An Examination of Weird Sports Rules

The SB Nation series "Weird Rules" explains the stories behind the most obscure and weirdest rules in sports.

As sports organizations don't add rules to the rule book for their own amusement, the most interesting thing is often not the rule, but the story behind the rule - what were players doing that was so blatant that it needed to be outlawed in writing.

This is the case in this episode, "One guy mercilessly trolled the NHL into creating a better rule book":


But another reason this topic can be interesting is how the rules themselves can be gamed to gain specific advantages in specific situations. For instance, why would someone intentionally try to block a free throw?