Wednesday, 29 September 2004
Scoring Football
When watching a baseball game, it is always fun to keep score during thegame. Keeping score in baseball allows you to track every aspect of thegame. When scoring a game you track the pitch counts, hitting, base running,and fielding. It really keeps you into the game when normally you wouldthink the game was dragging. This made me ask a couple of questions. Canyou score any other games? Why aren't these games scored? Why would youwant to score the games?
A number of sports are not conducive to scoring. Any sports that havecontinuous motion are not good for scoring. This inludes games like soccer,hockey, and basketball. Why? The style of the game doesn't give the viewerany time to write down and collect meaningful stats. The only sport thathas enough breaks in the action for this type of data collection isfootball.
So I set forth to start working on a method to score football games andhave come up with the following system.
Divide your scorecard into two columns. The left column is used to show thescore, who has possession, and the game clock. The right column is fordescriptions of the plays, results from the play, and the drive totals.The best way to understand the scoring system is to explain a samplescore card. Below is an example score card from the game between theDallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins.
------------------------------------------------------15:00 Dallas (7-3) KO - 10 - 14 1-10-24 P SL - 83 - 4 2-6-28 R M - 24 - 4 3-2-32 IP SR 4-2-32 K13:34 1-4 | 1-2-4 | 1:26------------------------------------------------------Wash 1-10-26 P ML - 83 - 18 1-10-44 P MM - 83 - 15 1-10-42 R M - 26 - (-1) 2-11-43 Y - Holding 2-21-47 P SR - 83 - 9 3-12-44 Y - Int Grounding 4-22-46 K11:02 1-(-1) | 3-3-42 | 2:32------------------------------------------------------Dallas 1-10-20 R M - 27 - (-1) 2-11-19 P DL - 88 - 48!! 1-10-33 P MM - 19 - 24 1-10-9 P SR - 82 - 9 (TD+1)8:47 (14-3) 1-(-1) | 3-3-81 | 2:25------------------------------------------------------
First off, the line represents a change of possession of the football. Inthe first possession, Dallas is receiving the kickoff with a 7-3 lead. Thekickoff traveled to the 10 yard line and was returned 14 yards to the 24.On 1st and 10 from the 24 Dallas completed a pass(P) short left(SL) tonumber 83 for a gain of 4 yards. On 2nd and 6 number 24 ran(R) up themiddle(M) for a gain of 4 yards. On 3rd and 2, a short pass to the right(SR) was thrown incomplete(IP). On 4th and 2, the Cowboys punted(K).Because of the TV coverage I was unable to get distance and return.The final line tells us that the drive ended at 13:34, the Cowboys ran oncefor 4 yards, was 1 of 2 passing for 4 yards, and had possession for 1:26.
The next drive for Washington started 1st and 10 from the 26.The first playwas a mid-range pass on the left(ML) to number 83 for a gain of 18 yards.The next play was a medium-range pass over the middle(MM) for a gain of 15and another first down. The next play was a run up the middle by 26 for aloss of 1 yard. On 2nd and 11, Washington was assessed a penalty(Y) forholding. The next play was a pass to the short right(SR) for a gain of 9yards. On 3rd and 12, Washington was penalized for intentional grounding.and forced to pun on the final play of the drive. The Washington driveended with 11:02 left on the clock. The drive summary consisted one runningplay for -1 yards and 3-3 passing for 42 yards. It took 2:32.
A couple notes on my notation:
- Short Passes are less than 10 yards
- Medium Passe are more than 10 but less than 20 yards
- Deep Passes are more than 20 yards
- TD + 1 = Touchdown plus extra point
- TD - 1 = Touchdown w/missed extra point
This notation is arbitrary, and I would encourage people to play with thissystem and try to find better mechanisms for scoring a football game.
Ok, so it is possible to come up with a method for scoring football games. Whyaren't games scored? I think the main reason football isn't scored is thatthe game is not as boring as baseball. One does not need to keep their headin the game. I also think the game of football offers not only morerelevant action, but more visual confirmation to how the game isprogressing. This makes it easier to get wrapped up into a football game.Baseball, on the other hand, does not provide visual displays of dominance.Thus the need for score card to provide a view of the internals of the gamewhich is better for measuring a teams success.
So why would anyone want to score a football game? That is a good question.I would think reporters would be interested in scoring the game to make iteasier to review and calculate game statistics. The only other reason toscore games would be to understand the internals of the football game. Tosee patterns in the game that are not obvious by watching. Thus it is onlyuseful to students of the game.
