I can't watch streams at all, and I don't think YouTube has any way to download the videos, it just serves streams.

I just saw something in a coaching thread about a player jumping over a teammate that got me thinking: If the rule is primarily to protect the would-be hurdler, why did they apply it only to attempts to hurdle an opponent, rather than any person? (BTW, it would be hilarious to see an attempt to hurdle an official.)

There are tricks to do it. Just requires some technical know-how.

And it's not legal. ;)

My guess, because players typically don't try to hurdle teammates.. They just tell them to get out of the way. I doubt that much thought went into the wording of the rule.

Real Networks has the capability to download most any web based video.
There used to be a "YouTube downloader" program out there but the last time my laptop got serviced, the tech advised getting it off there along with limewire, P2P, and Sopcast (NFL) so I went with his suggestion.

An opponent is going to try to tackle the hurdler. That puts him in a dangerous position. A teammate isn't going to react the same way an opponent is.

I would imagine the teammate to be in even a more dangerous position, i.e. being approached from behind, where he can't see him coming. But it would seem the danger to the hurdler of being spilled on his head would be the same.

You asked why the rules committee wrote the rule as it currently is and i gave you the answer. The potential for a serious neck injury is much greater from the front than from the rear.

Also, the next time I see a runner hurdle one of his teammates will be the first time I see that. I've seen hurdling a defender plenty of times.

Unless the player injured was trying to use the head as a weapon by presenting it top first, that's not true. The risk of serious neck injury is far greater from flexion than from dorsiflexion. Dorsiflexion is what results from the head's being bent back, i.e. a front hit, while flexion results from the head's being bent forward, i.e. a hit on the back of the head.

For the subject at hand, hurdling, the risk is greater from the front as that's where the contact will me made on the hurdle.

I think you're seriously overanalyzing a rule written by coaches who simply don't want runners hurdling defenders.

Honestly not understanding why you're continuing to argue this... you're barking up the wrong tree.

Exactly. The rule is for safety, that is clear. Coaches and administrators wrote this rule (a very long time ago and before YouTube) and have made it a POE to emphasize the rule.

And none of us here have much or anything to do with the rule possibly changing.

Peace

I read statements, I respond to them. Where I read them or who writes them, I don't care.

REPLY: Why is the 'attempt' the foul? I've called two hurdles in my 36 years on the field, coincidentally in two consecutive weeks, and the fouls were almost identical: I was the R. QB rolls to his right, turns the corner and comes face to face with the corner coming up on run support. The corner is slightly broken down--something like you see a catcher do in an old baseball movie where he's more standiong than crouching. The QB attempts to hurdle him and succeeds only in planting his shoe and lower leg into the chest and facemask of the cornerback. That's why the 'attempt' is penalized.