Early Prototype
Holding. There’s nothing worse when you’re watching a football game than having a touchdown called back because an offensive lineman was called for holding on the play.
Of the many annoying things about football the holding call is arguably the worst, because it appears to occur on most every down, and the whistling of it appears to be quite arbitrary.
It would definitely be a very convenient way to facilitate the fixing of games, were refs or the league so inclined.
Don’t be naive.
The vast majority of holding calls are on offensive linemen, and the vast majority of those calls are because a lineman grabbed a defensive player by his jersey or arms in order to impede his progress.
Offensive linemen are not eligible receivers, so they have no need to be able to use their hands for anything except sticking them out to block people, which in no way requires manual dexterity.
I think it’s obvious where I’m going here:
To eliminate the majority of holding calls, simply have the hands of each offensive lineman bound shut by tape, or have them wear some sort of special webbed glove.
If you prevent them from being able to grab at things, you will prevent most holding calls.
This will in no way change the spirit of the game or have any noticeable effect on game play, outside of less holding calls.
There are certain problems which require complex solutions and thinking outside of the box, like traffic. This is not one of them. Sometimes there is a practical solution right inside of the box.
The only possible problem I can see here is that about once every season an offensive lineman is able to pick up a fumble and amble his fat ass up the field for about nine yards.
It would be harder to pick up the ball with his hands bound shut.
I would submit that the vast majority of the time they simply fall on top of the ball, and also, while not as easy, it is still entirely possible to pick up a ball with your hands bound.
Also, this is football, and the purity of the sport went out the window a really long time ago when they started protecting the quarterbacks and calling making hard hits illegal.
There is no argument to be had against this, it’s a simple solution to a simple problem.
Unless you want the leeway to fix games that is.