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Underground > Games & Gameplay >

Q & A Rules of the Game - why'd they do that?

03:40 / 15.03.06

thought we need a dedicated lazy folks guide to other people's sport.

i can run you through quite a few of the rules of say golf, australian rules, football [some of] cricket - see below - and mebbe a smattering of quirks in rules of a few others, but ask me about basketball and why that person was standing still and the other player suddenly now gets a free throw, and i have nothing.

perhaps you saw curling on the tele and wondered what the fuck they were up to? what is the order of potting all those coloured balls in snooker, or what is kelly pool? well ask away, and see if barbelith has any clues in sport... does pretty well in most other threads - what's say we lovers of the physical aesthetic and beer [together] keep our barb-end up?

start me off: who has a good grasp on exactly what the lbw rule in cricket is?

i love the sport, but am continuously baffled by just what a batsperson can do or not to be out or not when the ball hits hir on the pads and was clearly going to knock off the bails?

11:48 / 15.03.06

This should explain things.

If that's a bit unclear, try this.

The ball obviously has to have been going to hit the stumps, but there are a few main things to remember:

It cannot be given out if it pitched (hit the ground) outside of leg stump. Must pitch either in line with the stumps or on the offside.

If it pitched on the offside then should only be given out if the player was not attempting a stroke. If it pitched in line then it doesn't matter whether you attempted a stroke or not.

Also it is not out if it hit the bat before hitting the pad.

00:30 / 16.03.06

cheers, loomis. that fist link was most insightful

had never quite got the 'batsman offered / didn't offer a shot' bit - and while the whole pitching in-line seemed reasonable, i'd never cottoned on to differences in the rules between the ball pitching leg or off...

now, for american football: when the player scoops the ball back to the quarterback [?], this player often casts the ball down field to a team mate haring past the huge mountains of flesh and padding in their way...

q: can this [second, running] player catch the ball, then throw it again to another team mate?? if so, why does this so rarely happen? and if not, can anyone explain why the rule exists - what does it do for the play, which team is most aided by this ban, if one exists?

must say, i have found that many sports can be watched and the commentators - especially if it is a climactic, season finale game - will by and by give the nub of the rules and one can sit and pretty well understand much of the concept and the challenge facing the players. have seen a couple of finals of gaelic football, for example, and pretty much get why players do things they do, and even spot when he/she should have done better! (though running up to the umpire with a little bit of paper when coming on as a sub in gaelic football makes the big burly men seem chided!)

i have consistently found american football commentators to be particularly poor at talking to non-adherents in their call. they assume a great deal of their audience, so i have never really 'got' this game. lots of stop/start and changing of teams, long long ad breaks and no-one telling me why...

anyone?

Bubblegum Death

01:56 / 16.03.06

The receiving player can throw the ball again, but the pass can not advance the ball. This is called a lateral. The only forward passes can be from behind the line of scrimmage(where the play started). You rarely see laterals, because if the other player misses the ball; it is considered a fumble(dropped ball) and is still in play and the other team could conceivably take control of the ball.

I have to agree with you about football announcers. The only way I learned the rules is from playing video games. Tecmo Super Bowl

02:59 / 16.03.06

ahh, so it stops just bundling the ball about by hand a la basketball or similar... now i see. still, i think a good rugby coach could make a few interesting manouevres out there with the ball still thrown back to a running team mate... cheers, undertoad.

16:05 / 22.03.06

The main reasons for avoiding the lateral in planned plays have more to do with the different laws regarding blocking than relative skill levels between rugby and USFootball players. With the offside line in place in rugby as the team advances the defending team cannot interfere either with attackers lining up to receive a backwards pass or the pass itself unless they are coming in the opposite direction from in front of the ball. In American football a) pass plays are designed to have the receiver relatively isolated and b) most team members who might have been available to receive such a pass are still around the line of scrimmage wrestling with their opposite number.

Also, the relative benefits are outweighed by the dangers. In rugby, designed to be free-flowing, the rules are designed to allow the ball to be recycled without stopping play and keeping the defense moving backwards opens holes for attack. In American football, play finishes as soon as the tackled man is brought to ground and the attacking side retain the ball and as much momentum and advantage as they could for the next play. You will very rarely see a lateral when two attackers encounter a single defender with a clear run to the endzone if they can round him, but the usual play would be for the player without the ball to block for the ball-carrier rather than split off to receive a pass.

Essentially, the players are trained to play in short bursts of single passes and ball carries because that is the way the rules design play to occur. British universities see more use of the lateral because most of their players either started playing rugby or still do. Even then, my team found that it worked better to reset for another set play rather than fling the ball around using the instincts from a different sport.