Rewriting the rules: 14 regulations we'd like to change

— -- Fortunately for Dustin Johnson, the controversial penalty levied against him at the U.S. Open earlier this month didn't cost him his first major championship. Several of Johnson's competitors even jumped to his defense and criticized the ruling and how it was handled by the USGA.

Golf, of course, isn't the only game with a rulebook that isn't universally embraced. So we asked ESPN experts in 14 sports to each rewrite one misguided regulation.

NFL

The No. 1 rule to change in the NFL? Easy. Let's fix the catch rule. It's not as easy as it might seem, but there is still no reason to have weekly occurrences of plays that defy the eye test. A player who secures the ball and is not out of bounds should be credited with a catch. If league executives are worried that it will open vulnerable receivers to legal head shots -- because they lose "defenseless player" status after making a catch -- then they should outlaw all hits to the head, period.

-- Kevin Seifert

Golf

Many of golf's rules -- so strict that they're known formally as the Rules of Golf -- are antiquated in today's age, but none more so than Rule 6-6b, which states that the result of an incorrectly signed scorecard is disqualification. Now, there have been amendments to this rule in recent years to protect competitors who had unwittingly committed a penalty during the course of a round. But let's get with the times: The simple act of signing an incorrect card shouldn't prevent the player from continuing to compete in that specific tournament. The punishment hardly fits the "crime."

-- Jason Sobel

Soccer

The away goals rule was introduced as a tie-breaking procedure by UEFA in 1965 to encourage attacking football from visiting sides, therefore making a potentially cagey match more entertaining. Per the rule, when teams play each other home and away in a two-leg fixture, if the scores are equal after the second match, the goals that were scored by the visiting team count double. Alas, this rule has proved counterproductive due to the fear factor it has created among home teams. A lot has changed in 50 years, and it's time the away goals rule change, too.

-- James Dall

NHL

It should not automatically be a minor penalty for delay of game when a player shoots the puck over the glass and into the stands from the defensive zone. This ridiculous rule was put into place after the 2005 lockout, and it has hindered the game more than it has improved it. Case in point: There was one instance during the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs when a player shot the puck from his own end and it sailed into the protective netting at the opposite end of the ice. A penalty was called because, by the letter of the law, it's an infraction. It's also unnecessary. Sometimes a player inadvertently redirects a puck into the seats, and that's also a penalty. It should become a judgment call by the on-ice officials and also a reviewable play.

-- Joe McDonald

MLB

This one is easy. You can't have a sport with different rules depending on which teams are playing. Imagine if the NBA's Western Conference had the 3-point shot and the Eastern Conference didn't. How absurd that would look? Yet here are, with the designated hitter in the American League and not in the National League. Prior to the interleague era, this wasn't a big deal. But we've had interleague play now for 20 years and the MLB still hasn't decided to DH or not to DH. I don't really care which way to go here -- just decide on one rule.

-- David Schoenfield

NBA

Intentional fouling in the NBA has been debated for years, but that debate has slowly shifted toward a fairly one-sided argument in favor of making a change. Even NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who had been on the fence regarding the issue in the past, said earlier this month that he would use his "bully pulpit" to try to force through reform to eliminate the intentional fouling of poor free throw shooters. He cited a 2.5-fold increase in such fouls this season over last season and a 16-fold increase in such fouls over the past five years. Quite simply, it's not basketball and has no business being a part of the game. Sure, players need to make their free throws, but fans shouldn't be subjected to bad free throw shooting contests, which only drag out games until they are all but unwatchable.

-- Arash Markazi

NASCAR

After a Tony Stewart tirade claiming NASCAR compromised safety by not officiating how many lug nuts were tight, NASCAR had to react. But NASCAR went too far: It issues a one-race suspension of the crew chief if the car lacks five tight lug nuts on each wheel following a race. Many believe four tight lug nuts work fine; problems mainly occur only when three or fewer are tight. A crew chief can't tell if a lug nut becomes loose as a car zips around at speed. NASCAR should slap the wrist for a first offense and hammer the crew chief only for multiple violations.

-- Bob Pockrass

esports

Currently in competitive League of Legends, rulings are levied against players and organizations by publisher and developer Riot Games, which serves as the prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner. This has, at times, brought into question the transparency and consistency of the rulings. Perhaps most egregiously, however, there is no appeal process once a ruling has been made. If established, a neutral third party would act as a middleman between Riot and the teams/players during an appeal. This is needed in order to hold both parties accountable for their actions, while also reassessing penalties -- particularly those that are unprecedented when originally ruled.

-- Jacob Wolf

NCAA football

The NCAA should make pass interference a spot-of-the-foul penalty, as it is in the NFL, instead of a 15-yard penalty. The following scene has never made much sense: A receiver streaks down the field followed by a defensive back who, knowing he is hopelessly beaten on a deep ball, either trips or straight up tackles the would-be pass-catcher. The ensuing pass interference penalty awards the offense 15 yards. In what world is that a just punishment? What defense wouldn't give those 15 yards every time, instead of, say, a 40-yard bomb? This antiquated rule needs to be changed to mirror the one in the NFL.

-- Brian Bennett

NCAA basketball

In 1981, the NCAA -- arguing that a jump ball gave an unfair advantage to guys with more height and more hops -- decided that tie-ups would be determined by the little red arrow sitting atop the scorer's table. The jump ball turned into a photo op to start the game. The decision might have improved the flow of the game, but it also has created unintended consequences -- the worst being the late dive for the possession switch. We've all seen it: A guy hustles and slides across the court for a loose ball, only to see an opponent swoop in to halfheartedly force the tie-up. Rather than getting a 50-50 chance with a jump ball, the effort guy is at the mercy of the alternating possession arrow. Players today are far more athletic -- height no longer equals hops -- and it's time that the rules reflect that ability. If it's good enough for the NBA, it ought to be good enough for the college game.

-- Dana O'Neil

Tennis

We all remember the famous John Isner-Nicolas Mahut match at Wimbledon in 2010 that lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes over three days. As extraordinary as it was, that battle was the start of Isner's downfall, even though he won the marathon. He was too exhausted to put up any legitimate fight in the next round. Overtime tennis is exciting for the fans and ultracompetitive for the players, but when is enough enough? Is it fair to the men's players to play beyond five sets and then come back and compete in the next round against a fresher opponent? All things can't be equal, but tennis can do a better job at managing a player's time and mitigating potential injuries. As it stands, only the US Open implements a fifth-set tiebreaker. The other three Grand Slams continue to make the men compete until someone wins by at least two games in the fifth set, even if that means going until, say, 70-68. It's just not a good long-term solution for the players.

-- Matthew Wilansky

Boxing

There are a ton of things that need to be overhauled in boxing, but let's start with something that would instantly make the sport better. As it stands, there are 17 weight divisions and four major sanctioning bodies. That's a lot of belts. Sanctioning bodies make it even worse by often allowing interim titles, and one organization even routinely hands out three titles in each division. I'm not foolish enough to believe we'll ever see a day again with the old-school eight divisions and one champ per, but how about we at least streamline things a bit and eradicate the unnecessary, confusing and totally bogus "interim" and "regular" titles?

-- Dan Rafael

Formula One

As Formula One machines became more complicated, the driver, once the hero, increasingly became a puppet, reacting to the commands of his engineer in order to best "manage" his race. Something had to change. The quick fix was to remove the engineer from the equation, leaving the driver alone with his steering wheel of torque maps and power modes. All well and good, but when things go wrong -- as they did for Lewis Hamilton recently in Baku -- the driver is expected to remember which of the 30-plus switch positions holds the answer to the problem he never understood in the first place. As one Mercedes team member put it, the driver faces a crossword puzzle without any clues -- while travelling at 200 mph. The quick fix has failed, but the balance still needs to be redressed. Man must once again conquer machine.

-- Laurence Edmondson

Cricket

Once upon a time in cricket, helmets didn't exist, protective equipment did not protect batsmen as well as it should have and there was no limit on the number of bouncers a bowler could target the body with. So it made sense to award leg-byes. The present scenario is markedly different. With due recognition to the unfortunate -- and freak -- accident that led to the death of Australian batsman Philip Hughes, the modern helmet gives batsmen the opportunity to play shots that would have been life-threatening in a previous era, and engineering has significantly improved other protective equipment. In addition, bats have grown bigger, some playing fields have shrunk, pitches have become more conducive to shotmaking and rules have been tinkered with to facilitate more fours and sixes. Through all this, the bowler's weapon -- the ball -- has remained almost unchanged. So how about removing the leg-bye? Don't reward a team when batsmen are beaten by the bowler and hit on the body. Make them score off the bat.

-- George Binoy, Cricinfo