The law is an ass. Dont take my word for it, take Bob Woolmers. In an interview with The Guardian on Wednesday, Pakistans coach decided that attack was the best means of defending his team, as he accused Law 42.3 - their alleged breach of which has thrown the game into chaos - of being anachronistic and contrary to crickets best interests.Id scrub out the law completely, said Woolmer, of a ruling that once consisted of a couple of ambiguous paragraphs about the dos and donts of ball maintenance, but has - since the start of the millennium - been rehashed as an eight-clause, 13-subclause magnum opus.It was brought in because of ball-tampering with razor blades and bottle tops and everything else in the past, added Woolmer, but thats been shoved out of the game now. Its like prohibition: the more you ban alcohol, the more it goes underground. They really need to open it up in my opinion.These are brave words from a man who had admitted that, before yesterdays hearing postponement shifted the goalposts, the future of Pakistans tour of England hinged entirely on that very charge of ball-tampering. As one exasperated journalist pointed out at the height of the brouhaha on Monday, cricket is such a hicks game. Only in cricket could a team prepare their defence of a rule-breach by turning round and saying: Well, its a silly rule anyway.Well, it is a silly rule, and thats what makes this whole issue all the sillier. Though the moralists froth with righteous indignation, in the eyes of the ICC law-makers, ball-tampering barely even registers on the Richter Scale. It is deemed a Level 2 offence, which is on a par with sticking too large a logo on the back of your bat, or getting over-excited in the pursuit of an appeal.The Level 3 offence, the disrepute charge that Pakistan are now willing to accept, is actually one notch more serious, though it does not come attached with anything like the same historical, emotional and moral baggage. Pakistan have no truck with being called troublemakers, but quite understandably, they wont stomach being called cheats.Well, most of them wont, at any rate. Shahid Afridi, however, has always done things differently, and back in February, at a time when his teams bowlers were being lacerated by Indias batsmen on the slow, flat featherbeds of Lahore and Faisalabad, he gave an interview to the Indian news channel, Times Now, extolling the virtues of making the ball.You have to make the ball in order to make it swing, said Afridi in the interview that has spread like wildfire since Sundays stand-off. I dont think theres anything wrong because its a torture for the bowlers to bowl on these wickets. With the kind of cricket that is going on, it spells death for the bowlers if you dont.Afridi has a very valid point. In the first two Tests of that turgid series, 2770 runs were scored for the loss of just 36 wickets, 410 of which came in a single opening stand between Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid. It is all part of a modern-day trend towards bland, conformist pitches that last a full five days and thus please the TV companies, ground authorities and everyone else whose priority lies with the short-term buck. No wonder any attempts to assist the bowlers are so frowned upon.Pakistans underlying grievances, however, stem from the double standards inherent in ball-tampering. As anyone who has ever played the game knows, a bit of spit and polish is perfectly acceptable, essential even, but a bit of scratch and scour ... well that can only be the devils work. But remember last summer when England reinvented the art of reverse-swing? The claim doing the rounds in the Australian press, in a not-so-distant echo of Englands own gripes in 1992, was that their fielders had been armed with boiled sweets to make their shiny sides all the shinier.Whether sugar-enhanced spittle constitutes an artificial substance is a brilliantly moot point - its not exactly Justin Gatlin territory is it? You might as well ban high-energy drinks if youre that worried. But when Simon Jones plucked out Michael Clarkes off stump at Old Trafford with perhaps the most orgasmic delivery of the summer, the only thing that mattered was the sheer, unadulterated skill on display.Personally, Id seen nothing like it since Wasim and Waqars own zenith in 1992. Why on earth would we want to drive such an art-form underground? To hear Afridi talk of making the ball as an innings progresses is a wonderfully creative vision, the sort that should appeal to any schoolboy who has ever sat at the back of a history lesson, folding his way to the perfect aerodynamic paper dart. Its time for the dark arts to be brought into the light.But lets go back to Woolmers thoughts, because they are the most intriguing. Id allow bowlers to use anything that naturally appears on the cricket field, he suggested. They could rub the ball on the ground, pick the seam, scratch it with their nails - anything that allows the ball to move off the seam to make it less of a batsmans game.Provocative comments, but personally, I wouldnt go quite that far. I certainly wouldnt permit rubbing on the ground, because that just replaces one grey area with another - remember Steve Kirbys furtive scrape on the carpark concrete at Sophia Gardens? And besides, who wants to see the unedifying spectacle of a bowler sandpapering the match ball on the cut strip for minutes on end?Afridi himself suggested making it all legal from the 30th or 40th over, which is a neat solution, albeit one that is equally open to abuse. But, in an extension of the natural-substances line, how about this as a solution? Why not require all players to have their nails clipped at the start of a match, and then send them clawless out onto the field, in the full gaze of 26 television cameras, to do their damnedest as the match progresses?Its not as ludicrous as it sounds - after all, footballers are required to have their studs checked before they set foot on the pitch. And more importantly, in bringing the practice up to surface level, we would get one step closer to demystifying the whole phenomenon of reverse swing, which everyone talks about but no-one truly understands. Last summer, one national newspaper commissioned a full-page spread on the subject, complete with illustrated diagram. They happened to get their aerodynamics completely wrong, but of course absolutely no-one noticed.Ultimately, what people find most offensive about ball-tampering is not the act itself, but the furtiveness involved. When Mike Atherton was fingered for the dirt-in-the-pocket scandal in 1994, he could have insisted that he was maintaining the condition of the ball, as per the rules. But upon encountering the formidable figure of Peter Burge, the match referee, Atherton panicked and changed his defence.Bad move. It was quite clear from Athertons actions that he was guilty of something - anything! - and in the kangaroo courts of the British media, that was enough for pandemonium to ensue. It sounds familiar, doesnt it? Wholesale NFL Jerseys Free Shipping . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. Wholesale Jerseys China . Robinson finished with 17 points, all but two in the second half, and Lawson had 14 after halftime and finished with a game-high 11 assists as the Nuggets handed Dallas its first home loss in eight games this season. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 22, and Kenneth Faried added 10 points and 10 rebounds. http://www.cheapnfljerseyschinese.com/ . LeBron James and Chris Bosh didnt need any more. Williams scored 11 points in 10 minutes, Alan Anderson scored 17 points, and the Brooklyn Nets finished the exhibition season with a 108-87 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night. Wholesale Jerseys . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. Cheap Soccer Jerseys . -- The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top of the Western Conference standings unchanged. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Contrary to human nature, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer is doing his best to find the bad in what seemed to be a pretty good situation.Despite the No. 6 Buckeyes breaking school records for offense in Saturdays 77-10 rout of Bowling Green, Meyer wasnt dealing in hyperbole on Monday. He knows Tulsa, visiting Saturday, likely will put up a grittier fight than Bowling Green.Its time to move on, a subdued Meyer said. I would not take any more (away) than guys played pretty good. Weve got a tough one coming up this week.Tulsa, an American Athletic Conference team, enjoyed a blowout of its own on Saturday, beating San Jose State 45-10. The teams top rusher last year, DAngelo Brewer, ran for 164 yards on 22 carries with three touchdowns.Two NFL prospects at wide receiver, a returning veteran at quarterback, Meyer noted.Meyer said there were some disappointments in his team, including the play of wide receiver Corey Smith, who didnt have a catch, and the technique of some of the other receivers. He also called out the offensive line, saying they have to get much better.J.T. Barretts performance against BG earned him Big Ten Player of the Week honors.Barrett accounted for a school record seven touchdowns -- six passing and one on the ground. He was 21 for 31 for 349 yards before leaving with 6+ minutes left in the third quarter. The passing yards total was a personal best for him, and he improves to 16-2 as a starter at Ohio State.We had a good day, but there are still things we can improve on, Barrett said Monday.Among the other stars was H-Back Curtis Samuel, who caught nine passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed 13 times for 84 yards and a touchdown.INJURY UPDATEStarting defensive tackle Tracy Sprinkle had surgery Sunday on a torn tendon in his knee and will miss the season. Defensive line coach Larry Johnson said DreMont Jones or Davon Hamilton will replace Sprinkle. Both are freshmen. Linebacker Chris Worley sprained an ACL and is questionable for Saturday.GOOD DEBUT FOR WEBER, BUT...Redshirt freshman Mike WWeber ran for 136 yards on 19 carries in his first game as a Buckeye, a performance that was sort of lost among the many other superlatives from Saturdays game.dddddddddddd But considering that All-American Ezekiel Elliott had just 44 yards on 12 carries in his 2014 debut against Navy, maybe Ohio State really has something here.Still, Meyer said Weber could have been better.A couple of runs Id like to see him pull through. The kid who played for us last year, I cant remember his name, probably would have pulled through a couple more, Meyer said in a joking reference to Elliott, now with the Dallas Cowboys. But (Weber) is young.Weber agreed with Meyers assessment.I got a couple of shoestring tackles I could have broken for a lot more yards, but Ill go back to the drawing board and work on it, he said.FIRST SACK? NO PROBLEMFreshman defensive lineman Nick Bosa got his first quarterback sack in the fourth quarter, and after some urging from his teammates, gave the shrug that his brother Joey made famous at Ohio State.Earlier in the week, Joey ended his holdout and signed a $25.8 million contract with the San Diego Chargers, which had drafted him the first round. Joey didnt get his first sack until the sixth game of his freshman year.BACKUPS GET A SHOTThanks to the romp, backup quarterback Joe Burrow got about a quarter and a half of mop-up duty and responded well. He was 6 for 8 for 68 yards and tossed a 36-yard touchdown pass to backup running back Demario McCall, one of the 30 Buckeyes who were making their college football debuts. McCall also ran for a 16-yard touchdown and had 54 yards on the ground.Freshman defensive back Rodjay Burns returned an interception for a 75-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. His name wasnt even listed on the two-deep depth chart before the game.---Follow Mitch Stacy at http://twitter.com/mitchstacy . For some of his other recent stories: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/mitch-stacy Cheap NFL T-shirts Discount Jerseys Wholesale NFL Gear Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys From China China NFL Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping China Jerseys Cheap Stitched Jerseys NFL Jerseys China Jerseys NFL Cheap Cheap Stitched Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic ' ' '