Arms Akimbo

We are reasonably sure that the referee signal of hands on hips w/ elbows out to the sides means offsides. But, what the hell is offsides? Is it just another way of saying out of bounds? If so, does it refer to the player or the ball? For instance what happens when the passing guy throws the ball out of bounds versus the running guy running out of bounds with the ball in his hands? Does it matter who touched the ball last before it goes out of bounds, or if the ball hits the ground in bounds and then bounces out of bounds? What if someone steps out of bounds and the ball is nowhere near him? Is there a penalty for that (I think that would be silly).

Comments

[hadas]

Those are all excellent questions about out of bounds. However, I'm almost positive that has nothing to do with offsides. My father once explained to me what offsides means in soccer, and I'll assume it's the same rule in American football. When offense has the ball, they can't pass all the defensive players. There has to be at least one defenseman ahead of any offensemen. If an offense player runs past all the defense players, he's offsides. I'm not sure what sort of penalty is incurred for offsides. Do you think there's a do-over? What do you think the hand signal is for out-of-bounds?

[hadas]

I think it does matter who touched the ball last before it goes out of bounds, that's why the players stay the hell away from a ball that is headed out of bounds. Am I thinking of soccer again? I agree with you that the players should be able to run outside the stadium if they want to, as long as they don't have the ball. My guess is that if you're running with the ball and you step out of bounds, you get a 5-yard penalty. If you throw the ball and it goes out of bounds without anyone catching it, there are no penalties, it just counts as a failed attempt to get a down.

[nancy]

I can't seem to wrap my head around this offsides thing. Let's assume what you're saying is correct, and it's the job of the offense to advance the ball. What's to prevent a defensive player from running ahead of all the offensive players, stopping, and taunting them in a ha, ha you can't pass me manner? The offense would be screwed. Am I missing something, or is this a brilliant play that no one has yet discovered?

[nancy]

Oh, and I'm guessing that the hand signal for out of bounds is when the ref sticks his right arm out to the side and points with his index finger. Although I could also see that being used for ejecting a player from the field due to some sort of egregius foul (like the face mask thing). Can a player foul out in football, or are there just team fouls? Do they call them fouls? I'm going to buy a notebook on lunch so we can take notes during the game on Sunday.

[hadas]

you're right, what i said about offsides makes no sense. so here's my correction: unless you have the ball, you can't run past all the defensive players. i'm not sure what happens when the ball is in the air. i hope there are lots of offsides on sunday so we can get this down.

i thought when the ref stuck his arm out like that, he was indicating which team he is referring to. for example, if he issues a 5-yard penalty, he'd then stick his arm out to indicate which team gets the penalty.

do you know which games are showing in the afternoon on sunday? i kinda want to go see shrek2 at harvard on sunday evening. it's a free outdoor showing--do you want to come?

[nancy]

You're probably right about that signal. I'm totally talking out of my ass.

Regarding Sunday, there are tons of games during the afternoon, I'm sure we can catch one. I wanna see Shrek 2, especially for free. Here's who's playing and when:

Pittsburgh at Miami, 1 p.m. - CBS
Jacksonville at Tennessee, 1 p.m. - CBS
Cleveland at NY Giants, 1 p.m. - CBS
Baltimore at Cincinnati, 1 p.m. - CBS
Houston at Kansas City, 1 p.m. - CBS
New Orleans at St. Louis, 1 p.m. - FOX
Chicago at Minnesota, 1 p.m. - FOX
Philadelphia at Detroit, 1 p.m. - FOX
Arizona at Atlanta, 1 p.m. - FOX
San Diego at Denver, 4:05 p.m. - CBS
Green Bay at Indianapolis, 4:15 p.m. - FOX
San Francisco at Seattle, 4:15 p.m. - FOX
Tampa Bay at Oakland, 8:35 p.m. - G5-9s (ESPN)

[hadas]

I don't think we were able to clarify what offsides is last weekend, but it seems to happen pretty often. We should work on this on Sunday/Monday.