Hochuli In Verse

NFL Referee Ed Hochuli's 57-second explanation of the new NFL overtime rules … in verse.

With the score tied

at the end of regulation

we will go into overtime

There are special

overtime

rules

in the playoffs

Both teams get an opportunity

to possess the football

with one exception

That one exception

is a touchdown

always wins the game

So if a team

that

gets

the opening kickoff

scores

a

touchdown

on their first possession

the game is over

at that point

If the team

that first gets the ball

kicks a field goal

the other team

will have an

opportunity

to possess the football

And then

we are

essentially

in

sudden

death

If the first team

that

gets the football

does not

score

we will go into

sudden

death

The second team

will then

have the

opportunity

to possess the ball

and

the first team to score

even if it's

just

by

three points

will win

Timing rules

are as if

we were starting

a

new

game

We will use

regular timing rules

And replay

all replay

will be

conducted from the booth

The coaches

do not

have challenges

New York

It's your call

What's your call?

Ali Turns 70

Muhammad Ali turns 70, and it prompts this question: Who among today's sports stars will be the toughest to explain to future generations? Who will be the athlete one who years and years from now will have us spluttering and shouting at some young and clueless kid until finally we are left only with, "I guess you had to be there?"

Offense First

The New England Patriots are trying to do something that, best I can tell, has never been done in NFL history. They are trying to become the first outdoor team to win a Super Bowl with a great offense and a lousy defense, at least by the statistics. I have no idea if they can pull it off.

In looking back through the Super Bowl years, it seems that only two teams -- the 2009 Saints and the 2006 Colts -- have won a Super Bowl with a statistically great offense and a statistically lousy defense. I'll use points scored and points allowed as a simple barometer for offense and defense*.

*Though, those stats obviously are about MORE than offense and defense.

-- The Saints scored the most points in the NFL in 2009 and gave up the 20th most.

-- The Colts scored the second-most in 2006, and gave up the 23rd most.

No other Super Bowl winner has a disparity quite like that. Heck, only three Super Bowl losers -- Arizona in 2008 (third in points, 28th in points allowed), the 1991 Bills (second in points, 19th allowed) and the 1988 Bengals (first in points, 16th in points allowed) -- have such a jolting imbalance.

A Playoff Is Coming

So here's a little peek into how things work in the real world. For a long time, big time college football fans from all over have been protesting, screaming, complaining, railing against the establishment because there is no playoff. Columnists have written screeds. Authors have written books. High profile coaches have given speeches. Fans have expressed extreme outrage. Polls have shown overwhelming support for playoffs. This has gone on for decades.

Now, I believe, college football fans will get what we want. College football will have a playoff very soon.

Why? Exactly. Because LSU and Alabama played an intensely boring football game.

A Long Hall of Fame Review

My predictions so rarely come true that I find it comforting, when I actually get one right, to pause and be awed by the sheer unlikeliness of it. This time around, I predicted that Jack Morris would take a huge jump forward in the Hall of Fame voting in 2012 -- I said his vote total could even get into the high 60s.

Well, sure enough, Jack Morris jumped from 53.5% of the vote in 2011 all the way up to 66.7% in 2012. High 60s. I was hardly the only person to make this prediction, but, again, I'm going to bask in it. I think Morris did enough this year -- I really believe he will get elected to the Hall of Fame next year. I will get into all that in a few minutes.

First, I'm going to give you more than wanted to know about Hall of Fame voting. I find Morris' climb in the voting -- from a low of 19.6% in his second ballot all the way up to the shadow of the Hall of Fame in his 13th -- absolutely fascinating. And it made me go back and look at some of the other players who climbed from low vote totals to the Hall of Fame. That led me to look at every Hall of Fame ballot since 1966, when the writers went back to voting every year. And THAT look back led me to break down the Hall of Fame votes player by player in a way that would get me locked up in a padded cell in most countries.

But, hey, I did it, so I might as well share what I found. I'll warn you again: It's more than wanted to know.

The Future (And Past) of the HOF

It's all well and good to say that the next three baseball Hall of Fame ballots will be "unprecedented." I've written that a few times, and it sounds good.

Next year's ballot will include: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Craig Biggio, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza and Kenny Lofton.

The 2014 ballot will include: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, Mike Mussina and Jeff Kent.

The 2015 ballot will include: Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Gary Sheffield.

Yes, that flood of talent and controversy FEELS unprecedented -- and in some ways that's true. It certainly is a deep run of great players, and a few of them -- especially Bonds and Clemens -- are connected to PEDs in a way that unquestionably will affect the way the voters judge their careers. I have written before that in many ways the voters -- and I am one of them -- will be trying to determine the soul of the Hall of Fame.

But, I realize now I fell victim to one of the classic blunders. I overlooked history.

The Penalties Record

The 1998 Kansas City Chiefs were the least disciplined pro football team I have ever seen. They were probably the least disciplined team I've ever seen on any level -- NFL, Canadian, Arena, college, high school, Pee-Wee, Electronic -- but I don't want to exaggerate things. I have seen some pretty undisciplined Electronic Football teams -- those players go wherever they want.

Those Chiefs, looking back, came by their lack of discipline in a most human way. You have to understand: The 1990s Chiefs were excellent football teams. They made the playoffs every year but one from 1990 to 1997, and they would have made it even that one year, 1996, if Morten Andersen could have made, like, a seven-yard field goal.*

*It was actually a 30-yard field goal.

F.C. Lane

There once lived a fascinating man named Ferdinand Cole Lane, who for much of his life went by the initials "F.C." because, well, his name was Ferdinand Cole.

F.C. Lane lived to be 98 years old, and in his long life did a great many things. He wrote a book about insects, another about trees, another about flowers, another about mountains, another about lakes*, another about the earth's grandest rivers. He taught journalism. He taught history. He wrote poetry. He lived, for a time, in a Canadian log cabin. He once traveled across the Atlantic Ocean in steerage for the experience. He was married to the same woman for 70 years, and 10 months after he died in 1984 his wife Emma passed away.

*He begins his book about lakes -- "The Worlds Great Lakes" -- like so: "Lakes!" No one could charge F.C. Lane with a lack of enthusiasm.