[Rkerst]

Hi, I'm not an official, just a fan who enjoys watching basketball on TV. I have a question.

Why, exactly, does basketball need the free throw? Ok, allegedly it penalizes fouls. Fair enough. It also stops the game, is uninteresting, exaggerates the importance of a modest skill, makes close games tedious or even painful to watch at the end, and enables the absurd "hacka" strategy that has been criticized by so many fans and commentators. Why not just get rid of it?

What is so all-fired exciting, or even interesting, about stopping the game while 6 guys line up in parade formation and one of them takes a shot that most experienced players make with ease? It is a 19th century relic that was never intended to dominate the game, as it so often does now.

Ok, you will ask, Ron, what will you do instead to penalize fouls? I have a modest proposal, borrowing a very intelligent idea from hockey.

After a foul is whistled, the offending player takes any position he wants in the back court. He must remain there until the ball repasses the center stripe. This is, in effect, a penalty box, and the defense must play 4 v 5 until the possession changes. Just whistle the foul, remove the player from the front court, inbound the ball, and play on. Simple and effective.

-- Ron K.