Conference 7.286::sports_90

    Looks like a job for...........
    
    Super_John_Hendry!  Look, up in the sky-box..............
    
    Claybone

Hi Samantha,  (Great Name!)

	I'm sure John is really pleased to have been nominated by Clay to type
in `The Rules of Football', but I think that'd be a Herculean task for even a
hundred word per minute typist.

	It might be more realistical for all of us to use this note to ask
`specific' questions about the rules and/or rulings.

Mike JN

Hi, Samantha.

I bet you weren't looking for the 'complete' rules.

Basically, the field is 100 yards long, marked by lines every 10 yards and
ticks for every yard between lines. The 50 yard line is in the middle and
yards are counted down toward each end zone. (10-20-30-40-50-40-30-20-10)

Each team has 11 players on the field at a time. One team is on offense and
the other on defense. The offense is allowed 4 downs to move the ball 10 yards
by either running with the ball or passing it. If they make it, they get
another 4 downs. This is repeated until the offense manages to cross the goal
line for 6 points (after which a kick for 1 more point is tried) or they get
close enough ( and settle for ) a kick attempt for a field goal which is worth
3 points.

If on 3 trys, they don't make 10 yards, they will usually punt the
ball, giving up possession to the other team. The two teams then change from
their offensive/defensive players to vice versa.

The game keep going back and forth like this in intervals of 15 minute
quarters. At then end of each quarter, the teams trade ends and try to move
the ball in the opposite direction.

One other way to score is for the defense to push the offense back into their
own end zone. This is called a safety and is worth 2 points. You only see this
once in awhile.

There are alot more rules but that should be enough to follow it a bit. I'll
leave it to others more capable to explain some of the finer points. I've
about exhausted my knowledge of the game anyway. :^)

Pete

    I'd like to thank all of you who answered and also those who mailed me
    with lots of detail. I have until the weekend to get it all into my
    head.
    
    	Samantha.

    Samantha, there's also this thing called the replay official.  What
    happens here is that, when an official on the field of play makes a
    call that warrants a closer look (in case a reversal is in order), they
    stop play for a period of no less that 2.5 minutes, usually more like
    4-5 minutes.  This is the perfect time to hit the w.c. so that a
    continuence in fluid replenishment while watching the important stuff
    is not interrupted.  Oh, getting back to the replay official, they
    usually do not reverse the call already made by the field officials
    cause the replay officials are selected among those endowed with the
    tiniest of filberts........
    
    Hope this helps.  :-)
    
    Hawk

Replay Officals like the one's on the field usually take points off the
board whenever a certain team in Silver & Black scores a T.D.
and everyone in the country say's that it was a T.D.

Oh yeah , Replay Officals usually have 100-120 vision , this is a given!!!

Monty

    Hey Monty, do you root for Clemson, too???????????
    
    
    JaKe
    

    I'm back after a week of school.  There is no way I'm going to type
    in all the rules, even in a condensed version, though Pete did a
    good job with the recap.
    
    I have a condensed version of the rules and am writing to Art McNally
    of the NFL (Supervisor of Officials) asking if I can get a copy
    of the full, official rulebook and also if there is a "case book"
    for the officials.  I included an officiating study I've done for
    the last two years charting penalties called by officiating crew
    and also told him I'd like to study the rules so I can do my other
    job better.
    
    I can probably answer most of the specific questions anyone has
    on the playing rules, and all of the questions regarding the official
    statistical rules for football.  Actually, I better be able to answer
    those or I'm out of a job!
    
    John (who is as always sorry that the season is over but who is
    not sorry he doesn't have to see the 1989 Patriots anymore!)

    I think the official called it right because once the ball is kicked,
    it's no longer in possession of the kicking team.  If the official
    penalized San Diego the yardage when spotting the ball after the
    kick, then he called it correctly.  If he didn't penalize San Diego
    the yardage afterward, then I think he screwed up.
    
    It's like on a punt.  Any penalty that happens before the kick or
    if the kicker is roughed/run into, means that the ball can be respotted
    and rekicked.  Once the ball is kicked, any yardage is assessed
    on the return.  Since there is no return on a field goal, I think
    the official called it right.
    
    And I generally do next unseen over most specific team notes
    (especially after being out for a week) and I make it a point to
    next unseen through the Broncos note.  :-)
    
    John

    
    I was under the impression that possession changed when the ball
    passes the line of scrimage. I'm sure that's how it worked in a
    1988 Eagles/Giants game where a FG near the end of the game was
    blocked. Eagles DL Clyde Simmons picked up the ball _before_ it
    passed the line of scrimage and ran it in for the winning TD. That
    play wouldn't have been possible if possession changed on the kick.
    
    Dennis
    

>    I was under the impression that possession changed when the ball
>    passes the line of scrimage. I'm sure that's how it worked in a
>    1988 Eagles/Giants game where a FG near the end of the game was
>    blocked. Eagles DL Clyde Simmons picked up the ball _before_ it
>    passed the line of scrimage and ran it in for the winning TD. That
>    play wouldn't have been possible if possession changed on the kick.
    
    Dennis, I think in that instance, it's a free ball until after it passes
the line of scrimmage, possessed by noone after the kick. If the ball
passed the line of scrimmage, there could have been no recovery for possesion
by Philadelphia. Also, the fact that someone actually touched the ball may have
had something to do with it...

Jim M who_remembers_that_play_with_displeasure :^)
    

    
    	Can anyone please tell me what a PICK is, as in that "play was
    almost a Pick". I hear the commentators say it all the time but no-one
    ever explains it. I've heard about 800 explanations this season of what
    a sack is, they explain it almost every time it happens, but they never
    explain a pick.
    
    Samantha, if you really want to impress your boyfriend, I suggest you
    get hold of a copy of "A Guide to American Football" by Ken Thomas, the
    book they plug every week after the show. He starts off really simply,
    explaining things like the size of the field and the shape of the ball
    (yes, really), and builds up in detail to things like penalties,
    officials signals etc. Easy to read for a beginner, but contains lots
    of useful information too.
    
    Get a copy, read it in secret, and then astound him the next time you
    watch by saying something like "I think the 49er's play much better
    zone defense than man-to-man on third and long yardage plays, don't
    you? ;-) 

    	A pick is a term from a standard basketball play. It is not
    a legal play in football, though. Generally what happens is a pair
    of wide receivers will run patterns in the same area. One of the
    receivers will run the defensive back covering him into his fellow
    receiver. This should leave the receiver wide open, as the other
    defensive back seldom can react quick enough to cover that man.

    "Pick" is also used as a nouveau slang expression for interception,
    also known as a "pick-off" or "pick" for short.
    
    John

Using the basketball term, and kind of reiterating a previous note,
crossing patterns in the  secondary will achieve that.

If they LB's are playing man-to-man, and you have a receiver start
on the right, go downfield about 5 yards and slant to the left, and
a receiver on the left do the opposite, it is VERY difficult for the
defenders to stay with the receivers as they "cross".

(In fact, I've often seen defenders run right into each other).

Crossing patterns are a very effective pass route against some defenses.
The resulting chaos in the secondary resembles a pick in hoops.

Chainsaw

    
    For more info on 'PICK', see section:
    
                              Walton, Joe; coach
    
    HTH
    
    -Dick
    
    

    
    	Thanks for your explanations of what a pick is, they explain
    exactly the situation when I last heard a commentator use it. I've been
    annoyed not knowing for some time now. At last I can sleep at night,
    until the Superbowl that is. I'll have to stay up until 2 a.m. if I
    want to watch it because of the time difference this side of the pond.