From: marshall@nebula.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com (Bob Marshall)
Subject: THE PLAY - STANFORD/CAL
Reply-To: marshall@nebula.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com
Organization: LMSC, Sunnyvale, California
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 20:39:39 GMT

OK, the subject line does not relate to pro football. But I have a general
rules question that I've never gotten a good answer to, and "The Play"
illustrates it. Besides, I don't subscribe to the college football
newsgroup.

As everyone probably knows, it was ten years ago today that Johh Elway
and Stanford got robbed on the miraculous five-lateral kickoff return
by the Bears with four seconds left in the game (I had the misfortune
to have to witness the whole thing from the end zone in which the
winning TD was scored). Everyone talks about the part of the play where 
the Cal player (don't remember his name; all of their names have been 
permanently erased from my memory) was presumedly tackled, but the 
officials ruled that he lateralled the ball before his knee touched.
The thing I've always wondered about is this : the next-to-last guy
to handle the ball was weaving through the Stanford band at about
the 30-yard line. When he reached the 28, he tossed the ball over his
shoulder to a trailing teammate. Actually, "tossed" is the wrong word;
he just sort of put his arm up and let go of the ball. The trailing
guy caught the ball at the 25, and was finally stopped by a trombone
player in the end zone. So, the path of the ball from the time the
guy released it until the time the trailing guy caught it was forward
relative to the field, even though it was "backwards" relative to
the guy who lateralled it. So, the question is, wasn't this a forward
lateral? What exactly is the definition of a legal lateral?

Of course, there's no way you could expect the officials to catch 
something like this, and I certainly don't blame them. The more obvious
complaint would be about whether the guy's knee touched down earlier
during the play. I read an account today which discussed the play from
the officials' point of view. The official closest to the play said he
had just inhaled a puff of air and was all ready to blow his whistle,
but at the last second he held up when he saw the ball come out. Also,
the story mentioned that not only were Stanford players and fans on
the field during the course of the play, but so were Cal players.
Unfortunately for Stanford, the tail-end of the play developed towards
their own sideline, so the officials only saw the Stanford players on
the field illegally. And, the Cal band was on the field, too, but they
were in the opposite end zone where there was no attention.

I hate to admit it, but I think the officials made the correct call under
the circumstances. With instant replay, I think all sorts of infractions
could be found which would nullify the play, but in real time I think
they did the best they could have done.

Another interesting note in this story is that whenver the axe returns
to Stanford after being held by Cal (which seems to have been a *LONG*
time ago, doesn't it? Heh, heh), the scoreplate which summarizes the
scores of all the Big Games seems to have the 1982 score wrong - it
reads "Stanford 20, California 19". This transformation seems to take
place somewhere in the middle of the Bay Bridge.

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Bob Marshall                     \\     "Women aren't as smart as they
Lockheed Missiles & Space Co.     \\     think they are; they think we
Sunnyvale, CA                      \\    men know a lot more than we
marshall@force.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com\\   really do."
"I tell the truth 'cept when I lie"  \\     - Tim the Toolman
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Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro