Rule change time again

[Mark Padgett]

When I first saw the term "safety timeout" in the original rules consideration list, I thought it meant that if we were going to eliminate coaches requesting timeouts during a live ball situation, then this would be an exception if a player on the floor appeared hurt. OK, that I could see. But they way it was eventually explained is just plain inane. How about a "let 'em play" timeout. It would work the same, only that it would be called if the coaches thought the game was being called too tight.

What would happen if one coach thought the game was being called too loose and the other thought it was being called too tight? I know - call a timeout and let the two of them arm wrestle at mid-court. Winner gets the game called his way.

See how dumb this proposed change really is. The end result would be that coaches, not officials, will in effect be calling the games. Yeah - that'll work.