Penalty on Clay Matthews’ Textbook Hit Embroils NFL in Another Rules Controversy
“The NFL has made its policy on how to treat quarterbacks clear: Do not touch them. Do not hit them too hard, either. Don’t put your weight on them. Be delicate. No tussling of hair. Wedgies will lead to ejections. No harsh language, finger-pointing or sarcasm aimed at them. Tickling will be a 15-yard penalty. Talking about a quarterback’s momma will lead to a fine.”
“If the penalties hadn’t made the policy clear enough, the NFL even released a statement Sunday to make it clearer: ‘We strongly encourage all defensive players to not hit the quarterback ever,’ the letter from Commissioner Roger Goodell’s office read. ‘Instead, buy them a drink. Treat QBs like silk pillows. Cuddle them. Hug them. Speak to them softly.'”
First off, I apologize for asking an off topic question, but I can’t be sure when a more appropriate topic will come along. So—while on the subject of rule changes in professional sports…
In baseball, it has always bothered me that a pitcher can intentionally hit a batter. While officially against the rules, it does happen that pitchers regularly throw “brushbacks” or even “beanballs” intended to cause injury. While I don’t think a batter has been killed outright by a pitch since Ray Chapman in 1920, and batting helmets have continually been improved; brain injury in football is now widely acknowledged as a workplace safety concern, and surely concussions from getting hit by a pitch are similarly dangerous. Even if they are not, it is inevitable that another player will get killed sooner or later. No doubt, public outcry and investigations will follow. But why wait for a foreseeable tragedy? Why not reduce a pitcher’s incentive to strike a batter by changing the rules so that a “hit by pitch” results in the pitcher being immediately ejected from the game, even if the hit is deemed unintentional? The only problem that immediately comes to mind is that batters may take advantage of the new rule to intentionally get hit in order to remove a good pitcher early in a game. Problems like that could be dealt with, as they are now, by umpires, i.e. the umpire rules a hit was intentionally caused by the batter means the pitcher gets to stay and the pitch is ruled a strike. Any thoughts?