Dr. Wrongball or: Why I love the Dirtiest Trick Play

The new great American pastime? I think the ratings would agree, but for me it’s about the passion. I am certainly a sports fan. I love the games, the excitement, the drama, the rivalries, and the physical and mental competitiveness and where I get the most of all of that, is Football! (not fútböl, sorry soccer fans). I played back in the day and I often ponder why I didn’t pursue playing in college a little more (I wasn’t all that big, but I had some small interest from local tiny colleges). When I worked for a residential treatment facility in Minnesota, I found myself as a head coach the very first time I jumped into coaching at all. Some of my fondest memories of that year are from coaching that team. To give you some background, the students were age 14-20 and only a couple had any experience in organized sports at all, let alone football. However, those students (who desperately needed an outlet, but that’s for another blogging day) made such vast improvements that I was astounded.

I get all worked up every late summer as teams begin practice and I definitely look forward to coaching again (can’t do it while I’m putting myself through school). I read how my teams are looking going into the season, and I hold my breath for each game. Recently there’s been some heartache and turmoil for one of my college teams, a near miss at a national championship for my other college team, and my pro team is on a roller coaster ride currently, but all part of the reason I love this sport.

Now I’d like to talk about a particular play that you won’t find on TV, not on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon at least. The play I’m referring to is the ‘wrong ball’ play. Aficionados of the sport will know what I’m talking about, but for those of you who do not, I’ll digress. Most often performed on the first play of the half, the offense takes position and the center or quarterback will comment, out loud, that the ball is the wrong one. Often they will holler to the head coach about the predicament, and the coach will tell them to bring him the ball and come get the correct one. The center hands the ball to the quarterback and he hustles toward the waiting coach. The defense, if done correctly, will be watching with a puzzled look, and wait for the quarterback to bring the correct ball back. As the quarterback heads toward the sideline and his coach, he clears the last defensive player horizontally and before he gets to the sideline he’ll take off toward the end zone, usually for an easy touchdown. Despicable, I know, but I love this play.

* a note about why this only works for high school (or below) is that they are the only level of the sport in which each offense supplies its own ball, so making sure you use the correct game ball is an actual concern.

There are without doubt some ethical questions surrounding this play. Opposing defenses usually think they are merely inconvenienced by waiting for the ball swap, so to be tricked so dubiously is very embarrassing. My question is how badly would you feel as the opposing head coach? I cringe to think I would be on the receiving end of this clandestine maneuver. Would I argue it’s legitimacy, or accept my fate? I think it would be the latter since I’ve already announce my feelings for the play, and yes, I would certainly use it someday. So to answer my own question, it would be apropos for me to be on the receiving end I suppose. Anyway, I would like to pay homage to this devious and beautiful play by offering some captured moments:















Trick plays make an amazing sport just that much more interesting. Mentally crushing your foes on a football field is a moment that I savor like no other, so if anyone else has a favorite trick play or similar football moment, please share. And as always, please leave your comments.