In my viewing of sports in general over the years, I develop various questions in my mind that never get answered. So, if anyone knows the answers to these, chime in. I would appreciate it. Basketball 1) If a player passes the ball to someone else, and they bobble the pass, who gets the turnover? Is it solely placed on the passer or receiver, or is it a judgement call for the scorer? 2) When a player tips a ball into the other teams basket, scoring points for them, who gets the points? Do they give it to the player that tipped the ball in, even though it was for the wrong team? 3) Jump stops are traveling, correct? I have watched basketball for a while, and have always hated the advent of the jump stop. It just looks like traveling to me, especially when the player doesn't immediately shoot or pass after the jump (I assume the "jump" is considered the players 2 steps allowed for layups, etc.) Baseball 1) What is the difference between a hit and run, and a run and hit? 2) Balks have always been confusing to me. Is this another judgement call by the umps, or are there rules set in stone determining when a pitcher commits a balk? 3) What is the purpose of the pine tar that players put on their bats? I know that there are regulations as to how much and how high up the pine tar can be applied to the bat, but I don't understand the point behind it in the first place, let alone regulating it like that. 4) How did baseball players become so superstitious? I understand that baseball is most likely the most superstitous of all sports (don't step on the foul lines, etc). Players like Wade Boggs took this to an extreme level. But what about baseball lends itself to superstition? Football 1) Why is there a rule about eligible receivers? Wouldn't it be more exciting if every player was capable of having a pass play run for him? Is there some reason for this I don't know about? 2) If the plays are called in the huddle, what is the purpose of the QB yelling out things like "Blue 42!" or "Set"? Can't they just say "Hut" or "Hike" as many times as they want? Isn't that more effective to get a defensive player to jump than saying words that everyone knows won't indicate a snap? 3) What is a 3-4 defense? This is something I have heard a lot about concerning the Texans. In the past, I have been a casual football fan, never really understanding any intricate sets or schemes defensively or offensively. But since Houstonians have a team to root for again, I want to become better versed in the inner workings of the Texans' offensive and defensive sets. 4) What is a West Coast Offense? Similar reasoning to question 3, but I haven't heard anything regarding the Texans here. I just wanted to know more about it, since many teams run this. That is all I can think of right now, but I know there are others. As I think of them, I will post them in this thread. Thanks in advance for any info anyone can provide.
I can take a few of these: 2) When a player tips a ball into the other teams basket, scoring points for them, who gets the points? Do they give it to the player that tipped the ball in, even though it was for the wrong team? The basket is credited to the offensive player closest to the ball, even if the defensive player tipped it in. 1) If a player passes the ball to someone else, and they bobble the pass, who gets the turnover? Is it solely placed on the passer or receiver, or is it a judgement call for the scorer? I believe this is a judgment call, though if the pass is decent, I think the turnover is supposed to go to the receiver. 2) Balks have always been confusing to me. Is this another judgement call by the umps, or are there rules set in stone determining when a pitcher commits a balk? Judgment call. There's technically a rule for it, but since balks usually happen in crucial situations, a lot of umps allow a lot of flexibility. It's a lot like how NBA refs allow more contact in the final minutes of close games, trying to let the players decide the games. 1) Why is there a rule about eligible receivers? Wouldn't it be more exciting if every player was capable of having a pass play run for him? Is there some reason for this I don't know about? It would also be impossible for the defense, around the goal line. The defense has to pressure the quarterback, be prepared to stop the run, etc. If there were 10 people available for the quarterback to throw to, the defense would be helpless. 3) What is a 3-4 defense? This is something I have heard a lot about concerning the Texans. In the past, I have been a casual football fan, never really understanding any intricate sets or schemes defensively or offensively. But since Houstonians have a team to root for again, I want to become better versed in the inner workings of the Texans' offensive and defensive sets. Three defensive linemen, and four linebackers. (two outside, two inside) Most teams run the 4-3, which has four defensive linemen and three linebackers. (two outside, one inside) 4) What is a West Coast Offense? Similar reasoning to question 3, but I have heard anything regarding the Texans here. I just wanted to know more about it, since many teams run this. Some could probably answer this better than me, but essentially a West Coast offense is an offense built around the short passing game. One of its principles is using that short pass to set up the run, instead of the run to set up the pass. Many West Coast offenses thrive with quick, playmaking wide receivers who can catch the 7-10 yard crossing patterns and make a play happen downfield. Hope this helps...
Jumpstop question The jumpstop in its most primal form isn't traveling, but the way people use it now, I think technically it is. You get two steps to the basket off of your dribble. The concept with the jumpstop is that those two steps come all at once instead of one at a time, so that is not traveling. But the way a lot of people use it now, they do a jumpstop, and then take another step, which should be 3 steps and hence traveling, but it's never called. So, when you do a jumpstop, you shouldn't be able to pivot or take another step--you're feet should be locked to the ground. Francis gets away with this more than anybody on his way to the basket.
the one i never got was in hockey...PIM? why the hell they gotta have the I in there for? penalty IN minutes? why not just penalty minutes?
Maybe some people might get assigned PIS (Penalty in seconds), PIH (Penalty in Hours), or PIP (Penalty in Periods)
what is the M in MNC in college football? Can't we just call it the NC. About pine tar. I assume it's for grip, but what I don't get is why does there have to be a rule for how high on the bat you can put it. I mean you aren't gripping except in the first few inches so why do you need to put it all the way up.
There's no difference. The common term is hit and run, but sometimes people get it backward. Another thing about the hit and run that I don't think quite so many people get -- one of the prime benefits is that when the runner starts going, the shortstop or second baseman has to move over to cover the base as if it were a steal attempt for the catcher's throw. This opens up an area to enable more balls to go through the infield. The rule - which I don't know exactly, involves determining 'intent'. I believe the rule is something like any motion, with runners on base and the pichers foot on the rubber, not to home plate designed to trick or fool the runners. There are commonly accepted motions that comprise a balk, but the varability comes in on the 'intent'. The bat is one of those things they're real picky about. The pine tar is for grip but over the years with people corking the bat or altering the weight with metals they have become very strict about what comes into contact with the ball. I think this has to to with the slow nature of the game as well as the frequent pauses. Can you imagine a basketball player making sure he doesn't step on a line as he runs down the court? Also, I think because the game goes back so far, to a more superstisious time, that the culture that developed has to some degree developed from that.
2) If the plays are called in the huddle, what is the purpose of the QB yelling out things like "Blue 42!" or "Set"? Can't they just say "Hut" or "Hike" as many times as they want? Isn't that more effective to get a defensive player to jump than saying words that everyone knows won't indicate a snap? I play football, and occasionally, we will say something like "red19" I am a lineman, but the red is the formation the recievers are in. I don't know about the numbers. Yes the quaterback can say hut or hike as many times as he wants. He just has to make ure we(The Lineman) can count that high and can stay down long enough. about the effectiveness of words, I usually play offrnse but I would imagine it would be.
What happens is that the QB comes to the line and if he sees, for instance, that they are going to run inside and the other team is setup to defend against running inside, hell call an audible, which is in some sort of code like blue 42, telling the team which alternate play to run. Of course, they also have fake audibles. Traditionally, the the phrasing is 'down' which tells linemen to go to their stance and 'set' which tells them to get ready and start counting the 'huts'. You'd be supprised at how difficult it is to get your own offensive linemen not to forget the count and be ready at the same time on every play. This a 3-4 defense. Notice 3 linemen & 4 linebackers. (defense is the x's.) Here's a 4-3. 4 d-linemen & 3 linebackers. What Cat said, but it also involves more passing to the running back. Also it includes more sets that are not quite so 'power' oriented. In other words, they don't stack all the backs and linemen to the same side, or setup nice lines for backs to run with lots of blocking. Examples include 'near', 'far', 'weak' and 'pro'(which is the offensive set in the pictures above) sets in the common parlance, though that probably doesn't help much.
Football #2: The calls are usually Down, Set, and Hut. The play will be called in the huddle, like I-Right, 6 Blast, on ____. Down, set or 1, 2, 3. For instance, "on 2", means that the ball is hiked on 2 "huts". etc.
I dont know for sure but my logical guess would be because it is not the minutes they spent serving penalties. PM or Penalty Minutes sounds like the number of minutes spent serving penalties. while PIM or Penalties In Minutes is a way of counting the number of penalties they got based on the length of penalties
Mythical. Some people call it that because they don't believe there is a true national champion unless it is won with a playoff system. I agree.
Actually we use the colors and numbers for lots of things. It all depends on the combinations we use. Sometimes it tells us the snap count, sometimes it tells us a play change, and sometimes it tells us nothing. Most of the time we call blocking schemes this way. If the QB sees something he will use a certain combo to tell the linemen who to block. We also use a lot of no huddle. so we use the presnap call to call plays and other things we would normally call in a huddle. As for the PIM question I am not positive on this but I believe +/-** Is sometimes noted as P/M or PM. It is not done very often as +/- has become standard but I believe that is why they use PIM. **another Hockey stat that tells how many goals a team has scored when a player has been on the ice versus the number of goals the opponent has scored when the same player has been on the ice. For example +5 means that the players team has scored 5 more goals than they have given up while he has been on the ice. a -5 would be just the opposite.
If executed properly, the jump stop you're describing isn't traveling. When you pick up your dribble while you're in midair, the first foot that lands can be used as a pivot. If both feet land at the same time, then either one can be used as a pivot. If you plant your forward foot and then pivot, you get the "third" step. This rule has been around forever -- what's new is that the NBA doesn't really care if your feet hit at the same time. As to hit-and run vs. run-and-hit, let's ask Corey Koskie:
Thanks for the info, guys. When you put it like that, Kimble, the jump stop does sound legal. But then you have to start asking yourself, exactly how high is a player allowed to jump while he is still dribbling? Most players just give a bit of a skip, not too high (although Francis gets away with some pretty damn high jump stops).
