Random thoughts 1: Just Sayin'

[Lohrenswald]

tbh I've wondered a bit about this

we have two general discussion threads, and both kinda demand rather extreme emotions (rant or rave)

so I've wondered if we could use like a neutral one

"I have no strong opinions either way, but I'd still like to tell you about this situation."

By the powers vested in me by the almighty Thunderfall himself, I hereby declare that Lohr may start a serial thread for random not-good-or-bad musings, and can title it whatever he wants as long as it conveys the intended meaning (and isn't obscene or anything, obviously).

It's done, bam!

I feel kinda bad about Gori's thread being closed, so I incorporated his title into this

Anyway yea, basically, if you have anything on your mind that doesn't warrant a rave or rant, this is the thread for you

 

[Snerk]

 

[Catharsis]

While reading this story a while back it occurred to me that it really doesn't matter if a sport is played on a perfectly uniform and unobstructed pitch or ground, as long as the teams change places in such a way that any obstacles introduced by the environment are borne in the same way by both teams for an equal proportion of the game.

So how about this for an idea - Forest Soccer! Or 'Foccer'. I'm going with 'Soccer' here rather than 'Football' because I see this idea taking root in the USA. European and South American countries wouldn't defile the beautiful game like this, but Americans will defile anything up to and including other people's countries, so they'll be on board.

I don't think there's a particular size a soccer pitch needs to be in order to confirm with regulations, so let's say 100 yards by 50 yards. You pick a piece of terrain - the name suggests forest, but you could use a rocky area, watery, whatever - and mark out a 100x50 area within. Then this becomes the pitch and all other rules of the game remain the same - you can't, for example, take the ball outside of the boundaries of the pitch.

Let's say you're playing in a rocky area and because of where you've placed your markers, one of the teams' goalmouths is actually buried within ten feet of cliff-face and isn't actually accessible unless you use tunneling equipment. No problem! The teams will both have to deal with the fact that their opponent's goal technically doesn't exist for the same amount of time during the game (I suppose you could play silly buggers with the extra-time rules, but existing penalties for diving, timewasting etc. will still apply) because of the requirement to swap ends after 45 minutes.

And the presence of, say, a forest on your pitch means that players can attempt to use the obstacles to their advantage - perhaps a defender can smack the ball into a tree so it gets stuck, and the attackers then need to climb the tree to get the ball back (but they can only touch the ball with their feet which makes it extra challenging). Or perhaps you can play a silky pass to yourself by bouncing the ball off a tree. You could coerce a local badger to savage the opposing team's goalkeeper - free shot!

I'm using soccer because it's most familiar to me but you can do this with other sports too, as long as there's a change of ends. For example, instead of beach volleyball, why not 'marsh volleyball'? Or urban tennis, played with each player on a different rooftop - be careful when coming in to the net. Ice hockey in a desert. So many possibilities.

 

[schlaufuchs]

Uneven ground would be unfair though if fatigue played an issue in navigating the terrain. The second team would always be at a disadvantage attacking into the unfavorable terrain as they're already having to deal with 45' of exertion when the first team got to play that scenario with wholly fresh legs.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I am too politically sensitive. An on-line chess tournament brought me an opponent with the screen name "tpardy" and I immediately figured "libertarian lunatic redneck." Turns out he just uses his first initial and actual last name.

 

[Catharsis]

Uneven ground would be unfair though if fatigue played an issue in navigating the terrain. The second team would always be at a disadvantage attacking into the unfavorable terrain as they're already having to deal with 45' of exertion when the first team got to play that scenario with wholly fresh legs.

Good point! I guess we'd have to tweak the substitution rules a bit. Maybe unlimited substitutions, like in basketball. We'd need to raise the number of subs anyway because the existing rule only allows for three and that won't cover the amount of badger-related maulings I'm expecting to see.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Good point! I guess we'd have to tweak the substitution rules a bit. Maybe unlimited substitutions, like in basketball. We'd need to raise the number of subs anyway because the existing rule only allows for three and that won't cover the amount of badger-related maulings I'm expecting to see.

That isn't really a good point. The already existing factor of wind doesn't lead to a bunch of whining. If you are attacking with the wind in the first half you just have to plan ahead for the reality that defending will be harder in the second half when you are already fatigued, and the opponent has a different but equivalent challenge. I'd be more concerned with the possibility that some enterprising team would be out before the game befriending the wildlife, or break into the opponent's facility and rub bacon all over their cleats. If there was bias in the badger attacks that would severely tilt the outcome.

 

[Catharsis]

That isn't really a good point. The already existing factor of wind doesn't lead to a bunch of whining. If you are attacking with the wind in the first half you just have to plan ahead for the reality that defending will be harder in the second half when you are already fatigued, and the opponent has a different but equivalent challenge. I'd be more concerned with the possibility that some enterprising team would be out before the game befriending the wildlife, or break into the opponent's facility and rub bacon all over their cleats. If there was bias in the badger attacks that would severely tilt the outcome.

Yeah but wind direction is kinda small potatoes compared to what you could have to face. I mean, wind is still going to be a factor in this new sporting revolution as well, but in addition to wind, there's, for example, quicksand. So if you're the team attacking into the quicksand in the first half, perhaps by the second half, quite a lot of your team members have sunk into the quicksand, and we'd need a tweak to the substitution rules to allow you to attack the non-quicksand half of the pitch in the same way that the other team did.

And bribing the badgers is the whole point! Enterprise in overcoming your surroundings is how you win in foccer. But I see what you mean about actions being taken before the game. In my vision however, the teams don't know where they'll be playing until the match is about to start, so you wouldn't have long to commit skulduggery and you'd be under the watchful eye of match officials (owls?) all the time.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Yeah but wind direction is kinda small potatoes...

Clearly you have never played in the annual youth tournament in Rialto California, famous for 30-40 mph winds gusting into the fifties. One year every goal scored in the first round of the tournament was scored with the wind.

 

[schlaufuchs]

But wind is variable and intermittent. And in the NFL you get to balance side selection against kicking/receiving so it's a conscious choice you opt into. The mountain is always going to be there. It's a known quantity and would give one team a decided, perhaps insurmountable (^_^) advantage.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

But wind is variable and intermittent.

You also have obviously never been to Rialto.

So, I'm thinking that the strategy is to get into the opponent's facility and rub bacon on the inside of the dryers so the smell bakes into their uniforms. Nothing like having a badger think your shorts are made of bacon to distract you off the ball.

 

[Catharsis]

To deal with the variability of wind one thing you could do (this might improve the Rialto tournament) is play on a revolving pitch.

That's someone else's dream to chase though, I'm not here to found roccer.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

To deal with the variability of wind one thing you could do (this might improve the Rialto tournament) is play on a revolving pitch.

That's someone else's dream to chase though, I'm not here to found roccer.

The Realto tournament rewards strategic thinking. My kids won a match against a much more skilled team by giving them the wind in the first half and just parking the bus. We cleared everything as hard as we could on about a 45 degree angle, which the wind curled into streaks out the sides. Since a youth tournament has a limited supply of game balls that burned clock as well as opponent legs because we let them chase down the balls. In the second half our keeper played most of the half at the midfield stripe or forward and we just shot from wherever we got the ball, scoring four (keeper got one). It was ugly as hell, and I got excoriated for disrespecting "the spirit of the game," but it worked.

 

[Catharsis]

Interesting. Can the wind be relied upon to blow in a consistent direction for the full duration of the game? And is there rugged terrain about? If so then I might add this location to the game calendar. I suppose the terrain needn't be too rugged, the wind provides the challenge in this case.

This is exactly what I'm going for here:

It was ugly as hell, and I got excoriated for disrespecting "the spirit of the game," but it worked.

 

[schlaufuchs]

and I got excoriated for disrespecting "the spirit of the game," but it worked.

The eternal refrain of losers.

 

[Traitorfish]

But wind is (...) intermittent.

Hark at the Californian.

 

[Synobun]

It's very strange to be the source/target of someone else's anxiety. Being important in all the wrong ways.

 

[choxorn]

This title is perfectly Meh. It is neither Rave nor Rant. It only is.

 

[Lohrenswald]

This title is perfectly Meh. It is neither Rave nor Rant. It only is.

 

[W|M]

For example, instead of beach volleyball, why not 'marsh volleyball'?

At least there wouldn't be sand friggin everywhere when playing