LIV Golf Could End Soon

Reports are coming in that the Saudi backed golf tour, LIV Golf, could have the plug pulled on it. It makes sense as Saudi Arabia has suffered a severe hit to its revenues. They can still ship oil out through their Red Sea port, but the capacity there is limited, so the double-blockade of the Strait of Hormuz must end soon.

Saudi Arabia spend a lot on sports in an attempt to soften their image worldwide. They invest in major soccer teams, boxing, motor sports, sailing, the list is endless. 

What will happen to the golfers now playing on the LIV tour? My guess is most of them will find a way back into the PGA. That's because the PGA really does need them for their talent. If they try to ban them, then that leaves a player pool wandering around the place who may form into another tour and, perhaps, outdo the PGA. It's an old quandary any business faces; don't leave assets out there that someone else may operate better.

Professional sport across the world is about to have a serious haircut if this conflict goes on much longer. That's because it isn't just Saudi Arabia sports washing, add the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain to the list as well. Take away that money and the value of many pro sports franchises starts to plummet.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/apr/16/liv-and-let-die-golf-rebels-count-cost-saudi-cutbacks

A slowdown in Saudi Arabia’s lavish spending on sport, which is conservatively estimated to have cost the kingdom more than $10bn in the past five years, had been expected, but its Public Investment Fund’s withdrawal of financial support for the rebel tour – which was first mooted to LIV execs on Monday – has caused shockwaves throughout the wider industry.

Significantly, the possibility of PIF’s withdrawal was not even addressed in an email sent by the LIV chief executive, Scott O’Neil, to his staff on Wednesday evening, which has left many of them more fearful for their jobs. Such concerns are not limited to golf, with other sports administrators fearful that similar cuts in Saudi’s budget could be coming their way.

Rio Olympics 2016

What is the television coverage of the Rio Olympics like in your country? In New Zealand it's rubbish. Traditionally it's been a time when you check out sports you'd never ordinarily see. Now we're fed a limited selection of what the local competitors are competing in, such as rowing (which is really boring), and equestrian (horses are cool but the competition is even more boring than the rowing). No beach volleyball, nothing like that. God help us.

American Football

I know next to to nothing about it. I couldn't tell you who the current Super Bowl champion is. That said I've been watching a few games, trying to understand the game. It appears to have several limitations which means it will never gain wide acceptance internationally. It can be entertaining though, I enjoyed watching the Bengals choke the other day. These NFL players seem to lack the ability to protect the ball when in possession of it, you'd think these highly paid athletes would be able to do that, but they cannot.

The game is similar to Rugby Union, but more similar to Rugby League.

Where do I think American football goes wrong? There doesn't appear any incentive to keep the ball in play or to make play continuous. This has me scratching my head.

I've come up with some rule changes to address this. I've not tried to change the rules too much, instead tweaking to make playing the ball, and playing the ball with the foot important - hence foot-ball.

Rule changes, in order of importance:-

1. The Quarterback cannot intentionally throw the ball out. The ball must be kicked or run out or passed to another player or kept in hand. This makes skill a component of Quarterback play.

2. The ball must be touched down when a touchdown is scored. If the ball simply crosses the plain the score is worth 4 points.

3. Play does not end when a knee goes down. This has to be the silliest thing I've seen. Play only ends when the ball touches the ground (fairer). This way, both players can contest the ball, and tacklers must hold the player and get him down, while if not held the player with the ball can commence running again (so long as the ball did not touch the ground).

If a player is held up and is not advancing then it can be called ball grounded.

I wouldn't allow intentional ball grounding unless a touchdown. Intentional grounding - the equivalent of taking a knee - would be a penalty and loss of possession.

In fact a lot of penalties would result in loss of possession; such as, time wasting, foul play, and so on.

4. Punts must always be returned until a tackle is made or the ball is kicked out. No running out or taking a knee (see 3 above too) or fair catch stuff. The receiver can kick the ball out though, if he chooses. Play resumes from where the kick was made. (I would not scrap the fair catch as it could still happen from a  kick in general play, just not from a punt directly following a snap).

6. Only skull caps may be worn, no helmets.

Soccer Basketball Game

I've been thinking - a good sport would be a soccer/basketball game with the goals combined. See kiddie picture attached to illustrate and a photo of both courts side-by-side somewhere, when they could be combined. I couldn't find a picture of what I'm imagining as, apparently, no-one apart from me has thought of this.

The game is played on a basketball sized court and uses a fussball or similar, scoring either in the basketball or soccer goal. No basketball dribbling but passing with hands allowed. Only one step allowed if ball in hand. Goals scored; 3 points if a soccer goal, 5 points if a basketball goal off the foot only with no hands involved. If a basketball goal is scored shooting from the hand exclusively then 1 point, but if the player puts the ball from hand then onto the foot and then in the basketball goal, 2 points. 

I figure 6 players on a team ( one goalie ). It would be a hard game involving a lot of skill, but easy to get the hang of quickly. Think about how fast it would be, interceptions could be by hand or foot, but for each individual player, they'd have to decide in a flash whether to put the ball to hand or foot when receiving a pass. The ball must be kicked into the soccer goal for 3 points, if off the hands or an own-goal even, the attacking team get the ball back at half way with no points scored.

Re-inventing Athletics - Let's Make It Interesting

Hey guys, don't you find athletics boring? I enjoyed running cross-country but attending athletic events was a pain. I remember spending a whole afternoon waiting to see Hasely Crawford run ( he won of course ) and thought even then there had to be a better way.

First off, let's get rid of most of the distances competitors run and scrap all the current field events with the exception of one. My competition looks like this;

Foot race

No starting blocks.

50 metres sprint, starting at the 60 metre mark, runners line up in two parallel lines and go head-to-head like top fuel eliminators, winner to the next round, losers to a repechage. The top two times that are also winners in each round face one another in the final ( all losers can only be second or third at best ). The race is a flying 50 metres. No false starts, just are you fast, and the event takes place across two lanes while the field events are taking place.

Middle and longer distance - scratch and handicap

If handicapped the result is first across the line wins. If an event from scratch ( all start at the start and run the same distance ) then points are awarded for race performance.

Scratch 800 metres - first across the line at 400 metres scores a point, then points at the finish.

First - 4 points, Second - 2 points, Third - 1 point, Mid-race 1 point. In a tie mid-race decides.

Like this - a runner wins the race but he was at the back at the end of the first lap = 4 points.
Then the guy who comes second was second from last mid-race = 2 points
The guy who was third won the mid-race = 2 points.

Gold - 4 points
Silver - the person third across the line with the mid-race victory.
Bronze - the guy second across the line and second from last at the end of the first lap.

This structure prevents runners from hanging around the back and sprinting at the end. It rewards those who do well and try during the race.

Scratch 1600 metres - 4 laps - mid-race points scored at lap 2 and 3. This lets the field sort itself out during the first lap; 1 point each mid-race winner, first three across the line at the finish score.

First - 5 points, Second - 3 points, Third - 2 points, Mid-race - 1 point. If a competitor won both mid-race points and came second, he'd win the race as clearly he had done the best.

Scratch 3200 metres - 8 laps - mid-race points scored at 2,3,4,5,6. First across the line at lap 8 - 10 points, Second - 5 points, Third - 3 points.

Once again it is possible for those who make an effort mid-race to achieve a high place.

Finish outside the top 5 though and points wouldn't count. For points to count, the runner must finish in the top 5.

This structure keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, with something always happening.

The event could start with middle distance handicap, then scratch races, culminating in sprint eliminator with field events at the same time as the sprints.

Field events - scrap all current field events apart from the pole vault, which would be changed to jumping through a target window, which must be penetrated without touching the sides.

Basketball shooting - points scored 1, 2, 3, 5, 6; in one minute from pre-determined points.

Soccer kick accuracy - points scored for hitting the target at pre-determined points, more points scored the harder the kick, such as bending the ball around an obstacle.

Rugby passing - hit the target, suits all forms of hand-held ball sports. Once again more points from farther away and around an obstacle.

Standing jump, good for basketball and volleyball players and lineout jumpers, hit the tag with your hand, height raised until there is a winner.

Running jump - same as for standing but allowed a run up.

In all there are 6 field events, and 4 running distances meaning 8 events both scratch and handicap.

Relays could be held, say 50 + 1600 + 20 baskets at 20 feet + 800 metres.

A field event could be added I call a bat and ball biathlon, hitting and throwing a ball like a cricket or baseball, miss and they have to run a set distance - first across the line wins.

What do you think?

Famous races from history, how would they look if my system was used? Obviously races would be run differently, so bear that in mind, but just for arguments sake;

1976 1500 metres Montreal - the result stays the same but the winner John Walker scores 6 points as he won lap 3 and the finish. But the bronze would be in play as Eamon Coughlan came fourth but won a lap, if he'd taken another one he'd displace Wellman for third based on race performance.

1980 800 metres Moscow - the bronze would go to the Brazilian Agberto Guimaraes and not the Soviet runner Kirov. Guimaraes won the mid-race and came fourth ( remember my rule you have to be top five for the points to count ). This is fairer as the Brazilian ran a good race and did better, with the Soviet runner simply cashing in at the end.

Basketball Efficiency Rating and Analysis

I'm a keen Basketball player and in the past have coached quite a bit. All coaches want to know how their team is performing, as individuals and as a team, so they can address training in those areas which need attention. There are any number of readily available formulas out there which may be of help, the one I like the most being either a linear weighted....

Player Efficiency Rating ( PER )

or a basketball version of VORP ( Value Over Replacement Player ):-

Here is a simple VORP = (pts+0.75*orb+0.25*drb+0.5*ast+stl+0.33*blk)/(1.5*(fga+(.44*fta)+tov + ((0.75*orb+0.25*drb+0.5*ast+stl+0.33*blk)/2)+(mp/4))).

Most people will be familiar with PER, though it can be more easily dealt with if you take each playing element and give it a weighting, then calculate your total. I do it that way, here is someone who has done it also, though his weightings you may like to change as they appear incorrect ( at least at my examination ):-

The link to explain this methodology

[ FGM x 85.910+ Steals x 53.897+ 3PTM x 51.757+ FTM x 46.845+ Blocks x 39.190+ Offensive_Rebx 39.190+ Assists x 34.677+ Defensive_Reb x 14.707- Foul x 17.174- FT_Miss x 20.091- FG_Miss x 39.190- TO x 53.897 ] x (1 / Minutes).

These calculations are worked from readily available game statistics. But they don't tell the whole story as they tend to be offensively biased and don't accurately measure defensive specialists, who we'll all agree are pretty important. Thinking about this I've come up with my own system and weightings for each factor. I generally work it as a ratio not a raw number, but this is the way I look at the game:-