There are so many rules and conventions that we to follow on a daily basis. Tip your server no less than 15 per cent. Hold the door for the person behind you. Treat the elderly with respect. These guidelines are not required, but largely expected.
It’s the same when it comes to sports — in addition to the extensive manuals and appendices that officials and players follow, there are a series of unwritten rules that, when broken, incite powerful reactions from players and fans alike.
Those who get upset are people who feel that following a code of conduct is paramount to preserving the games they know and love. These feelings were apparent when Denver Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray attempted a three-point shot in the closing seconds of a comfortable 115-107 win over the Boston Celtics. Murray had already racked up 48 points and was searching for an elusive 50-spot.
Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving took major exception to the last-second heave and chucked the game ball into the stands. The action divided fans across North America and inciting debate between sports traditionalists and the new-school crew.
Since rules were made to be broken, this begs the question: Which unwritten rules do we need to do away with, and which ones still have a place in the modern versions of the games we love?
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“Don’t shoot as time expires”
Scoring when you’re on the winning side of a professional basketball game that is out of hand is a trash move. However, aside from the aforementioned Irving-Murray controversy, this is something that happens on occasion in the NBA.
Los Angeles Laker Sasha Vujacic popped a buzzer-beating three in the 2008 Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs while unguarded and up five points.
It even happened to the Raptors two years ago when Lance Stephenson put up a wide-open look with just seconds remaining, as the Indiana Pacers held a double-digit lead.
At worst it’s an immature decision, but when there’s parity in the competition it’s not some cardinal sin, because losing by 12 instead of 15 doesn’t hurt less (unless maybe you took the under).
Don’t be salty, just be better.
“If it isn’t bleeding or broken, you play”
If you love the game, you get back in there. If you care about your teammates, you don’t let them go to battle alone. This is what athletes have been brainwashed to believe for 100 years. It’s a hyper-masculine mentality that tragically cost University of Maryland offensive lineman Jordan McNair his life this summer.
It’s 2018 — there should be no shame in tapping out, and more and more athletes are realizing that it pays, often literally, to take care of themselves before stepping back into the game.
Pro sports are a business and if you’re not looking out for your best interests, who is?
There’s rarely any loyalty. Taking care of No. 1 and extending your career — or your life, when dealing with head/concussion-related injuries — by being cautious has replaced the sentiment of, ‘There’s no crying in baseball.’
“Don’t go ham on a celly”
Being overzealous for capitalizing offensively has been frowned upon by multiple professional leagues to varying degrees. Baseball said, ‘Don’t pimp your homers.’ Hockey reminded us to act like you’ve been there before. Football exclaimed, ‘Pretend the average Joe could do that in his sleep.’
But shaming people for being spectacular is a practice that’s over. Gone are the days where pros were expected to be demure. Things have changed. Way back when, maybe it wasn’t that impressive to hit a home run off someone who hacked three cigarettes in between innings. It wasn’t too difficult for a running back to skirt by a linesman who clocks a 10.20 40-metre dash, and scoring against a goalie who had no protection, except how out of his mind he felt that day, that was easy pickings.
But in today’s game we need memes of Nail Yakupov sliding on his knees, blue line to blue line after potting a game-tying goal with 4.7 seconds left. We eat up bat flips from Jose Bautista when he connects on the most electrifying hit of his career, and we have dedicated social media accounts for football players and their choreographed, prop-supported routines.
People can be too sensitive sometimes, but that’s what needs to go. Not the pizzazz and exuberance.
“Respect the logo”
A lot is made of disrespecting a team logo. It represents the organization, the city, the history and past greats. That all makes sense, but being fined or jumped for celebrating on a logo is crazy.
Terrell Owens famously did it nearly two decades ago when he was in San Francisco. Recently, Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard was fined $10,000 for celebrating on the Cowboys’ midfield star.
But getting mad at that just gives opponents power over you.
Just think about what a painted-on field logo goes through on any given day. It gets stepped on, spit on, it absorbs blood and aggressive snot rockets. When you think about it like that, dancing or celebrating on a logo is actually the least offensive thing to happen to it all evening.
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“Don’t undercut someone going for a dunk”
Grayson Allen is the poster child for mayhem on the court. The Utah Jazz point guard was largely criticized in college, and suspended while at Duke, for being a menace.
Around Allen, no one was safe. He became more well-known for his jiu-jitsu technique rather than his jump shot. His most egregious move, outside of the kicking and tripping, was undercutting a player on a fast break while his Blue Devils were playing Wake Forest in 2016.
Undercutting someone while they’re airborne and vulnerable can have catastrophic ramifications, and this isn’t an exaggeration. But it’s not only amateurs that have pulled the stunt.
Golden State’s Patrick McCaw escaped with only a lumbar spine contusion after getting undercut by Atlanta’s Vince Carter last season. The Wizards’ John Wall was flipped on his back hard by Atlanta’s Kent Bazemore while attempting a dunk in transition.
Wall actually broke his hand in in the 2015 Eastern Conference semi finals being undercut by, you guessed it, a member of the Hawks. Jeff Teague was the culprit.
This is a rule that has to be upheld at all costs. There’s no place in basketball, even pick up, for this nonsense.
You listening, Atlanta?
“Always stand for the national anthem”
What was once considered a patriotic and unifying minute and a half has become a polarizing production, especially in the United States.
Initially, standing at attention during the national anthem was automatic, a tradition whose origins trace back to around the beginning of the second World War. After the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, anthems took on an even more nationalistic tone as teams arranged pre-game events with terror attack survivors and first responders.
However, ever since Colin Kaepernick took a knee in 2016 to protest social injustice, all those traditional conventions have been reimagined.
So, whether you take the time during the Star Spangled Banner to hold a meaningful protest, sing along with your neighbour while O Canada blasts through the speakers, or stand in quiet reflection of those who have served their countries, the one constant is that people are now much more cognizant of their own actions in these moments.
So, by ‘breaking the rules,’ it actually ended up giving more meaning to anthems than ever before.