Super Bowl LIX

I watched the first half of the 59th Super Bowl. I thought, if it was an interesting contest, I'd see it through but that wasn't necessary as the game was effectively over at halftime with the Philadelphia Eagles up 24-0. The Eagles dominated and effectively smashed their much fancied opponent. 

Watching that first half, one thing seemed obvious, the Eagles came ready to play; they had energy, commitment, skill, speed, while the Chiefs looked sluggish and half asleep. Maybe they'd been out on the tiles the night before and came to the game with hangovers?

I still don't understand the rules of the game, many of them appear counter to what football is about. Examples I cite are where there are incomplete plays, and the quarterback intentionally throws the ball out of bounds, and another where if a knee hits the ground, that's it, play stops. The first touchdown by the Eagles was disallowed for the latter reason. In both versions of rugby, that would be a try well executed. Rugby players are taught how to slide into the scoring area for a try, so from my perspective that play was exciting and then to see it scrubbed was disappointing. 

Anyway, the Super Rugby season is about to start, here's hoping the Crusaders can win it and add to their already cluttered trophy cabinet. Oh, and I saw Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl, now her beau can pop the question and get on with it, unburdened by what has been (see what I did there). 

Super Bowl LVIII

Being a sucker for punishment, I endured yet another Super Bowl. I still don't fully understand the game, but things are now a bit clearer for me. 

I appreciate defense, and I could see that this contest was one where defense played a major part. Then when each play of the ball occurred faster, rather than be interrupted by timeouts, the game tended to come alive and become interesting.

Some aspects of play do still annoy me; when the ball is kicked off, and the kicker puts the ball out over the end of the field, that should be a penalty back at halfway or something. Instead, the receiving team start at 25 yards automatically. The other thing that annoys are incomplete plays. Both intentionally kicking out over the end of the field and throwing the ball out intentionally should be actively discouraged IMHO. Keep the ball in play, make the players play.

The end of the game was fitting though, with Hardman receiving the ball for the winning play. He was left wide open and the Chiefs quarterback made a skilful pass to him. 

And I did note Travis Kelce bullying the coach. Someone has got to talk to him and get him to pull his head in. That kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable.

Anyway, I'm sticking with both kinds of Rugby; Union and League football. They both offer more continuous play and are a real test of skill and stamina.

Was Super Bowl 51 Rigged?

I do not know about American Football. To me it looks like a heavily simplified version of Rugby League. So anyway, I was watching some of the Super Bowl 51, the game drags on for far too long for my liking, and then the players just push one another, there might be some game played but if you blink you'd miss it.

Then I did watch the final quarter and the new England Patriots made an amazing comeback. They miraculously levelled the score 28-28. Then in overtime, they won the toss and got the first possession, ending the game from there by scoring the first touch down.

If the game was rigged, that coin toss would be rigged, no? Was there an independent third party inspecting the coin as it landed and calling heads or tails? There was only the ref and players there.

The part fans are claiming proves the game was rigged was when the Falcons were up by eight and in possession, someone on YouTube describes it like this....

It was obvious. The Falcons had the ball with a few minutes left, up by 8, and within field goal range. It would have been a chip shot from where they were. Instead of running the ball until fourth down, then kicking a field goal to go up by 11, they opted to pass, the QB ran backwards and got sacked for a huge loss. They were still in field goal range. It would have been a 53 yard field goal from there. They could have run the ball on 3rd down and hoped for maybe a 48 yard attempt on fourth. Instead, they opted to pass and they got a holding penalty, forcing them out of field goal range and forcing them to eventually punt. This is all the proof I need. The Falcons had the game in the bag and the play calling made it too obvious. It's like the person calling the plays wanted to lose the game. This happens all the time in the NFL. I don't know how nobody notices this.

American football fans, defend your sport or condemn it. The Falcons performed an incredible collapse. They even gave up the extra two points the Patriots needed. It could be just about the biggest collapse in professional sports final few minutes. Was it fixed?

I don't know, to me it looked like the All Blacks losing to France in the quarter-final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Instead of positioning for a winning drop kick, they went for the try and came up short. Not rigging, just stupidity in that case.

American Football in Cody Wyoming

I've said before that I have a problem with elements of the game of American football. My main gripe is that it is possible to throw the ball out, I believe this play is called an incomplete pass. Quite often when a forward pass is attempted the ball goes out, and the offensive team retains possession.

This conflicts with the term foot-ball. In either Rugby League football, or Rugby Union football, or Australian rules football for that matter, intentionally throwing the ball out is a penalty, and possession is lost. A kick is awarded to the opposing team. This makes perfect sense as a player should not receive a 'free pass' so to speak and should kick the damn ball somewhere, it is called foot-ball after all.

Rant over. I was lucky to actually witness an American football game when in the US recently. The game was on Friday night under lights in Cody, Wyoming. The Cody Broncs were hosting the Worland Warriors.

The Cody Broncs won quite easily, which was kind of strange as I thought the players on the Worland team looked better. It might be that Cody had more players. I don't know and don't pretend to know the game.

It was funny to see Cody miss a kick for the extra point, how could anyone miss a kick that easy? Oh wait, I remember Stacey Jones missing one like that in Wellington. It does happen but shouldn't.

The reaction of the crowd in Cody wasn't hostile. This was quite heartening I thought. Maybe it was because the kick didn't matter. It was good to see cheerleaders and a big brass band too. Bands have disappeared in New Zealand these days. The game was played on an artificial turf, not as good as grass I have to say.

Who was watching this game? There were men and women, and school children, the men often had a jacket on with Cody Broncs emblazoned across the back. Clearly this game was important to them. The cheering was good natured, they clearly wanted their team to win but not at all costs. Sportsmanship was clearly something they valued.

I have stopped going to Rugby games in New Zealand. The equivalent of the game in Cody would be a 1st XV encounter in NZ. The atmosphere at 1st XV games in NZ has become very threatening, the crowd starts out in the stands, but they move down to the sidelines as the game progresses and they start abusing the players on both sides, even their own team. It can be very unpleasant. There's no band, no cheerleaders, just ignorant parents and former students all getting on the players backs.

It was a relief to see a game at long last where everyone has things in context. Clearly competing and winning was important. But more important was comradeship and community. When the game concluded the fans ran onto the field and cheered their heroes. There were no fights, no drunkenness and everyone was behaving themselves in Cody, Wyoming.

American Football

I know next to to nothing about it. I couldn't tell you who the current Super Bowl champion is. That said I've been watching a few games, trying to understand the game. It appears to have several limitations which means it will never gain wide acceptance internationally. It can be entertaining though, I enjoyed watching the Bengals choke the other day. These NFL players seem to lack the ability to protect the ball when in possession of it, you'd think these highly paid athletes would be able to do that, but they cannot.

The game is similar to Rugby Union, but more similar to Rugby League.

Where do I think American football goes wrong? There doesn't appear any incentive to keep the ball in play or to make play continuous. This has me scratching my head.

I've come up with some rule changes to address this. I've not tried to change the rules too much, instead tweaking to make playing the ball, and playing the ball with the foot important - hence foot-ball.

Rule changes, in order of importance:-

1. The Quarterback cannot intentionally throw the ball out. The ball must be kicked or run out or passed to another player or kept in hand. This makes skill a component of Quarterback play.

2. The ball must be touched down when a touchdown is scored. If the ball simply crosses the plain the score is worth 4 points.

3. Play does not end when a knee goes down. This has to be the silliest thing I've seen. Play only ends when the ball touches the ground (fairer). This way, both players can contest the ball, and tacklers must hold the player and get him down, while if not held the player with the ball can commence running again (so long as the ball did not touch the ground).

If a player is held up and is not advancing then it can be called ball grounded.

I wouldn't allow intentional ball grounding unless a touchdown. Intentional grounding - the equivalent of taking a knee - would be a penalty and loss of possession.

In fact a lot of penalties would result in loss of possession; such as, time wasting, foul play, and so on.

4. Punts must always be returned until a tackle is made or the ball is kicked out. No running out or taking a knee (see 3 above too) or fair catch stuff. The receiver can kick the ball out though, if he chooses. Play resumes from where the kick was made. (I would not scrap the fair catch as it could still happen from a  kick in general play, just not from a punt directly following a snap).

6. Only skull caps may be worn, no helmets.