would football be a better game without the officials?

[unblock]

would baseball be a better game if players just sorted out among themselves what was a ball, what was a strike, and whether or not the throw beat the runner to the bag?

sure, officials sometimes blow a call and shouldn't try to abuse their power to bias the outcome of the game, and yeah, it's quite popular to boo the officials from time to time.

but i think most sports fans, players, and even owners would ultimately agree that the games would be stupid, pointless, dangerous, and unwatchable if it weren't for officials at least trying to make things reasonably fair and orderly.



so why is it sometimes completely impossible for some people, who would acknowledge the need for enforcement of rules and fairness in sports be so completely utterly opposed to any notion of enforcement of rules and fairness in business?

sports would completely suck if teams or players were permitted to negotiate performance for cash deals with their rivals.
it would be silly if either team could pour as many players as they wanted on to the field with impunity. it would be complete mayhem.

ok, given the crap that people are willing to watch these days, maybe it would be considered watchable; hell, maybe i'm on to something really lucrative here.

but actually, no, most sports fans would agree that yeah, you need officials.

oh, but not in real life. no, best to let companies police themselves, best to let the buyer beware, best to let employees just find another job (ha!) if they don't like it, best to let those who can't survive pollution die off so the species can evolve to something that can, i suppose. oh wait, they don't believe in evolution. make that: god will save those who plunder his resources.

personally, i think that capitalism NEEDS a strong government keeping the playing field level. but that's only because i paid attention in school, where i learned that in order for capitalism to work in any reasonable way, you need genuine COMPETITION. and left to its own devices, the free market will squash all competetion.

[Brickbat]

1. Oh God, yes. NFL = No Fun League.

Oh wait, this was an analogy. My bad.

[Renew Deal]

9. The officials don't make the rules.

[Brickbat]

11. Oh, it's not the rules -- it's how they enforce them.

No consistency whatsoever. Holding could be called every damn play.

[Renew Deal]

15. The officials don't decide how to enforce the rules.

They are told what the rules are and how to enforce them. "Consistency" is a meaningless word. Holding cannot be called on every play because it doesn't happen on every play.

[Shagbark Hickory]

2. Football would be a better game without all the timeouts.

[provis99]

3. football would be a better game without the fans.

[PoliticAverse]

4. Well Rollerball was better without rules...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IguzgGx7y-8

[sorcrow]

5. Ultimate frisbee has no officials

Ultimate frisbee has no officials. Rules, yes, but players are self policing.

Crow

[ThoughtCriminal]

6. No Rules!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWTNBRs7Ccs

[mindwalker_i]

7. Football in a battle bots arena

I would so watch that

[Renew Deal]

8. I think this video will answer your question

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TEd77NoSGk

[Kablooie]

10. Might be more interesting with unofficials instead.

[lame54]

12. not to mention the helmets

[Buns_of_Fire]

13. Baseball WOULD be more interesting if tackling were allowed.

For that matter, so would most board meetings.

[MilesColtrane]

14. The newspaper in my city published a Sunday op ed piece...

by hedge fund manager James Altucher arguing that insider trading should be legal and is actually beneficial to markets.

Unbelievable

[unblock]

17. it is beneficial to the markets because it helps make the price correct.

and i think the market should pay me 1 trillion dollars for correcting your misguided notion.

:sarcasm:

[WatsonT]

16. Yes! And with weapons!

And a big cage over it.

Basically thunderdome.