The Choice: To Pass or Not to Pass, that is the Question!!!

[Reginald Rutledge]

One of the biggest dilema of the solitaire player revolves around ethics. Any solitaire player will tell you he struggles with the forces of wanting his favorite team to always win and then doing the right thing. It is a perpetual problem, masked by putting scores up that may have happened or not, if all things were equal.

But the truth is, when your favorite team plays, you always seem to root for them, even in the world of miniature. My favorite team, the Minnesota Vikings 1975-76, should win this Greatest Teams Solitaire League, if all things worked out according to plan. However, I know in my heart, that this team although great, is playing up against some of the greatest teams of all time.

So, chances are slim and none, that if played out properly, the Vikings will not win any Super Bowls here. The thing is, I love all NFL teams pretty equally. That's why, building this league, takes on a special significance. Each team I create, were teams that I deeply rooted for throughout my life. Many people think I am strictly a Cowboys fan. To the contrary, they are just one of many teams I like. So when creating teams, you've got to ask yourself, "How can I be fair to everybody".

One of the things I thought about in building this league is "How will I do the passing". I am one of the biggest advocates for passing with the quarterback but I know, if one team lose, I don't want that unethical behavior thinking to creep in. "Did I purposely not throw the ball as accurately as I needed to because I wanted that team to win" or "Would I have forced that ball in there if a certain team was playing" are just a few of the questions I deal with.

So in order to alleviate that, I think I will use a mixture of Pass and Pass Simulation. For the season, I will pull from a hat whether a team use the physical pass or the Andre Rule.

I like doing this because again, it becomes a half-and-half thing. The Andre Rule will speed up the game because it is a simple shake of the box, whereas the physical pass is a stand up, move around the stadium and make the tough throws.

I don't won't to ever stop physically throwing the ball because that's the greatest aspect about MF that I like. But I also want to pay homage to the Andre Rule because after watching my friend Jim Davis enjoy and hate the box because of the pass, I think I need to see what that was all about.

By doing these two things, I can only hope for fairness by both methods. I just know I want to lessen any questionable practices of having a good time. But it will be great seeing how these two methods play out opposite each other.

So the question is" To pass or not to pass? The answer will be: Both!!!

Reg

[Orleanian In Exile]

I have encountered exactly that dilemma in my own tabletop baseball leagues —this tendency to favour one or two teams over the others and to end up rooting for them. It gets to be quite a source of agony when one or both of them wind up in the Transcendental Series and a game is going against them. But I have long ago decided upon one thing: the rules will be followed. I will not change a rule in force for the current season for the convenience of any one team and the verdict of the dice is final.

In playing out my EF experimental series, the decision of whether to pass or not depends upon the flow of the game at that moment and I make it for both sides equally. I have found it to not only maintain integrity in my games but also to inject a random factor: I cannot predict how a game will come out and I therefore get to enjoy quite a few exciting contests. I had one game turn on a most amazing comback by the team which was down by two touchdowns going into the half, only for that team to blow it on the last play and fall just short of snatching victory.

The solo chess player understands the necessity to stick entirely by the rules to render a true and accurate outcome for the game in order to fairly evaluate your own skill. The one and only requirement is the will to do so.

[clmdesigns]

Thus is the reason I have created the play charts. A roll of the dice to decide the plays by the O and D. I have no idea what the dice will tell me what to do.
I am working on my 2.0 version with more plays then ever.

[detroitchild]

...waiting on your 2.0 chart. Been consumed with league play so I have not played solitaire in a while but one of the things I had to account for while using the dice was rolling a run play when it was an obvious passing down, i.e. 3rd and 15. At that point I took the run option out of the roll of the dice. The roll would be for a pass play only. I hope your chart accounts for these situations. Anyway, can't wait to see what you come up with.

Reg,

I'll be using some of your ideas as well when I return to solitaire play next year.

D

[Electric Coach]

In the game of football, every play is different from start to finish. You can run the same play 10 times. The events throughout each of those plays will produce a different outcome. In electric football, the oscillation of the transformers on the board creates those variations. Based on that, the conditions under which you pass the football will vary tremendously. Therefore when you throw, take the throws that are given to you. I want to complete every pass that I throw, but I know that is not always possible.

Maurice

The Electric Coach

[Reginald Rutledge]

I have decided that each team will use the Andre Rule for 8 games and suffer through my passing for 8 games. Each team will have a schedule of their type of passing.

As far as play calling, I will develop a offensive playbook for schemes used against defensive schemes that I know have worked over the years in MF. So that will be the order of the day.

But I did not want to take out neither element of passing in the game so the best thing would be is to use half/half.

Reg

[Coach K-LO]

Of course, at the end of the day You will still be a .500 coach.

Now for an even playing field where the "homer" tendicies can make your favorite team be the Sninizzle, try some of these actions to make things fun

1 - alternate passing - every other pass be the TTQB or in this case, Andre Rule or Pass simulation. This will cause you to play a more balanced defense to account for either... you can add a twist by making it a random draw as to which will be used and you can do the draw after setup.

2 - use playbook for each of your teams and put them on index cards and use them as "selcetion" cards to monitor/control the game using them. maybe 10 passes and 15 runs in the stack and they get shuffled and you select once for the next play until all are used and resuffled again.
- defense can be done the same way.