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Football scoring question

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by ColdCat, Oct 22, 2011.

  1. ColdCat

    ColdCat Well-Known Member

    in a college game I had a team block a PAT and return it for 2. how does that go in the box score? two separate entries? return in parenthesis after the TD?
     
  2. joe_schmoe

    joe_schmoe Active Member

    For our HS games, we put it as two entries:
    PODUNK --- Joe Blow 51 run (kick blocked) or (kick failed if you don't normally use kick blocked)
    BAD HIGH ---- John Doe 90 extra point return
     
  3. crimsonace

    crimsonace Well-Known Member

    Because it's a conversion attempt, there are no totals in the game stats, so it doesn't count as a blocked kick, return yardage, et al.

    joe_schmoe's entry is correct (I would do the same thing, with slightly different verbiage), although he must be in Texas or Mass. -- NFHS rules blow the play dead as soon as the defense gains possession and therefore do not allow the defensive two-point conversion.
     
  4. Lieslntx

    Lieslntx Active Member

    Serious question from a non-journalist and one who reads said articles and box scores.

    Why would you put "kick failed" instead of "kick blocked." There is a definite difference between a kick that fails and one that is blocked. As a reader, I would want to know the difference.
     
  5. joe_schmoe

    joe_schmoe Active Member

    The answer probably isn't as complicated as it should be. But the real answer I imagine in most cases is it's not worth the trouble. Failed or blocked gives the same info, the XP wasn't made.

    Not quite as irrelevant as wanting to know if it was a dive, sweep, counter, trap, etc...when saying a running back scored from 3 yards out. He scored.

    But more importantly, often in high school games anyway, where we are our own spotters, have no replay luxury, etc...we can't always be sure it was blocked if the block happens at the line.

    I recall covering a game several years back that was won when the kicker made a 40+ field goal as time expired for a win. He had much shorter field goal blocked earlier, so it seemed. When asked about his nerves on the 45-yarder because of the block, his response was that it was blocked, but it wasn't truly blocked. He lost his footing slightly and it hit the top of his center's helmet.
    No one in the press box could see that, but the coach confirmed the kicker's story.
    Though there would be very few extra points that are that tough to distinguish, it's probably not worth the trouble to most to put it. Just easier to say failed.

    That being said, in my boxes, I do tend to put kick blocked when it's blocked.
     
  6. Brian

    Brian Well-Known Member

    Yeah, I use failed as a catchall because I don't want to make the judgement fromm hundreds of feet away in a pressbox as to whether a kick was blocked or the kid just missed it or kicked it into the back of his lineman. just like I don't want to make a judgment call as to whether the snap was bad or the holder messed up.

    Kick Failed covers all that.
     
  7. Lieslntx

    Lieslntx Active Member

    Fair enough. But if it is a miss, say, wide right, do you refer to that as a missed kick? Or a failed one?
     
  8. Brian

    Brian Well-Known Member

    I should say, we're talking box score here. If the kick is vital to the outcome of the game, I'm going to elaborate in the story.

    In the box score I say the PAT failed.

    In the actual story I say the extra point missed wide right -- if the kick was important to the outcome of the game. In a 65-6 game, no one cares and that detail isn't in my game story.
     
  9. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    As Bear Bryant said after Tennessee missed a last-second field goal in an 11-10 Alabama win in 1966:

    "If he had kicked it straight, we would have blocked it."
     
  10. bpoindexter

    bpoindexter Active Member

    I agree with Schmoe's box score and crimson's alteration to exclude yardage on the return, since it is a conversion attempt.

    Regarding (kick blocked/failed), I prefer the detailed approach (kick blocked or kick wide), while on the other hand, I've worked at papers that use just kick failed. As a reader, I want to know why it failed. Just my opinion.
     
  11. Point of Order

    Point of Order Active Member

    Kick failed is objective.

    Kick blocked might be objective, but there might also be situations where there was a bad snap/hold/kick and the kicked ball hit a defender in the helmet or a blocker in the ass and then it becomes subjective, especially for someone who didn't see the play first hand.

    I would lean toward using the more objective kick failed in all instances for consistency and accuracy purposes. If why the kick failed is really important, the guy writing the game story should mention it.
     
  12. Rhody31

    Rhody31 Well-Known Member

    Here's one I had a few weeks ago:
    Kid runs for five yards from the 30 to the 35, but there's a holding flag five yards ahead of where he gets tackled.
    How do I credit the missing five yards? I can't credit the rush, because it stopped five yards short of the flag, and the refs tacked on 10 from the spot, so the ball ended up back at the 30.
     
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