Pick your sport and a stupid rule. Here's mine.
Player hits golf ball. It ends up in the fairway , but it is in a divot. The divot is in the fairway. Player has to play ball as it lies. Why is the player penilized for hitting it in the fairway. A free drop should be allowed. If ground is under repair anywhere on the course , you get a free drop. The divot is damage caused by another player and was not repaired.

Ags Win With Class

I can name plenty, especially in golf:

On the green, you can repair a pitch mark but not a spike mark if it is in your line.

OB is stroke and distance, what is the difference between OB and a hazard?

Soccer limits you to three subs in a game. It would be played at a much quiker pace if the players could come out for a spell.

The NFL overtime procedure is pretty absurd.

The NBA defensive 3 second rule is also pretty stupid.

Although I've ended up in a divot a few times, and was unable to hit the club I wanted to (try a fairway wood in a divot), I think the rule makes sense. Play the ball where it lies as much as possible and accept the fact that divots are part of the course.

As far as repairing ball marks but not spike marks, I think the rationale is ball marks need to be repaired whether they are in the line of the putt or not, while spike marks don't need repair. Maybe we can play sometime and you show me differently, but I don't think I've ever had a problem putting over a spike mark.

I also think the NFL rule, like the soccer shootout rule is fine. They haven't decided the game in the first 60 minutes, so change the game just a bit and decide it that way. Not that I have a problem with the college/HS tiebreak rule (though I do think they should disallow kicking altogether and move the ball back 5 yards every period).

But one football (pro and coll/HS) I've always had a problem with is the half the distance penalty enforcement. I can understand the rationale, but I say either enforce the penalty the entire distance to the 1, or allow the same penalty to be enforced against the other team the same distance it would be enforced had half the distance been applicable.

For example, offense on their own 5, player jumps offsides. Ball placed on 2 and a half. Next play, defensive player jumps offsides, ball placed on 7 and a half. Same exact penalty, but (in this case) the offense gains an advantage by not having their penalty enforced as much.

Darts: "Robin Hood-ing" your dart doesn't count.

after marking your ball, if it slips out of your hands and falls in a water hazard, you must find the ball in the lake or incurr a penalty

theres a million stupid rules in golf...the bear is trying to influence change in the divot not being ground under repair rule...tiger has also pubicly expressed his displeasure in the rule

Golf has too many unfair punishing rules to discuss. Basketball should have a "play on" rule like soccer so an offending team won't get an advantage if they foul.

I've always thought baseball's dropped third strike was stupid. I never understood the reasoning behind it.

If the catcher can't catch a 3rd strike, I think you deserve the chance to make it to first. The other day at one of the Ag games we had a 4 strikeout inning because of that.

bmc, I disagree. If you swing at a pitch bad enough that the catcher can't catch it, you deserve to be out.

What about rules that don't get enforced?

Baseball - Double play ball. The SS/2B doesn't even REALLY have to tag the bag to get the lead runner. If he's in the vicinity, they give it to him.

Basketball - Traveling. Is this really even a violation anymore. I swear, people take four or five steps without a single dribble when driving the lanes all the time now.

The dropped third strike is not called an out because the catcher gets credit for a putout on every K. With the exception of the foul bunt third strike, everyone else must be retired with a defensive player catching a thrown or batted ball. The thinking is that strikeouts should wrap up the same way. Just giving my understanding of the rule.

I don't have a problem with the baseball rules allowing a player who swung at the third strick, which was dropped, to go to first. I just have a problem with it being called a "strikeout." It makes no sense to call something a strikeout when it isn't even an out. Call it something else.

As far as other dumb rules, I have to mention offsides in both hockey and soccer. I absolutely hate that rule. All it does is disrupt the flow of the game. In basketball, a player can be anywhere on the court he wants to be (though the ball has to be advanced in some situations) without penalty, and the same should be true in the other sports. I'm totally against rules that, for no good reason, disrupt the flow of the game. In hockey, its never clear as to what constitutes offsides (or, for that matter, any hockey penalty in the NHL).

That brings me to the other football rule I don't like: dead ball foul for delay of game. It has never made any sense to me that when a team is called for a delay of game, the game is delayed further to enforce the penalty. Just flag it, allow the play to continue, and penalize it, if needed, if the defenses accepts the penalty over the result of the play.

is it that hard to read a name on a card? please the rules pertaining to signing scorecards have been around forever.