Setting a pick is when your teammate has the ball and is being covered by a single defender. You come up behind/to the side of the defender and remain completely stationary, and your teammate dribbles towards you, guiding their defender into your body, and then continuing to dribble while the defender gets hindered by running into you. As the pick-setter, you cannot move your feet and you cannot move your torso or arms to block their progress in any way (this is a personal foul, called a moving pick.) You simply have the right to stand still in a single place on the floor.
The “roll” part just means the ball handler should now have some room to dribble and look for an open shot inside 18 feet.
Since we’re talking about plays off picks, a pick and pass starts with a pick as described above, usually out around the high elbow near the 3-point line. After the pick has been set, the defender has to make a choice to either fight through the pick and stay on the ball handler, or switch assignments and guard the pick setter. Usually defenders are instructed to fight through the pick and stay on their guy, since they are probably still in the best position to guard him. This is where the pass comes in. If the defender fights through, the pick setter can drift back towards the basket and wait for a quick pass between the defenders.
Yep. You’ll see the guys split wide looking over to the line officials and doing a check most times. Arm forward or pointing straight sideways to means “Linejudge, am I on the line?” arm behind is saying “I’m supposed to be off, do you think I’m off?”. The zebra on the line will nod or gesture for them to step up or back. The inadvertent ones like you drew out are normally when the clock is running down and something got messed up with motion.
It’s also the batter’s responsibility to be set to receive the pitches. The best way to handle it is to have both players choose which hand/side they will use without knowing what the other chose.
Wikipedia agrees with Jim’s Son that the 2:00 warning predates television. The fact that it creates an ideal commercial break point is basically just a happy accident. No cite, but I’ve always believed that the 2:00 warning was specifically placed at the two minute mark because that’s how much time you can kill with three kneel-downs / running plays.
Nitpick: It’s a “fair catch kick.” A free kick is what you do after a safety.
Quick note on screen plays is that the linemen pulling out to block aren’t allowed to cross the line of scrimmage before the QB lets go of the ball, else they’re subject to an “illegal man downfield” penalty. That’s why screens get thrown behind the line.
Switch pitchers must use one hand for any given batter. You can’t switch back and forth against the same guy.
Pre-snap procedural penalties like illegal formation, illegal shift, two men in motion are there to reduce injury. They were originally instituted to stop what amounted to the same concept as the flying wing on kick returns.
I think pretty much all teams run option routes on pretty much every play. A very similar concept is the hot read, where if the defense blitzes the hot receiver must break off his route. There’s pretty much always a hot receiver, but even apart from hot receivers, I would be shocked to find any team with an established QB that didn’t rely heavily on classic option routes. The old curl/slant/go option route is simply too good to ever replace with just a slant or just a curl or just a go. I suspect this is one of the reasons that rookie receivers traditionally struggle.
A free kick is any (legal) kick that’s not a scrimmage kick. The free kick after a safety is special in that you may punt, but that’s not what makes it a “free” kick.
Yes, the defense may return a turnover for a score. If this happens in the first possession of an overtime, the game ends. If the defense subsequently turns the ball over on the return, the offense may recover and attempt to score - but most do so on that play; a new series will not be awarded to the offense if they regain possession.
How do the guys that get cut in NFL training camp get paid? I think the guys that make the team get the bulk of their salary in 16 installments called game checks, but that won’t work for guys that get cut…
Players are still eligible to be checked for about a second after they lose possession of the puck. This is incredibly important: otherwise, players could rack up power plays by holding onto the puck, waiting for somebody to commit to hitting them and then passing the puck away before contact is made.
I worded my question poorly. What I meant to ask about was do they get paid anything during training camp? I know drafted rookies often get signing bonuses, but what about an undrafted free agent? Does he get any money for showing up and going through the workouts?
That’s correct - the kicker is always onside to a punt in Canadian football. It’s his job, once the ball is kicked, to continue down the field and join in the efforts to block a return, if the other team has successfully caught the ball. But if for some reason, the other team doesn’t touch the ball, the kicker can recover it if he gets there fast enough.
This rule occasionally trips up new players from the US, who are accustomed to the rule that if no-one touches the ball in a certain period, it’s dead and the receiving team takes possession. I’ve occasionally seen the punter scoop up the ball in these circumstances.
Undrafted free agents sign a contract before training camp starts. This contract may or may not include a small signing bonus. If the contract includes a signing bonus, that is obviously the player’s money to keep, but the player has to make the team and be active on week 1 to start drawing a salary. If the player gets cut and clears waivers, he may be signed to the practice squad and make even less money.
Ok, I’ve got an NFL one. Sometimes, during a kickoff the ball does not land near the receiving team, but instead hits and empty patch of ground. The receiving team makes no attempt whatsoever to field the ball. The kicking team will rush to the ball, and point at it and do ridiculous little dances around the ball, all with really odd expressions and mannerisms. In this situation, the ball usually lands close to the end zone, and the kicking team will huddle protectively around the ball as it bounces, being very careful to get as close to it as possible without actually touching it. Once in a while one of the kicking team will bat the ball away from the end zone just before it goes over the line. Can someone enlighten me as to what’s going on here?
I can do this one. The ball, once punted/kicked, essentially is being surrendered to the other team. The kicking team cannot recover the ball, with two exceptions - an onside kick or if a member of the receiving team touches the ball (which makes it a fumble/muff). So if the return man can’t recover the ball, it is in every receiving team member’s best interest to stay the hell away from the ball. If you’re near it, it could take a funky hop, hit you, and then the other guys recover the ball, presumably in your territory.
On the other hand, once the ball hits the ground, the kicking team is able to down the ball by simply touching it. So if the ball rolls toward the opposite endzone, you’re giving the return team a longer distance to move the ball - hence why kicking team members huddle around the ball, blowing on it, etc. in attempt to make it roll as far as possible without touching the goal line… However, if the ball touches the goal line before or while you’re downing it (as a member of the kicking team), it’s a touchback, which means the ball is placed on the 20 yard line. So mishandling a kick near the goal line can cost your team valuable real estate.