“What gives?”
The league is trying to increase certain parts of the game for fan enjoyment. The sport requires people to do things in an orderly and controlled atmosphere. That would be boring to the fans so they allow things (ignore) so they can generate both offense and defense. Rules get in the way. If they wanted to, even at the NBA level the players would be hamstrung if they had to follow the rules. Nobody wants to see players at the line, so they let the violence exist with body contact many times initiated by the offensive player. And as for rebounding, if it is side by side or a “superstar” initiates the contact, no call. It’s to put butts in the seats. And this is why the women’s game has failed and they are changing that with the ignoring of contact. But the players are using it as a weapon to harm the game so until the league changes the flow, it will get more violent. And it will fill the stands and sell pennants, jerseys, and food/drink. And the drink is to add to the enjoyment of the violence.
I can remember when simple hand checking was illegal. And after the first year, it was ignored. AT Christmas time in the early 80’s, the NCAA decided that every foul under two minutes was going to be an automatic two shot shooting foul, they opened up a can of worms. Since the foul was going to be a shooting foul, the defenders made sure the offensive player didn’t get a shot off and they just hammered the offensive player. That rule was withdrawn right after the Christmas break tournament.
wy69
Thanks! That explains it perfectly.