Way OT- Sports Trivia question

[rotationslim]

Off topic, so if you are offended please move along, I did think readers of this board would be interested in this item:

I attended a sport last night, High School, where the Coach, or player from the bench passes a live ball into the field of play, to an active player.

Any guesses what sport it was?

Not a trick question, just a observation of an odd rule in another sport.

Any guesses?????

[Camron Rust]

Just guessing....Lacrosse?

[Snake~eyes]

Originally posted by Camron Rust
Just guessing....Lacrosse?

It's not that, but I have no clue what it is???

Dodgeball? Or is that even a sport????

[Stan]

baseball / softball

[rotationslim]

Clues:

* it is an Olympic Sport.
* As I mentioned, High School sport, at least here in Michigan.
* Ball is yellow (typically, I have only ever seen it yellow, I guess it could be another color, but it would be an oddity)

[M&M Guy]

My only guess would be soccer - if the ball goes out of play, doesn't someone just get it and give it to one of the players for the throw-in (or corner kick), while the clock's still running?

Another trivia I heard recently - what's the only major sport where the offense is not allowed to actually touch the ball, and only the defense handles it?

[M&M Guy]

Hmm...yellow ball. Tennis?

[Dan_ref]

Originally posted by M&M Guy
My only guess would be soccer - if the ball goes out of play, doesn't someone just get it and give it to one of the players for the throw-in (or corner kick), while the clock's still running?

Another trivia I heard recently - what's the only major sport where the offense is not allowed to actually touch the ball, and only the defense handles it?

That's easy. Baseball.

[rotationslim]

Soccer is a good reply, but I won't give a "correct" as (from what I have seen in kids soccer, I have no other frame of referance) the ball is given to a player to throw in, but that player is out of bounds, so I wouldn't consider the ball "live"

In this sport it is passed into a legal, live player in the playing area.

One more clue as to the identity of this odd sport:

At any one time the 2 teams may be shooting at goals that are unequal in size (one teams goal is bigger than the other team's goal), if the venue dictates it.

Water polo? (with the horses of course, hee hee!)

[M&M Guy]

Dan - yep, baseball's easy. But I guess I had never thought of it from an offense/defense perspective before someone asked me.

Now, I've been accused of having a bigger goal than most, but I must draw the line at yellow balls...

[rotationslim]

Ref Ump Welsch got it right, it is Water Polo.

When a shot on goal goes out of the pool, the coach or player on the bench grabs a standby ball and quickly tosses it to the goalie, who tends to immediately pass it up the pool to her offensive players. I am just a spectator, so I don't know all the rules, but it appears that they must pass it in to the goalie, not another player.

BTW, I can't figure out how they ref the thing, the players are beating each other ALL the time, and on rare occasions they blow the whistle. I can't figure out what is an acceptable assault and battery on opponent, and what is penalized.

As to goal size, goals are 10 feet wide, and the top is 3 feet above the water surface. However if one end of the pool is less than 5 feet deep, the top of the goal is 8 feet above the bottom of the pool. (if depth is 4 feet, the goal would be 10 feet by 4 feet) In shallow ends, the goalie (is the only player allowed to) stands on the bottom of the pool, the deep water goalies has to tread water.

It is a great sport, my daughter got involved and it is really fun to watch, and she sure loves playing.

[M&M Guy]

I'm surprised to hear about the different goal sizes, although now it makes sense, considering most schools that have pools probably have a shallow and deep end. That's the clue I was struggling with.

Doesn't PETA get involved with those horses being under water for so long?

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by rotationslim
Ref Ump Welsch got it right, it is Water Polo.

BTW, I can't figure out how they ref the thing, the players are beating each other ALL the time, and on rare occasions they blow the whistle. I can't figure out what is an acceptable assault and battery on opponent, and what is penalized.

...It is a great sport, my daughter got involved and it is really fun to watch, and she sure loves playing.

I hope your daughter is wearing a one-piece swimming suit. THe men's polo I saw when the Olympics were on TV included a lot of "pantsing". I don't think children should have to handle that!

I think the refs stand along the edge and can see pretty much straight down. At least, that's how it appeared on TV. They'd probably get a better angle from a window in the side of the pool. But then the players would have to wear numbers on their butts, I suppose.

When I saw it on TV, I thought it was interesting that there was almost never any specification of who committed the infraction, but everyone just seemed to know. You'd hear a whistle, see a pair of hands go up (the confession), and play would go forward. It looked like a lot of A/D was used.