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BGonline.org Forums
Zeus
Posted By: Chuck Bower In Response To: Zeus (Bob Koca)
Date: Friday, 19 December 2008, at 3:31 p.m.
I didn't know about the ban on computer use during games. What was the rationale for it. Did one team start doing it?
I've never gotten a solid answer on this. The best explanation I've heard is that the rule was initiated MANY years ago when computers cost real money. The argument (again, hearsay) was that the wealthy teams would be able to afford it and the others wouldn't. The NFL has tried (just compare to baseball) to cap the $ spent so as to "level the playing field". Of course you can argue until you're blue in the face whether this tactic really works. Good luck arguing with the NFL.
I think it goes deeper than that, though. Cellphones are also banned during a game. In fact you (Gregg in particular) may remember a couple years back when the head coach of Atlanta was fined $25k for using a cellphone (of course it was picked up by the TV cameras) right before overtime started (if I remember right).
This technology 'ban' certainly seems a bit arbitrary. The teams used sophisticated video systems to track every play by every team, creating databases with the video and their own analyses. So if that's OK, why not laptops during the game? One of the answers you hear: "we want the game decided by humans, not computers".
Like I said, you can rail against it all you want, making the most logical arguments imaginable. Your time could be better spent on other endeavors.
BTW, I agree with Bob, and we've told teams this -- a team could (with our help if they so desired, and paid for it :) prepare a book each week, customized to their own and their opponents characteristics. It would have curves / tables that would anticipate 95% of the situations that come up. It would help tremendously.
Just as valuable, a team could design its entire offense around ZEUS, starting even before training camp. You NFL followers know about the attitude "on third down one must try and pick up the entire amount need for 1st down" and it follows that "you should only throw to receivers who have already gone downfield far enough". Every NFL teams' offense is designed around this concept. But what if you didn't necessarily have to pick up the full yardage...? And that simple idea only scratches the surface. We've got a big long list of what could be done.
So far we haven't gotten through to the teams, either. :(
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