The Box
I'm going to preface my comments with some background as to not have them taken out of context:
1) I am about to play in a league for the first time that uses the box. I'm excited about it.
2) I'm always in favor of innovation and I applaud the creator of the box for bringing some of these events and excitement into play via the box.
3) I like also that the box gives some guys that have disabilities, etc a method of passing that seems to be statistically valid.
That being said, I really don't like how the box is administered. Most often, it is used to try to "take away" something after a coach has done something well. With it being a coach's discretion shake, that is definitely the intent. Now, true, the box can have adverse affects on the offense as well as the defense, but for the most part the practical uses of the box has evolved into what I stated above.
My thought is that events occur on any play so why isn't the box quickly shaken automatically after every play to see if a random event occurred. Percentages would probably have to be scaled down a bit, but that way there isn't the element of "I'm using this thing to try to negate you" instead of "hey, did something random (penalty, injury, fumble, etc) occur on either side."
I think that use would eliminate a lot of the criticism, not of the box but more in how it is being applied.
Again, this isn't "box hating"...it is just asking the question about fitting the box to the spirit of its original intent.
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