My thoughts on FOOTBALL
Extra
Extra Points
One thing I
don't like about football is that, sometimes,
it's over before it's over. I mean, I don't mind if, say, the home team
is ahead by three points with one minute left on the clock and the
opposing team is out of time outs, because they'll just kneel down, and
the game will end very quickly. But the situation that bothers me is,
for example, when the home team is ahead by 28 points, the opponent has
three time outs and controls the ball on their own 20-yard line, and
there's one minute left on the clock. Even if they score the touchdowns
and get the onside kicks, there simply isn't enough time to move the
ball down the field four times. And yet, the game can continue for
fifteen minutes or more, as the visitors try to score meaningless
points.
My
suggestion, which would not only prevent that,
but it would also introduce a very high strategy component into the
game, is the following: Currently, the line of scrimmage is the the
two-yard line when you try to kick an extra point. Well, what if you
had the option of kicking for two extra points if the line of scrimmage
was the four-yard line? And if the line of scrimmage is the six-yard
line, you're kicking for three extra points. And so on, until you set
the line of scrimmage at your own two-yard line and try to kick for 49
extra points. Similarly, the line of scrimmage is the two-yard line for
the two-point conversion. Well, what if you could get a four-point
conversion from the line of scrimmage at the four-yard line. From the
six-yard line, it's a six-point conversion. And so on, so that if you
set the line of scrimmage to your own two-yard line, you can try for a
98-point conversion.
Just imagine
the possibilities. No matter how far
you are behind, if you can score a touchdown, then you always have a
chance, though it may be miniscule, of tying the game. And think about
deciding what to do if you score the first touchdown of the game. This
rule would revolutionize the game of football!
Statistics
I
think it's always questionable to keep track of individual statistics
for any team sport. The players are supposed to put the team interests
ahead of their own interests. But as it is, if a player puts his own
interests first, he is likely to have better personal record at the
expense of the team's win-loss record. And even when a player's actions
help the team, he doesn't always get enough credit. Here is an extreme
example of what I'm talking about: Suppose a quarterback throws a
45-yard pass, and the wide receiver catches the ball, evades defenders,
and moves another 45 yards down the field getting tackled at the 1-yard
line. Then, on the following play, the ball is handed to the running
back, who drops the ball, but the offensive linemen do such a great job
that he when he picks up the ball, he can walk into the endzone. In
this case, who gets the touchdown added to his personal records? The
running back gets full credit. Neither the quarterback's nor the wide
receiver's touchdown statistics record their contribution at all.