Larry Brown Sports

NFL owners voted on Wednesday to approve several rule changes, the most controversial of which is the league’s decision to prohibit offensive players from initiating contact with defensive players outside the tackle box by using the crown of their helmets. Running backs around the league are understandably upset with the change, as it will force many of them to completely alter their running style.

Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte has been one of the most outspoken players about the new rule. He has been tweeting about it all week long, and now that the helmet rule has passed Forte is basically saying he’s not going to follow it.

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One of the rules that is being examined at the annual NFL owners meetings this week is the infamous tuck rule. The rule is one of the most beloved by New England Patriots fans and equally despised by Oakland Raiders fans. If not for the tuck rule, who knows where Tom Brady and Bill Belichick would be today.

In case you’re too young to remember, the tuck rule overturned a Brady fumble in the 2001 playoffs that would have allowed the Raiders to ice the game and advance to the AFC Championship Game. Instead, New England kept the ball and went on to win. Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who said he never knew what the rule was prior to that game, has a predictable opinion on the matter. He also has a unique piece of memorabilia pertaining to the tuck rule, courtesy of former Raiders coach Jon Gruden.

“I love the tuck rule and forever will. I know (late Raiders owner) Al Davis, may he rest in peace, is probably smiling,” Kraft said Monday according to ESPNBoston.com. “But whatever the rule is, it is, I will forever … I have a picture, a big photograph in my office that Jon Gruden gave me with the snow coming down, and Tommy in that position. He signed it, ‘It was a fumble.’ I’ll probably give that to the [charitable] foundation to auction off at some point.”

Most people agree that the infamous tuck rule play from more than a decade ago was the right call on a bad rule. Outside of Foxboro, there are very few people who want to keep it in effect. I’m sure Gruden is one of the many who would be thrilled to see it go.

The NFL has spent a tremendous amount of time finding ways to protect players over the past several years, but most of the changes to the game have been made to protect offensive players. A new proposed rule is aiming help protect defensive players.

Members of the NFL’s Competition Committee are considering a rule change that would make it illegal for running backs and ball carriers to lower their heads and use the crown of their helmets to initiate contact with defenders. A number of running backs feel that such a rule would completely alter the way they run, but New York Giants defensive back Terrell Thomas seems to fully support it.

“It’s hilarious seeing all these (running backs) complain about the rule change,” Thomas wrote on Twitter Sunday. “Welcome to the last 5 years of a defender’s life. We’re robots now. We can’t contact a (wide receiver) after five yards but they can contact us as long as it doesn’t create space AFTER five yards.

“A defender can’t blind side an offensive player, but an offensive player can blindside a defensive player as long as its not going back towards the ball.”

There have been a wide range of opinions on the topic, but Thomas makes some very valid points from the defensive player’s standpoint. A lot of people disagree with the defenseless receiver rules and the new proposed running back rules, which is one thing. However, if the rules are going to limit so many things for defenders it seems only fair that they would do the same for offensive players. That being said, you’re never going to stop veterans like this from disagreeing with rules that take violence out of the game.

In addition to Barack Obama being elected to serve another four years as President of the United States on Tuesday, we also saw some significant changes in the laws pertaining to marijuana use across the country. Voters in Washington and Colorado approved a law that will legalize the use of marijuana by adults in their states. That means Peyton Manning, Willis McGahee, Felix Hernandez and others can now smoke pot whenever they please, right? Not quite.

Neither the MLB nor the NFL is reportedly planning to change its policy regarding marijuana use among players, so as of now the law hardly applies to players. According to USA TODAY, NFL players would still be subject to fines or suspensions if they are found to have marijuana in their systems. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports said the same will be true of the MLB, where a positive test will still lead to a 50-game suspension.

What does all this mean? The short answer is nothing. Unless players from Colorado and Washington want to jeopardize their eligibility, they’re best bet is to pretend the law never even passed and go about their business. San Francisco Giants fans will probably be jealous judging by some of their antics in the past, but you can always get a prescription in California. Aside from some jokes about Tim Lincecum wanting to be traded to Seattle or Colorado and recruits now banging down the doors at colleges in those states, it will pretty much be business as usual.

H/T Hardball Talk

Is this the end of the LeBron James and Kevin Garnett chalk toss? We may still see pregame rituals such as those this upcoming season, but they’ll have to be completed in a timely fashion. According to The Oklahoman, the NBA has decided to require teams to return to the court for the opening tip no more than 90 seconds after pregame introductions have concluded. Kevin Durant is disappointed by the new rule.

“I personally don’t like it,” Durant said. “Every player in this league has routines they do with their teammates, rituals they do before the game and before they walk on the floor. The fans like it. The fans enjoy it. You see the fans mimicking the guys who do their stuff before the game. To cut that down really don’t make no sense. Why would you do it? I really don’t agree with it, but I don’t make the rules.”

Like many other team leaders, Durant likes to acknowledge each of his teammates personally before tip-off.. Before their preseason game against the Bobcats on Tuesday night, the ball was put into play before the Thunder had finished their greetings.

“Maybe I’ve got to go a little quicker,” Durant continued. “I’ve got to make sure I acknowledge all my teammates before I walk out on the floor. That’s just how I am. That’s how we are as a team, guys do their thing, their handshakes. I do the tying (of) the shoes, the praying. I’ve just got to speed it up.”

Like the new flopping rules, the NBA is probably going to have to levy a few fines before players actually start adhering to the 90-second policy. It’s going to take a lot to stop a guy like Garnett from pointing to each section of the TD Garden crowd and smashing his head off the pad underneath the basket before every game. If K.G. has to rush while rattling his brain he may not be ready to play.

H/T SLAM via Deadspin

The NBA may have finally decided it is going to do something about flopping, but how effective it will be remains to be seen. According to an Associated Press report from Thursday, league spokesman Tim Frank said procedures to deal with flopping are being finalized. In all likelihood, flopping will result in a fine this upcoming season.

It is unknown how heavy the fines for acting jobs could be. The proposed plan for dealing with flops would be similar to the way the league reviews flagrant fouls after the game to determine if they need to be upgraded or downgraded. If there is a play in question where it looks like a player intentionally deceived an official, the league will review the play after the game to determine if the player should be fined.

As we mentioned before when David Stern ripped players for flopping during the playoffs, a fine might not be that effective. If the foul is called at a crucial point in the game and a player successfully deceives the ref, the damage is already done. If you think any type of fine the league might levy would stop someone like LeBron James from flopping to get a call to help his team win in the playoffs, think again. Some of these guys make well over $20 million a year when you factor in endorsements. Whatever fine Stern decides to hand out probably won’t be enough, but at least it’s a start.

If I read the headline above, I would think it was a joke. It’s not. The Women’s Tennis Association is determined to put a stop to excessive grunting during matches. In order to determine what would be deemed “excessive” versus “allowed” grunting, the WTA and the International Tennis Federation are looking into developing a device that could measure on-court grunting levels. Again, this is not a joke.

According to the USA Today, representatives have begun discussing a new rule that would set “acceptable and non-acceptable noise levels based on acoustical data gathering and analysis.” When the rule is eventually put into place, players at tennis academies and junior levels of competition would be educated on the details.

“It’s time for us to drive excessive grunting out of the game for future generations,” WTA chairman and chief executive Stacey Allaster said. “The bottom line is that we want to bring forward across all levels of competition an objective rule through use of technology to make it much easier for athletes and chair umpires.”

The current generation of players would not be affected, as it has been determined by sports scientists that asking today’s players to alter their breathing techniques could hinder performance. Prominent players such as Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic say they are in favor of cracking down on excessive “grunters” like Maria Sharapova and Monica Seles. The ITF is scheduled to make a presentation to some players during Wimbledon.

“We are going to let them know that at a point in time there will be a new rule in place where we are going to bring the noise level down,” Allaster said. “The sooner we can get them to alter the breathing technique the more success we can have.”

So yeah, this is happening. If listening to players grunt like this makes you angry instead of making you laugh, it appears you’re in luck.

H/T Deadspin
Photo credit: Susan Mullane-US PRESSWIRE