Sports and freaks

[barts]

I'm not a fan of professional sports, particularly most team sports. The reason is that many of them are "freak" shows, in my view.

Yes, most NBA, NFL, NHL players are very good. Some are great, even. But the fact is that the NFL and the NHL are, largely, arms races for the largest players. The NBA is an arms race for the tallest players. So, important is weight and height in these leagues that skill often is of secondary importance.

Let me suggest some rule changes to improve these leagues, the game, and open them up to a larger pool of better players. Restrict the maximum weight of players on the field in a NFL game to 1,800 lbs. for an average player weight of about 160-165 lbs. The game would be much faster, and a larger pool of skilled players would emerge. If a team wants to field a William "The Refrigerator" Perry at 380 lbs make it a requirement to put smaller players on the field at the same to meet the rule. I can see it now "The Refrigerator and the Seven Dwarfs".

Let's do the same for the NBA. Add a rule that restricts the cumulative height of the players on the court at any one time to 28-29 feet for an average height of about 5' 8". Again speed and skill would increase.

If an NBA team wants to field a Gheorghe Muresan at 7' 10", the rest of team will likely have to be former jockeys.

Moreover, such changes would mean a much larger cohort of young people could participate competitively in these sports.

Weight restrictions are not new in sports. It happens in boxing, for example, and it happens in horse racing.

We know that in many sports height and weight afford advantage that cannot be compensated by other players' skills.

[grandpa]

I'm not a fan of professional sports, particularly most team
sports.
The reason is that many of them are "freak" shows,
in my view.

Without referring to anyone specifically, I'll just say that most athletes I know of -- personally or otherwise -- are dumb.

Grandpa h.

[The Fyrdman]

While I have no issue with weight/height categories - an average of 5'8? That's shorter than average to begin with. At least be reasonable and take 6'0 as your bar to give some fair leeway either side.

[barts]

While I have no issue with weight/height categories - an average of 5'8? That's shorter than average to begin with. At least be reasonable and take 6'0 as your bar to give some fair leeway either side.

Works for me.

[The Fyrdman]

Works for me.

An additional issue related to the weight point - rugby is being frequented by a higher incidence of injury these days due to the sheer weight of the people involved in the tackles. The skill of the players isn't in doubt but as skilled as you are, if you can run the 100m in 11 second and weigh 250lbs, and someone is doing the same in the opposite direction...

[The Fyrdman]

Without referring to anyone specifically, I'll just say that most athletes I know of -- personally or otherwise -- are dumb.

Grandpa h.

It may be because rugby union tends to only tends to be played seriously in better schools in the UK, but most of the athletes I know are highly intelligent.

[lsbskins1]

How very Harrison Bergeron...

But, just to be clear, steroids and other such crap have no place in sports either.

My point would be that limiting natural advantage is pretty silly.

There are plenty of actual ethical problems present in major sports to worry about...making them pass-times that the average Joe could compete in is not even on the list of issues to be tackled.

[The Fyrdman]

How very Harrison Bergeron...

But, just to be clear, steroids and other such crap have no place in sports either.

My point would be that limiting natural advantage is pretty silly.

There are plenty of actual ethical problems present in major sports to worry about...making them pass-times that the average Joe could compete in is not even on the list of issues to be tackled.

From my own perspective it's more to do with gradations. Going with my rugby example, which should be equally applicable to NFL, having weight distinctions would produce different games, much like boxing. I can see heavy hitters or I can watch fast flyweights. The differences keep things interesting, and the competition between leagues should also encourage quality - if one league is plagued by corruption, viewing may well switch to another.

In fact, there is an example of this going on with Rugby anyway (though weight restriction if an effect, not a cause). Rugby 7's has half the players on the same size pitch which leads to wide open spaces. Additionally, the matches are ten minutes long, so there is no need to pace yourself. This favours speed over size. As such, we're seeing highly skilled rugby players from countries that have never competed at the bigger size coming forward, such as Kenya. This is no where near as big a sport as normal rugby union yet, but it is fast growing. I've been going to the Twickenham games for this for the past 4 years and the atmosphere is awesome, it's like a carnival for the fans for two days.

[lsbskins1]

Being an ugly American, my focus is on the NFL/NBA angle. The big monsters are on the O/D lines, the mid sized guys are the running backs/linebackers and the smaller guys are the d-backs/wide receivers, in rough breakdown (in the NFL). The size breakdown happens within the game. As to the NBA, the simple and unavoidable truth is that, the closer you can get to the rim, the higher the likelihood, from a purely statistical perspective, the ball will go in the hole. You can get closer in a few ways...be 7' tall, be able to jump really fucking high or have some combination of those advantages. As long as the point is to put the ball inside that hoop, how do you end that state of being?

And the only thing stopping other leagues from starting up is the fact that they always seem to fail. Can you say USFL? Arena league football does marginally well, but what people seem to prefer, what they are willing to shell out big bucks to watch...the established leagues.

[barts]

...what they are willing to shell out big bucks to watch...the established leagues.

I agree with the facts on the ground. Unfortunately, in my limited view at least, many of the professional sports are becoming not sports at all which implies skill, but rather "freak" shows of clashes between the tallest and the heaviest.

One of the best hockey games I saw recently was the women's hockey final at the last Olympics, speed, skill, and no checking. Much better than the "rent a grunts" who play men's hockey.

[HoleyCarbonGrid]

I have only a couple thoughts to offer. First, I'm an American - which generally means we pay attention to football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and in the South and West Virginia, "wrestling."

As someone who abhors the NBA, but enjoys college basketball (occasionally, during March Madness) - I agree a bit about the trend towards height rather than skill in the NBA. I enjoy college basketball because there's such a thing as defense in college basketball (nonexistent in the NBA) and because there's far more of an emphasis on shooting skill, rather than dunks or lay-ups.

As a fan of the NFL, I also agree about the trend. While I'm too young to remember, say, football in the 1970's, I think that the sport would be much better now (albeit with better protection - I feel very bad for the players from those days, before any real thought was put into the impact of repeated head injuries) if the players were generally smaller.

A few examples: would Walter Payton (who was 5'10'' and 200lbs at his playing height - Walter Payton NFL Football Statistics - Pro-Football-Reference.com) be taken seriously as a professional halfback today? Would Jack Lambert, at 6'4'' and 220 lbs. really have a place in NFL history? Or Mike Webster, a center at 6'1'' and 255 lbs.?

I don't really think they would; at least not if put up against today's players. Not that they were not fabulously talented athletes - they were. Only that they would likely be passed over in today's sport, if only because they'd be considered, "too small."

I even agree about the NHL, to an extent - although I disagree with no checking. Physical contact is very much an important aspect of hockey, although I'm not sure fighting is, or should be. However, I don't think there's nearly as much of an emphasis on sheer size in the NHL as in other American sports - possibly because it's less popular. In the NHL, players are generally ranging from 5'10'' to maybe 6'6'' (although there are exceptions) and generally weigh ~200-220lbs. That hasn't changed much through the lifetime of the sport, and more importantly, there isn't a vast disparity between the size and weight of different positions (everyone on the ice tends to be in the same range; in football, though, there are 5 players on offense and 3 or 4 on defense who are vastly above the weight of all other players on the field). This is one of the reasons I appreciate contact in the NHL: its as much about positioning and skill as it is just trying to throw your weight into someone, at least in an open-ice check.

I realize this has gotten rather long-winded, but just giving my perspective.