Ranting on rules

Open Championship (that is the real name of the tournament, but our American bias insists on calling it "British") Saturday was compelling today for lots of reasons. The wind, the scores, the rough, and most of all the continued solid play of Greg Norman. Marriage has done wonders for him, and if he pulls this off tomorrow, perhaps in addition to it being his third major, they should credit his wife Chris Evert with her nineteenth grand slam. The lack of birdies and eagles however, caused something else to have me nervously on the edge of my La-Z-Boy, the rules around putting. Golf is a game I am passionate about. It was a gift given to me by my maternal grandfather, and there are so many things I love about it. I understand the honor system of the game and respect it, but I'm sorry if the wind causes a ball to move-regardless of whether or not you have grounded your club-a player should NOT be penalized. It did not hurt any player today, but it easily could have. If a player puts his putter on the ground behind the ball, but does not touch the ball, then walks away because the wind is blowing them around like a plastic grocery bag, and the ball moves when they are nowhere near it, they are still "deemed" to have caused the ball to move. Ridiculous. If the putter actually touches the ball that's one thing, but I would hate to see a major decided on such a technicality.

Then there is the disqualification of Michelle Wie that came down today at the LPGA event. Apparently Wie failed to sign her scorecard yesterday. I understand that signing your card is a rule. However, why in the world was she allowed to play the third round today, and why was this not caught yesterday??? Shame on the officials of the State Farm tournament. It would have been heartbreaking enough for her to find out about this last night, but do not let her play a great third round, and then DQ her for yesterday! In this day and age of professional golf with so many officials, cameras, etc, it seems like some official scoring system could be put into place and verified by all involved without the formality of a signature. Now if she had tried to sign for a score lower than she actually had, that is DQ city.

Other sports rules that drive me crazy:

1) The NBA "advance the ball" rule: Why on earth at the "highest level" of the game, should a team be automatically allowed to advance the ball to halfcourt, after a time out? What ever happened to dribbling, passing, and making cuts to get open? I guess the overpaid guys are too tired at the end of games to remember fundamentals. It is insanity.

2) Basketball alternate possession: Just give the ball to the defense if they stop the progress of the offense could, and if two teams pull down a simultaneous losse ball or rebound, jump center. Period. The only arrows I want to see at a basketball games are the ones pointing to concession stands and restrooms.

3) NFL overtime: Both teams should get at least one possession, period.

4) Offsides in soccer: Probably a good rule, but I loved to cherry pick when I was playing! =)

5) 10 second rule in basketball (college and pro): Now that we have shot clocks in college and pro basketball, the ten second rule should be eliminated. If they only have so many seconds to get a shot off anyway, who cares if they waste time in the back court?