Quite A Riveting Sequence
While watching last week's Michigan State--Ohio State game, this happened:--Michigan St. has fourth down at the Ohio St. 33. Michigan St. lines up to go for it, then calls timeout.
--They line up again. Michigan St. is in the same formation. Ohio St. calls timeout.
--They line up again. Michigan St. is in the same formation. Ohio St. calls ANOTHER timeout.
--They line up for a fourth time. Michigan St. tries to draw Ohio St. offsides, then calls timeout.
--Fans storm the field and murder the coaches. Okay, this didn't happen, but it should have.
FOUR CONSECUTIVE TIMEOUTS between plays.
Football coaches are such incredible control freaks that this probably seems entirely reasonable to them, but it's killing the entertainment value of the game (it's the first time I've seen four in a row, but I've seen three several times this season).
Dear Coaches,
Rules we need because of you:
--no consecutive timeouts. If a team calls a timeout, no timeouts by either team can be called until after the next play.
--no timeouts in the last ten seconds of the play clock. If you want to ice a kicker, tough. It's stupid and you're a bad person. If your players can't get lined up in the right formation, or can't snap the ball in time, then you're a bad coach and you need to work on that, not call timeouts.
--while we're at it, you're not getting three damned timeouts anymore. You get one, just like hockey. Use it any way you want. Live it up! Then let your players play the game and get over yourself.
<< Home