THE BOOK cover
The Unwritten Book is Finally Written!
An in-depth analysis of: The sacrifice bunt, batter/pitcher matchups, the intentional base on balls, optimizing a batting lineup, hot and cold streaks, clutch performance, platooning strategies, and much more.
Read Excerpts & Customer Reviews

Buy The Book from Amazon


SABR101 required reading if you enter this site. Check out the Sabermetric Wiki. And interesting baseball books.
MOST RECENT ARTICLES
MAIL : You ask | We say

Advanced


THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Filter posts by...

 

Monday, August 23, 2010

Is Gary Bettman in charge of the LPGA?

By Tangotiger, 01:02 PM

Another weekend, another tournament where a fan emails in for a rule violation to disqualify a player:

LPGA spokesperson Sue Witters said they disqualified Inkster Saturday after receiving an e-mail from a fan watching the event on television.

I saw Jorge Posada apply a phantom tag on Franklin Gutierrez.  My email went unreturned.  Let’s give the last word to the ultimate in rules enforcement:

Remember when the “toe in the crease” rule was introduced to the NHL ... when referees disallowed goals on the mere suspicion the shooter had his toenail in the area? Only days after its adoption, Gary Bettman visited the press box at the Bell Centre. Even before he said hello, it was suggested to him that the new rule made no sense at all. I can even recall the word “sucked” appeared early in our discussion.

His reply: “Well, don’t you think the game should be played by the rules?”

I’ve spoken with my golf friends, and they all agree with the majority of you guys: rules are rules.  Them being Canadians, I had also asked them about the toe-in-the-crease rule, and they agreed with the majority of hockey fans: the rule sucked.

Clearly, people are biased by their environment.  If it’s a learned behaviour that you apply the Gary Bettman credo in golf, then what Bettman says makes perfect sense.  But, since we don’t think like that in hockey and baseball, we’re happy to say a similar-type rule sucked and should be changed immediately.

I’m really in the minority when I say that I’d question every single rule out there for every sport for reasonableness and proportionality.  Start with blank slate, add in the core principles of the sport, and build from there.

I may be wrong, but I feel I’m right.

(16) Comments • 2010/08/23 • SabermetricsMLB_ManagementOther SportsGolfHockey
Page 1 of 1 pages

Latest...

COMMENTS

May 26 01:11
Largest demonstration in Canadian history?

May 25 23:40
“Why Kickstarter works”

May 25 19:41
What sabermetrics is NOT

May 25 19:41
Pete Palmer’s new book: Basic Ball

May 25 16:59
Howard Stern

May 25 15:12
Do pitcher’s reach back for velocity when needed?

May 25 12:51
Chad Curtis

May 25 11:26
Lack of hustle during a game

May 25 10:58
Rooting for laundry

May 25 02:38
NFLPA lawsuit against collusion

THREADS

August 23, 2010
Is Gary Bettman in charge of the LPGA?