Those Crazy Football Rules

While we wait the couple of weeks before the Super Bowl, we can chat about how Pittsburgh and Seattle taught everybody else how to play football.

Do you watch March Madness? The team that ends up with the trophy is the one that has the endurance. Some years ago, Utah was in the final game. They pooped out before the end of the first half to my utter disappointment having spent 8 years of my life at the University of Utah.

March Madness, of course is basketball. Football is the more rugged game which would have been explained and described by Charles Darwin if it were invented in his day. However, American football came from Rugby. Thats the game where all the players have had their teeth knocked out but still love the game. Only the most fit survive.

I loved football when I was a kid. My mother would not let me put on the high school football uniform with all of the pads, helmet, and other protective devices. Because of that, those of us non-players went to the church grounds and played on the lawn without any uniforms with the safety gear. Our season ended when everybodys knees had turned to mush from playing tackle (without knee pads) rather than touch football.

In Korea we played tackle football with no protective gear. We could only do this when we were back in reserve. We played as hard as we could. If we broke a leg or an arm bad enough the worst that could happen to us would be that they would send us home. We couldnt play football on the line. We would have rolled down the mountain. (Besides we had telephone lines to repair during the day which got blown apart again every night. The lines were necessary to call in mortar fire at night on the mortar concentrations we set up during the day.)

No one ever received the slightest scratch in one of our tackle football games. Our season always ended when the C.O. said, No more tackle football. Youre going to get killed out there. (Each of us had heard that from the Regimental Commander when we joined the unit. He always said, Half of you will not be going home, not alive anyway. Thankfully, he was wrong. Our Regiment lost about 1000 G.I.s plus a large number of ROK soldiers that served in our units over the three years of the Korean War. When I was there, the losses were lower than before I got there and after I left.)

The above is called by football commentators a sidelight. I don't like sideline sob stories (or human interest stories) while watching television football any more than you liked the above sidelight.

Anyway, my wife has taken up football. After resisting for 70 years she finally gave in. She cant believe that she now likes football. What I mean is: She has not suited up yet. She likes to watch it on television. Therefore we now talk about the game.

Im usually reading a book or doing a logic puzzle during the game, but she gives it her full attention and she gives me a steady stream of chatter that actually gets me interested in the game.

Today she asked me about penalties and how they are applied. The penalty she was talking about was when Seattle had Carolina on the one yard line. It was a 5-yard procedural penalty. That meant the ball would be put half the distance to the goal. I said, I think that should be an automatic safety. The ball should be placed on the minus 4-yard line. Now I know that the refs probably have not had algebra, so they should just call it a safety.

My wife wanted to know more. I said, suppose you are on your opponents 16 yard line and they get a 15-yard penalty. The ball would be placed on the 1-yard line. Now suppose you are on the 14-yard line under the same circumstances. The ball would be placed half the distance to the goal and you would get the ball on the 7.5-yard line.

Stupid, right? (If I said the ball should be put on the minus 1-yard line, everybody would moan, "That's no way to get a touchdown!")

Heres what should happen in the second instance. The ball is put on the 1-yard line and then half the distance to the goal. You should be on the -yard line. They should give you as many of the penalty yards as possible and then the distance to the goal of whats left. That will always put you on the 1/2-yard line where you belong.

I also would like the fumble rules put back where they belong. The ground cant keep coming up and knocking the ball out of the players hands like that and getting away with it.

Well, Ive got to go feed my horse.

Before you buy a Belkin wireless network card, you really ought to gather information first. By asking people for their opinions and reading reviews, you would be able to save a lot of time on deciding later. You will also be able to separate the hype from the truth. In doing so, you will be able to make sure that you make a decision which you will not regret later. Here are some facts about Belkin wireless network cards to help you get started:

N1 wireless adapter This Belkin wireless network card is actually sold as a companion to the N1 router, which is Belkins' first 802.11n product. The N11 wireless adapter is actually pretty easy to install since the software driver that comes with it is pretty straightforward with easy-to-understand instructions. Another great thing about this Belkin wireless network card is the fact that it actually costs less than its other-branded counterparts. Let's not kid ourselves: we all like being able to save cash on a purchase.

However, there are a few disadvantages to this Belkin wireless network card as well. One of the most noticeable would be the fact that it doesn't actually take advantage of the 802.11n technology. This means people might be expecting a lot more than what this product delivers. Sure, it performs just as well as other products, but that really isn't much, is it?

Wireless G plus MIMO notebook card This Belkin wireless network card is quite disappointing when you compare it to the performance of other products in the Belkin line. Basically, this Belkin wireless network card just performs a lot slower than its predecessors proving that "new" doesn't necessarily mean "better". The wireless G plus MIMO notebook card installs easily and can be configured quite well because of the included tools. However, these advantages are overshadowed by this Belkin wireless network card's shortcomings performance-wise.

The bottom line is, if you truly want to go with the brand, you are better off buying other models.

Pre-N PC card This Belkin wireless network card is quite fast. We all know that what people look for the most in a network adapter is fast performance. This Belkin wireless network card also has a great range which means that, with this product, wireless does mean freedom. A lot of wireless network cards today claim to bring you freedom through wireless technology when in fact, the range of the adapters virtually confines you.

With this Belkin wireless network card, you also get easy, hassle- free installation. You just insert the accompanying installation disk, follow the wizard, and voila you're done!

Of course, this convenience cannot come free. One thing you have to know about this Belkin wireless network card is the fact that compared to other products, it can be quite pricey. However, you need to learn how to recognize a good investment when you see it and this is definitely a good investment.

Wireless notebook 54 Mbps This Belkin wireless network card is designed specifically for notebooks. If you want your laptop to have the power of high-speed wireless network access, then this is the card for you. It is actually quite cheap at just 35 dollars, but it packs quite a punch. Of course, the performance of this Belkin wireless network card does suffer when used in a mixed-mode environment but on the whole, it can be a worthy investment.