I'm not exactly a fan of soccer, as alluded to before. I've been thinking and it occurred to me that if soccer adopted some of the rules in the NBA, it would be infinitely more entertaining to watch. It'll never happen, but I can dream, eh?
1. Defensive 3-seconds.
NBA: A defensive player must not remain in the lane for longer than 3 seconds unless he is actively guarding an offensive player.
Soccer: The goal area of a soccer pitch is significantly larger than the key of a basketball court. So perhaps we can extend the time from 3 seconds to 9 seconds. A defensive player must actively be guarding a player in the goal area. This means no more 11 defensive players dispersed throughout the goal area.
2. No off-side penalty.
NBA: There's no such thing as off-side. If there was, there wouldn't be any fastbreak opportunities.
Soccer: Having the off-side rule makes scoring even harder than it already is. Getting rid of it would introduce fastbreak opportunities, which are always fun to watch.
3. Nature of disqualifications.
NBA: If a player is ejected for whatever reason, he is disqualified but his team can still have 5 players on the court.
Soccer: Currently, if a player is ejected, his team goes from having 11 players on the pitch to just 10. The team should not be penalized for the actions of a single player.
4. Different types and values of goals.
NBA: The value of each goal is in proportion to the difficulty of the attempt. A free-throw is worth 1 point. A field-goal within the three-point-arc is worth 2 points. A field-goal beyond the arc is worth 3 points.
Soccer: Currently, everything is worth 1 point. Penalty kicks and normal goals should not be valued the same when the former is infinitely easier than the latter.
5. Shot clock.
NBA: The offensive team has 24 seconds to attempt a field goal on each possession. If they fail, they turn the ball over to the defense.
Soccer: No such thing as a shot clock. A possession can last as long as possible. This makes some matches unbearable to watch. If a team is up by several goals and have possession of the ball, they just play hot-potato with the ball in the back and middle field to burn time. They don't press the action and the defense is unlikely to get the ball back to attempt a comeback. I would propose they have a 60-second shot clock. The offense must attempt a shot within the 60-second time limit. A shot attempt would be if the ball is either scored, touched by the goal keeper, bounced off the goal post, or sailed out of bounds behind the goal line.
6. Back court violation
NBA: once the offense advances the ball past the mid-court line, the offense may not cross back into the backcourt. Doing so will result in a turnover.
Soccer: Currently, there's no such rule. If there was, the game would be faster, spacing would be better, and there would be far greater number of possession changes.
7. 8-second violation
NBA: The offense has 8 seconds to advance the ball into the frontcourt.
Soccer: Currently, no such rule. If there was this rule, the offense would be forced to push the pace. Again, if the rule was adopted, it would likely be lengthened due to the size of the field (perhaps 20 secs)
8. The game should be officially timed.
NBA: Nothing is above the game timer. If a shot attempt was released 0.1 seconds after time expired, it doesn't count. Once the timer counts down to 0 seconds, the game/quarter is over.
Soccer: The length of the match is at the sole discretion of the referee. That makes no sense to me. If a match is seconds away from being over and the team that is down recovers possession and is in position to run an offensive play, the referee would allow the play to continue even though it clearly ran over the time limit.
I'm all for stoppage time. I think it's necessary since the game clock never stops during play. But if the amount of stoppage time is determined, then it should be strictly followed. If at the end of 90 minutes the officials decide that there should be 6 minutes of stoppage time added, then there should be 6 minutes, no more no less. The teams should manage the clock with their play. The referee should not be managing it with his judgement.
9. No penalty shootouts
NBA: If a game is tied at the end of regulation, there's no free throw contest to determine the winner. That would be idiotic. Overtime is the way to go.
Soccer: A penalty shootout at the end of a tied game is similarly idiotic. The game of soccer is one of athleticism, endurance, coordination, etc. Just because the game is tied doesn't mean it needs to be reduced to a penalty shootout. Just go to overtime indefinitely. The team with the best conditioned players will prevail, as they should.
10. Stop touching each other and play by the rules.
None of my proposed rule changes will likely even have a chance of making it into the official rule book. So how about this? No rule changes; just enforce the current rules. Specifically, I'm talking about the excessive amount of physical contact in the sport. In every play of every game, the players are always grabbing each other for position. When jousting for position, players sometimes even get body slammed. There's pushing and shoving everywhere. Strange enough, the rules say that pushing, holding, and tripping are not allowed. Yet, they happen ALL THE TIME. Everyone is breaking the rules at every moment of every game!
Showing posts with label Rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rant. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
10 habits of Hong Kong drivers that boggles the mind
In no particular order:
1. Sabotage the effectiveness of the seatbelt.
This really applies only to taxi drivers. I've never seen a HK taxi where the driver's seatbelt is properly worn. It's always worn too loose with the help of a wide assortment of tools. I've seen the following items used to keep the seatbelt loose for the driver: binder clips, bag sealers (ie, those things that you use to seal an opened bag of chips), folded pieces of cardboard, tape, safety pins.
He's essentially not wearing the seatbelt at all. It's just draped over him. In an accident, it would probably be a choking hazard (if he's not thrown through the windshield).
2. Flash emergency lights when hard braking.
I suppose the driver's intent is to warn the car behind so that it doesn't slam into him. But the logic just doesn't make any sense. If the car behind is going to rear-end you, blinking yellow lights at him won't do anything. Besides, every car already comes with a feature that warns other drivers when brakes are deployed. They're called brake lights. If the driver behind isn't pay attention to your brake lights, they sure are not paying attention to your emergency flashers. How's this for an idea? If you want to minimize the risk of someone rear-ending you, don't hard brake.
3. Flash turn signals when going through bends.
Turn signals are meant to notify other drivers of changes in directions of your vehicle; not changes in directions of the current road. Steering left through a bend is not the same as making a left turn. It's not like you have the option to go any other direction. It's like telling the drivers behind "Hey, the road is bending left. Rather than driving my car off the road and down the cliff, I will be following this bend. I just thought it would be good to let you know that."
4. Flash turn signals midway through a lane change or a turn.
Why bother? This is like calling someone 29 minutes into your appointment to say you will be 30 minutes late. Don't even call. There's no point. You've already pissed someone off, so you might as well just show up.
5. Shift to neutral and apply hand-brake when stopped.
I suppose the driver's intent is to save fuel. This is an ineffective habit and is often used in combination with numerous other fuel-wasting behaviors. For example, hard braking, hard accelerations and tailgating.
6. Fail to shift back to drive and release hand-brake prior to stepping on the gas pedal.
This poor habit just damages and shortens the lifespan of the transmission and brakes. If you're going to practice the ineffective habit of shifting to neutral and applying the hand-brake, the least you can do is to be able to properly reverse your actions to get the car moving again.
On a related note, I've seen some drivers shift to park as an alternative to shifting to neutral and applying the hand-brake. They do so even in stop-and-go traffic. I can't even imagine the type of wear-and-tear their transmission goes through.
7. Occupy two lanes for the longest possible time while changing lanes in stop-and-go traffic.
I can't even rationalize why people do this. When changing lanes in slow moving traffic, either do it by steering hard into direction of the lane you want to switch to or don't do it. Why do people think it's ok to merge gradually into a lane when it's obvious that they're just holding up both lanes unnecessarily.
8. Line plush dolls across rear window.
I don't mean one or two plush dolls. I'm talking about the entire cast of Winnie the Pooh and all the variations of Disney's Stitch. If it's a woman behind the wheel, this gives off the impression that she's childish. If it's a man, it makes him look like a sissy. In terms of safety, it compromises the driver's ability to see through the rear window.
9. Line figurines across the dashboard, often right on top of where the airbags deploy on the front passenger side.
Again, I don't mean just one or two of those bobble-head things. I'm talking about every single McDonald's Happy Meal toy ever made. First two sentences of #8 applies here as well. In addition, people who do this are just putting themselves at risk. In an accident, I can foresee two deadly possibilities. The driver/passenger may ram their head against the figurines. Or the airbag will deploy which will launch the figurines as high-speed projectiles in random directions at everyone inside the vehicle.
10. Flash the right turn signal when entering a roundabout.
The car is steered to the left direction when entering a roundabout; so why does the driver think flashing the right turn signal is appropriate?
In fact, why flash the turn signals at all? #3 applies here as well. There's only one direction to go. It's not like it's possible for the driver to enter the roundabout going counter-clockwise against the flow of traffic.
Perhaps the driver wants to signal to the cars already in the roundabout? If they flash the left signal, it won't be visible to cars already in the roundabout; so they flash the right signal. But it's not necessary to signal to the cars already in the roundabout! Your car is not invisible. They see your car. They know you're looking to enter the roundabout. It's not like they see your car and think to themselves "Hey, there's a car at the entrance to this roundabout. But he's not flashing his turn signal. I guess he's just parked there enjoying the show."
Obviously, not everyone on the road in HK do these things. But enough of them do (especially taxis) to be enough of an annoyance. Are there any more that I missed?
1. Sabotage the effectiveness of the seatbelt.
This really applies only to taxi drivers. I've never seen a HK taxi where the driver's seatbelt is properly worn. It's always worn too loose with the help of a wide assortment of tools. I've seen the following items used to keep the seatbelt loose for the driver: binder clips, bag sealers (ie, those things that you use to seal an opened bag of chips), folded pieces of cardboard, tape, safety pins.
He's essentially not wearing the seatbelt at all. It's just draped over him. In an accident, it would probably be a choking hazard (if he's not thrown through the windshield).
2. Flash emergency lights when hard braking.
I suppose the driver's intent is to warn the car behind so that it doesn't slam into him. But the logic just doesn't make any sense. If the car behind is going to rear-end you, blinking yellow lights at him won't do anything. Besides, every car already comes with a feature that warns other drivers when brakes are deployed. They're called brake lights. If the driver behind isn't pay attention to your brake lights, they sure are not paying attention to your emergency flashers. How's this for an idea? If you want to minimize the risk of someone rear-ending you, don't hard brake.
3. Flash turn signals when going through bends.
Turn signals are meant to notify other drivers of changes in directions of your vehicle; not changes in directions of the current road. Steering left through a bend is not the same as making a left turn. It's not like you have the option to go any other direction. It's like telling the drivers behind "Hey, the road is bending left. Rather than driving my car off the road and down the cliff, I will be following this bend. I just thought it would be good to let you know that."
4. Flash turn signals midway through a lane change or a turn.
Why bother? This is like calling someone 29 minutes into your appointment to say you will be 30 minutes late. Don't even call. There's no point. You've already pissed someone off, so you might as well just show up.
5. Shift to neutral and apply hand-brake when stopped.
I suppose the driver's intent is to save fuel. This is an ineffective habit and is often used in combination with numerous other fuel-wasting behaviors. For example, hard braking, hard accelerations and tailgating.
6. Fail to shift back to drive and release hand-brake prior to stepping on the gas pedal.
This poor habit just damages and shortens the lifespan of the transmission and brakes. If you're going to practice the ineffective habit of shifting to neutral and applying the hand-brake, the least you can do is to be able to properly reverse your actions to get the car moving again.
On a related note, I've seen some drivers shift to park as an alternative to shifting to neutral and applying the hand-brake. They do so even in stop-and-go traffic. I can't even imagine the type of wear-and-tear their transmission goes through.
7. Occupy two lanes for the longest possible time while changing lanes in stop-and-go traffic.
I can't even rationalize why people do this. When changing lanes in slow moving traffic, either do it by steering hard into direction of the lane you want to switch to or don't do it. Why do people think it's ok to merge gradually into a lane when it's obvious that they're just holding up both lanes unnecessarily.
8. Line plush dolls across rear window.
I don't mean one or two plush dolls. I'm talking about the entire cast of Winnie the Pooh and all the variations of Disney's Stitch. If it's a woman behind the wheel, this gives off the impression that she's childish. If it's a man, it makes him look like a sissy. In terms of safety, it compromises the driver's ability to see through the rear window.
9. Line figurines across the dashboard, often right on top of where the airbags deploy on the front passenger side.
Again, I don't mean just one or two of those bobble-head things. I'm talking about every single McDonald's Happy Meal toy ever made. First two sentences of #8 applies here as well. In addition, people who do this are just putting themselves at risk. In an accident, I can foresee two deadly possibilities. The driver/passenger may ram their head against the figurines. Or the airbag will deploy which will launch the figurines as high-speed projectiles in random directions at everyone inside the vehicle.
10. Flash the right turn signal when entering a roundabout.
The car is steered to the left direction when entering a roundabout; so why does the driver think flashing the right turn signal is appropriate?
In fact, why flash the turn signals at all? #3 applies here as well. There's only one direction to go. It's not like it's possible for the driver to enter the roundabout going counter-clockwise against the flow of traffic.
Perhaps the driver wants to signal to the cars already in the roundabout? If they flash the left signal, it won't be visible to cars already in the roundabout; so they flash the right signal. But it's not necessary to signal to the cars already in the roundabout! Your car is not invisible. They see your car. They know you're looking to enter the roundabout. It's not like they see your car and think to themselves "Hey, there's a car at the entrance to this roundabout. But he's not flashing his turn signal. I guess he's just parked there enjoying the show."
Obviously, not everyone on the road in HK do these things. But enough of them do (especially taxis) to be enough of an annoyance. Are there any more that I missed?
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