What if there was a quiz on the rules to be able to play at nationals? Seriously. How well do people really know the rules?
You had to score greater than 90% to play at nationals.
One guy on our team called a lot of fast counts. No big deal. But he would almost always get the count back to 0 b/c when the marker went down, he did not say the word "stalling". In the rulebook, it says you have to say "stalling". Brilliance.
Or the guy who called travel on me (not at nationals) for chaning speed as I was walking then running to the goalline. He said that was a violation. After he makes that crappy call, the whole play is dead.
Maybe not for nationals. Maybe for regionals would be more appropriate. How would the 10th place team at regionals score on a rules test?
At UPA sponsored tourneys, each team would have a bye round and during that bye they would have to take a test. Sounds like fun.
How many people have actually read the rules? How many just have learned the rules from their captains? How many of those captains knew the rules?
Or would this increase the # of arguments, because now everyone would have read the rules. Instead of a couple loudmouth geeks spouting out rules, all the dumb guys would get into arguments as well. So maybe this isn't the best idea. Then defenders would really know how to cheat.
I am not claiming to be perfect. I f'd a situation up last year observing sectionals, for whatever reason I let people set up in different positions after a foul call in the endzone.
You had to score greater than 90% to play at nationals.
One guy on our team called a lot of fast counts. No big deal. But he would almost always get the count back to 0 b/c when the marker went down, he did not say the word "stalling". In the rulebook, it says you have to say "stalling". Brilliance.
Or the guy who called travel on me (not at nationals) for chaning speed as I was walking then running to the goalline. He said that was a violation. After he makes that crappy call, the whole play is dead.
Maybe not for nationals. Maybe for regionals would be more appropriate. How would the 10th place team at regionals score on a rules test?
At UPA sponsored tourneys, each team would have a bye round and during that bye they would have to take a test. Sounds like fun.
How many people have actually read the rules? How many just have learned the rules from their captains? How many of those captains knew the rules?
Or would this increase the # of arguments, because now everyone would have read the rules. Instead of a couple loudmouth geeks spouting out rules, all the dumb guys would get into arguments as well. So maybe this isn't the best idea. Then defenders would really know how to cheat.
I am not claiming to be perfect. I f'd a situation up last year observing sectionals, for whatever reason I let people set up in different positions after a foul call in the endzone.
posted by sometallskinnykid at 12:28 AM
7 Comments:
Maybe rather than have the UPA require people to pass a rules test, it could devise a series of quizzes that individuals could at least test their own knowledge of the rules. If there were quizzes set up like that online which were easy to use, I'd make sure and have all the college girls I coach take one.
Why does it feel, though, that it's not that those people know the rules so much as they know the loopholes in the rules? If you fast count, for example, you have to subtract two from the count so that your next number is one less than the most recent one. The reason to force the word "stalling", I guess, is to guarantee that the thrower has recognized the acknowledgment of the fast count. Yet by calling a foul, the thrower has made this acknowledgment, thus there is no need for the foul call.
I can differentiate the above from masters hack's example, since the staller is gaining an advantage by skipping the pause (or the entire word "stalling"). But where's the advantage in Tim's example?
What if I said that when you called a timeout, you did not properly form a "T" with your hands (the angle was only 83 degrees), or if you formed the "T" with your two hands (rules say "one hand and the disc") thus it's a turnover? That's according to the rules, isn't it?
Do you find that most rules ignorance is of the above nature or is it more fundamental (like, "I got the disc first")?
btw, there has been an online rules quiz for Observers, but it cost the UPA like $1 for each test. But there's no reason there isn't a web page for "tough calls."
Hmm, I didn't realize that the new rules required "stalling [one second] N" after all of those calls.
Perhaps it would be clearer if the rules said that the count came in at the lower number and that we could do away with saying the word "stalling". Initiate all stall counts by saying "zero", high-count violations begin with "five." Besides being clearer, this would eliminate the "stallone" (that's "stall one", not Rocky) which I apparently do sometimes
M.H.- I do believe that the elite level has a better grasp of the rules. But I also play most of my games in the central region, SO it could be that the worse teams in my region do not know the rules. Some of the discussions are pretty funny at some of the smaller tourneys.
Mr. stallone- I think it is true that people do try to find the loopholes in the rules. I am assuming this is from them getting burned by that same rule and doing it unto others.
I was going to argue about the point of stalling, but the zero idea may be a better idea. It would be much easier to convince the marker that "zeroone...two..three" is wrong. (Moreso than stallingone...two...)
I use an idea that I stole from the Amherst Hurricanes.
Every semester, my girls appoint two "rules gurus". They get rulebooks, and they read a rule before every practice.
I think club teams could use "rules gurus".
BTW...Tim...nice to see you on Ultimatetalk.
-G
GC- I like that idea of making people give rules every practice. You could even make a theme of it. If you are working on marking that practice, read a marking rule.
Let's see, we have talked on the phone, blogged. I am hoping to write you a letter before I even know what you look like!
This will not change me like AJ. I will keep posting my Michigan stuff and my sub zero is great stuff!
Tim,
I have tried to get over to Sub games at tournaments. You are always playing, though, so I can't introduce myself.
-G
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