would agree. I like the salary cap, it keeps salaries under control (for the most part). Rookies get paid WAY too much though.. some asswipe 1st round pick makes more for being a bust and never contributing to his team (I'm looking at you Darrius Heyward-Bey!), than guys like Elway, Marino, Kelly, Montana, etc made in several seasons with their teams.

NHL: I enjoy hockey.. a little boring sometimes, but not too bad. I really don't know a ton about the sport though.

MLB: The DH. Make that shit go away. Also the salaries, sorry A-Rod, you're not worth 252 million dollars. Sorry Mike Hampton, you're not worth $150 million dollars. Sorry David the beach ball Ortiz, your bumbling ass isn't worth whatever you make. Salary cap in baseball.. make these guys actually have to work for their paychecks. A guy that pitches 3 innings a week doesn't deserve millions. Neither do you, Jason Giambi!

NASCAR: Fuck this "sport". I can't believe this shit gets airtime on ESPN or any other sports network. Congratulations, you can drive a car fast.. so can I.. over a mountain pass in January in a blizzard. GFY. Plus, the environment is pretty screwed up as it is, and everyone's trying to go green.. so what do we do? We send these dumbasses out in a car driving around a circular racetrack for 100,000+ fans to watch over the course of some ridiculous amount of miles every weekend for a majority of the year.. let's pollute the environment some more so that some toothless idiot at Walmart can go out and get his next Kyle Petty and Darryl Waltrip t-shirts! Seriously.. not a sport.

There's more, but you know.. this has gone on long enough.

[Ivytalk]

NBA: Jackassin' trash talkers in baggy shorts who can't shoot a lick.

NHL: Overexpansion and general thinning of talent.

MLB: The Boston Red Sox.

NFL: Jackassin' trash talkers in full pads who wear velcro gloves and stickum and can't catch shit.

MLS: The concept.

[JayJ79]

NFL - Preseason is too long, it's dumb to have a preseason game if the starters aren't going to play. Two preseason games ought to be enough.

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