A Question.
 

The chain gang - why does it exist?

Is it merely a demonstration for the crowd? If they can accurately position the thing at the spot where they started, why can't they determine a spot 10 yards from there without a team of officials carrying the chains?

For the looks and to provide job security. They must be union positions.

It's a game of yards, but it comes down to inches a lot of the time when the Chain Gang is involved. With the field being as wide as it is, and with the center of the field getting torn up so often, the hash marks get skewed and even become non exisitant.

I think the chain gang is very important when it comes down to a few inches on one side or the other.

I don't understand the question. The chain gang is vital for showing the down and placing the first down marker. Without the chain gang, it would just be our word against theirs.

We modernists are of the opinion that chain gangs are passe. We should be implanting radio chips in the ball and using GPS and lasers to spot.

FAX THE MODERNIST

It's a good point though, if they can position the base of the chain in the right spot by eyeballing it, why can't they just eyeball the first down?
I guess it's to give the audience a false sense of trust in the system.

You joke but it's true, there must be a ton of technological solutions that would be flawless minus the human error of a bad spot.

When they come out to determine whether its a first down, i don't see why they go to the effort of measuring it on the field - becuase the spot they use for the start of the chain is based on where they've positioned on the sidelines, right? So why can't they just show the corresponding spot 10 yards down, surely they have a spot on the sidelines for this aswell?

I might have to draw it.

That's kind of what i was thinking.

i like that idea when it comes to the ball and the goal line.

Barring a laser/GPS system (which I would support, incidentally), there's too much potential for error with just eyeballing the spot relative to a point on the sideline. When the chain gang comes in, you'll note that there's a guy who grabs the chain on an even yard line and runs out with the two guys holding the two ends. He then positions his link of the chain on that yard mark again, and they stretch out the chain from there. If you take out the very real and very likely possibility that they're not lined up perfectly straight, then it's a very precise measurement. (I note, of course, that "precise" is a very different concept than "accurate.")

The bottom line is that some sort of high-tech system would be superior. The challenge is that you'd have to link the system to the officials' whistles, so that it would only record the furthest advance prior to the whistle blowing. That's not a big problem, though.

I will help you do a presentation in front of of old boy Tags

Sounds good. Can you blow a whistle, or will you need some training?

I think that skill can fit my motivation.


I am just the Associate Producer/Consultant on this.

We modernists do not "joke", Mr. jidar. We have no sense of humor. Nor, as it happens, do we possess a sense of direction. Ergo, our commitment to the proliferation of GPS and lasers.

FAX