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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!seismo!uwvax!pal
From: pal@crystal.ARPA (Anil A. Pal)
Newsgroups: net.sport.football
Subject: Rules question - Onsides Kicks
Message-ID: <262@crystal.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 26-Oct-83 16:18:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: crystal.262
Posted: Wed Oct 26 16:18:58 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 28-Oct-83 08:28:59 EDT
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 21

Some questions:
	Can the receiving team call for a fair catch on the kickoff?
	Does the kicking team have to give the receivers a "fair chance" to
	catch the ball?

The reason I ask is because  afew friends and I were discussing the
possibility of a different kind of onsides kick, rather than the usual
along-the-ground variety.  The method suggested was to boot the ball high but
only about 15 yards deep, allowing the kicking team to get under it before it
dropped.  They should then have (theoretically) the same chance of catching it
as the receiving team does.
Something similar happened in the Wisconsin-Indiana game this year.  The
badgers kicked off high but short, and the Indiana players cleared out from
underneath (apparently thinking it was a punt or something!!), letting
Wisconsin recover it easily.  What would have happened if Indiana had tried to
catch the ball?  Would it be like a punt return, or more like a pass, where
both sides have equal rights, provided they are going for the ball?
Facts preferred, but opinions welcomed.
Anil Pal
U. of Wisconsin-MAdison