Factcheck and football, Oct 17^th

The opinion page in the paper today was occupied by a picky Factcheck column pointing out some trivial errors of fact and some equally trivial misrepresentations by the Democratic Presidential candidates in last week’s debates. Hey, well placed exaggerations are just part of the political landscape. We shall ignore these trivia.

 Of greater moment by far is the football game today between Michigan and Michigan State. Both of which, in my very biased estimation, have wildly over-paid coaches. I am no fan of either team and on this day I am faced with the fact that they both can’t lose! Even so at 3:30 I will be watching to see if my tax dollars have been totally wasted.

In honor of the occasion I have prepared a brief lexicon of football terms for those unfamiliar with the game but forced by circumstances to watch it:

Negative yardage: When yards are lost the runner is said to have gained negative yardage. This means that the running back really did run back. Running backs are supposed to run forward. No one knows why they are called running backs instead of running forwards.

Skill player: This term is very irritating to the three-hundred-and-thirty pound linemen who are not considered skill players. Sometimes they then become offensive players.

Pass interference: Your team is not supposed to let a player on the other team catch a pass. The defender is supposed to interfere with the opposing player’s early progress down the field or try to knock the ball away at just the last minute; however, if he knocks his opponent to the ground or trips him, that is against the rules and is not allowed. Certain kinds of pass interference are just fine, other kinds are not; it all depends on which team gives the biggest tips to the referees.

Roughing the quarterback: Defenders are supposed to be rough on their opponent’s quarterback. The whole idea is to scare him so badly that that he never wants to throw the ball, or if he does throw it he will throw it to somebody on your team. However, a three hundred-and-thirty-pound lineman is not allowed to grab the quarterback’s face mask, nor is he allowed to knock the quarterback down after he has thrown the ball. If this happens a major penalty is incurred. The lineman must be sure the referee is ogling the cheerleaders when he commits these offenses. If he can do this and avoid getting caught his value to the team and his scholarship money go up substantially.

Roughing the kicker: If your team member runs into an opponent’s kicker after he punts the ball, that is roughing the kicker and it is a major no-no. Sometimes a player just comes close to the kicker who then falls to the ground grabbing his knee and writhing in pain. This convinces the referee, who has been ogling the cheerleaders again, that a roughing penalty should be called. The better punters, in addition to being former soccer players, were also undergraduate drama majors.

Two point conversion: This is not a religious experience although it’s close. Once a touchdown has been scored the scoring team can elect to take the ball on the other team’s two yard line; if they can get it over the goal in one play they get two points.

Tight end: This is a guy who can either block or run down the field to catch a pass. If he should catch the pass he usually gets hit by several opponents who hope that will make him drop the ball. Tight ends aren’t usually tight although a belt or two before the game greatly helps their outlook.

Pooch kick: Relax SPCA members; no one is kicking a dog. A pooch kick is a low flat trajectory kick that bounces along the ground and is difficult to field

Run out the clock: This doesn’t mean that someone runs onto the field with a clock; it means that a team which is ahead makes only very safe and time consuming plays thus leaving little time left for their opponents to get the ball back and score.

Bootleg: A bootleg occurs when the quarterback pretends to hand the ball off to a running back but instead keeps it himself to deceive the defense. It has nothing to do with the repeal of prohibition.

And finally-- understand that backs are not scalable; a full back cannot be exchanged for four quarter backs…although many coaches hope that rule will change!

No matter who wins, enjoy the game and if you live in AA or East Lansing stay inside this evening, and stay safe!