Lunchtime Thoughts: Rule changes and stadiums

ByTravis Stewart/Texas Football --Allen's new stadium is a testament to high school football.

Rule changes
I'm not going to waste your time with some long anecdotal story about my experiences with taunting in sports -- the NCAA's new rule change that makes it almost impossible to show emotion without serious reprecussion is foolish. The root of the change is that taunting penalties will now be assessed from the spot of the foul, so if a player high-steps his way into the endzone, the ball could be moved back to the spot of the first step, wiping points off the board. Look, I know what the NCAA is trying to accomplish, and it's both noble and not -- part of it is that the league truly wants to protect the integrity of the game, and part of it is that administration wants to cut down on the likelihood of violent interactions between a tauntee and a taunter, always a black eye for college football in general (think Boise State-Oregon). Tell you what -- if the NCAA wants to really eliminate ugly altercations between players, how about kicking a player off the team for getting in a fight, and KEEP him off? The NCAA is hoping that a stiff penalty regarding the action that results in a problem will prevent the problem. But if the administration were to just enforce a real punishment for the problem itself, things would get fixed. If the NCAA were to just stick to its guns and NOT reinstate players who have gotten into on-field fights, kids wouldn't throw punches. Instead, coaches reinstate players who have clearly broken the rules and the league allows it. For lack of a better term ... the NCAA needs to grow a pair.