# Inside Things--Nuances the casual fan misses **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 24, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926 "2010-09-24T20:21:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/41 "2010-10-01T13:34:59Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > I also remember Robbie Fowler being awarded a penalty (I think it was when he was playing for Liverpool, against Arsenal) when he had not in fact been fouled. He actually tried to convince the referee that a mistake had been made in his favour, but the referee would not change his decision. I’m pretty sure he then went ahead and scored the penalty, though - I guess the possible repercussions from the fans, his manager, and the FA would have been too great had he deliberately missed. Fowler didn’t score the penalty - his shot was a poor one, easily saved by the keeper. But the keeper failed to hold onto it and one of Fowler’s teammates knocked it in for the goal. Fowler said later that he was trying to score because that was his job, but watching the shot, I doubt that. ---
**Author:** ![Baboonanza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f475e1/32.png) [@Baboonanza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baboonanza)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/42 "2010-10-01T14:02:05Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > In ice hockey, when a young enforcer is trying to make a name for himself it is considered proper for the opposing team’s veteran enforcer to give him a chance to fight (and earn some enforcer creds). That’s so awesome! Any sport that has ‘enforcers’ is alright by me 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/43 "2010-10-01T14:04:07Z")
[Here’s another.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfwktuMXK0I&feature=fvw) A player intending to return the ball to the other team accidentally kicked the ball over the keeper’s head and scored. So his team then let the other team score to make up for it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/44 "2010-10-01T14:16:39Z")
> [@treis](#): > > > [@amarone](#): > > > > Correct. “Sent off” = “thrown out of the game” in US parlance. > > There’s no American game that requires teams to play short if a player is thrown out. Most Americans are familiar with association football, even if they don’t care for it. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/45 "2010-10-01T16:48:49Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > [@treis](#): > > > > There’s no American game that requires teams to play short if a player is thrown out. > > Most Americans are familiar with association football, even if they don’t care for it. And loads of them actually play it. Why, there’s even a professional league or two in the States. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/46 "2010-10-01T17:10:07Z")
That rumor is awfully persistent. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/47 "2010-10-01T18:42:49Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Most Americans are familiar with association football, even if they don’t care for it. That’s true, but a surprising number are unaware that an ejected player cannot be replaced (since that is not the case in any of the more predominant team sports here). Conversely, many from outside of North America are quite surprised to find out that an American football team may continue to field 11 players even when somebody gets ejected from the game, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/48 "2010-10-01T19:01:05Z")
That’s true, but then the entire concept of unlimited substitutions is rather a bizarre one to fans of non-American sports. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/49 "2010-10-01T20:16:52Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That’s true, but then the entire concept of unlimited substitutions is rather a bizarre one to fans of non-American sports. Agreed. The philosophies concerning substitutions between American and non-American (we’re both using those terms quite loosely, but I trust people understand what we mean) team sports are vastly different, but bear enough superficial resemblance to cause confusion in international conversations… ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/50 "2010-10-04T06:04:46Z")
As an American, I never understood the value of limited substitutions. To my mind, it’s equivalent to making every athlete in American sports run a marathon right before playing a game. That would obviously make conditioning a factor, favoring the competitors who were in better shape. But it would also add a metric ton of suck to the contest while sucking out most of the awesome. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/51 "2010-10-04T11:10:12Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > As an American, I never understood the value of limited substitutions. To my mind, it’s equivalent to making every athlete in American sports run a marathon right before playing a game. This is clearly nonsense as at the start of the game all the players are fresh. > [@](#): > > That would obviously make conditioning a factor, favoring the competitors who were in better shape. But it would also add a metric ton of suck to the contest while sucking out most of the awesome. Is this just your guess or have you actually watched much soccer/rugby/cricket? If your hypothesis is correct, then the games should be awesome at the start when the players are fresh, then deteriorate badly. Doesn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/52 "2010-10-04T15:53:48Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > Is this just your guess or have you actually watched much soccer/rugby/cricket? If your hypothesis is correct, then the games should be awesome at the start when the players are fresh, then deteriorate badly. Doesn’t happen. By this same logic, actual marathoners start the race in a dead sprint, right? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/53 "2010-10-04T17:44:51Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > As an American, I never understood the value of limited substitutions. To my mind, it’s equivalent to making every athlete in American sports run a marathon right before playing a game. That would obviously make conditioning a factor, favoring the competitors who were in better shape. But it would also add a metric ton of suck to the contest while sucking out most of the awesome. There’s no inherent value to limited substitutions. There’s no inherent value to unlimited substitutions. Limiting substitutions makes conditioning more of a factor, and favors player talent over coaching/managerial strategy. That’s it. It doesn’t add any “suck” to a contest. Go tell Jim Thorpe that (American) football had a ton of suck in the twenties because he played both ways. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926/54 "2010-10-04T18:58:42Z")
It’s like boxing without rounds. Resting between rounds removes some suck and adds awesome. Watching exhausted athletes stagger through the latter stages of a contest is just as uninteresting as watching athletes in peak condition not go 100% in the early stages of a contest to ensure they have enough left in the tank to finish strong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-things-nuances-the-casual-fan-misses/554926.md?page=2)