John Branch.
31,2008 before football goes through four ups and downs, before scoring 6 points at a touchdown, and even before the annual Rose Bowl or National Football League, there is a chain on the sideline.
Starting at 1906, the football team needs to get 10 yards in the first game.
From the side, away from the action, the two sticks connected with the chain have measured the required distance, and their position is estimated by vision.
For an inch game, this never seems to be an exact science.
From helmets to video playback, technological innovation has been driving the development of the game.
Dozens of inventions have been patented to improve or abolish them.
However, if it is not distance, the chain has withstood the test of time.
"Is this completely accurate?
"Said Mike Pereira. F. L.
Vice President of the wedding
"No, I don't think so.
"The approach used by advertising at all levels of American football, which has barely changed since 100, has not been noticed, occurs outside of the TV camera and fan focus until precise measurements are required.
Even at this time of year, in college bowl season and N. F. L.
Playoffs, very few people think of 10-
In the most popular sport in the country, the increment of the yard is measured.
The ad is down at the first, and one end of the chain is placed along the sideline by one of the seven members
Chain of peoplehired for game-
Daily duty of home team
6 feet away from the stadium, it is said that even the front tip of the football will be broken at least 25 yards away.
When a game is over, an official estimates the position, usually marking it with 1 feet and then throwing the ball to another officer to prepare for the next game.
When the first downward distance is too close to call, the chain is transferred to the field.
Sometimes the drive continues in inches.
Sometimes end with less.
"There must be a better way," said N. Pat Summerall, who has worked for a long time. F. L.
Player and broadcast
"Because the game is decided, the profession is determined by these metrics.
There are two aspects to this equation.
The position of the ball can now be viewed under N. F. L.
Replay rules are often a topic of great consternation.
There is little debate about whether the chain, not the ball, is in the wrong place.
But every few years, an inventor will apply for a patent to replace the chain, which is enough to attract N. F. L.
The competition committee that debate the change of rules.
"I bet there will be some type of technology to create this change in the next five years," said Rich McKay, president of the Falcons.
Chairman of the committee.
"I'm just not sure if we have one.
"Past ideas have been rejected, sometimes because of costs, mainly because they are considered unnecessary without confirmation.
Tradition is also a problem.
At the ceremony-
The field measurement can be a dramatic, momentum-
Swing events as expected as any pass or switch.
An official kept the ball on the ground because precision suddenly became important.
The iron chain arrived from the sideline.
An official slowly tightened the chain.
Keep breathing.
"When we measure, we make sure the players are clear so that the TV can shoot the actual measurements well," Pereira said . ".
If every drop is determined immediately, the suspense will disappear.
"There is a certain number of plays related to chain stores," said President John Mara of the giant, who is also at the United Nations. F. L.
Competition Commission.
"Yes, like anything else, it's affected by human error.
But I think it's one of our traditions in the game and I don't think anyone of us feels the need to make a change.
1906 American Inter-University Sports Association (now the N. C. A. A. )
In order to reduce football violence, some basic rules have been changed.
There is a pre-transmission (
It is still highly restricted and not a popular option for the next few decades)
The requirement for the first drop is 10 yards, not 5 yards.
"In order to help measure the progress of the ball, it is better to provide two lamp poles of about 6 feet in length, connected to their lower end with a thick rope or a chain of 10 yards in length, read Spalding's Official Football Guide in 1907.
Improvements were thought of almost immediately.
In 1929, Luther more of Seattle was granted a patent for a soccer measuring device.
This is a device with a telescopic "aiming device" that uses wheels and pulleys to move along the edge track.
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Early inventors like to see the scenery, just like on a rifle.
The subsequent patents focus on keeping these spots properly targeted, just like the "football pad device" that used a series of mirrors in 1967.
After a portable hand, the focus turned to the laser.
The Held laser system was patented in 1968.
In 1973, Willis piochi of New Jersey was granted a patent for the football field "visible line mark.
The 10-yard can be determined by the laser emitted from the box along the sliding edge of the track. Thirty-
Five years later, the chain still exists.
An inventor like 60-year-old Alan Aaronyear-
Old people from Long Island plan their extinction.
In 2003, with the help of Summerall, Amron presented a complex laser system to the Competition Commission.
Using a laser permanently installed on the stadium lights, a Green Line-
Players, coaches and fans in the stadium, as well as television viewers can see --
Project onto the field to mark the line that dropped for the first time.
Amron says it's accurate within 16.
Advertising N. F. L.
Interested but not interested. yet.
Security issues (
"I just saw the laser being sent all over the place, it's something like 'Star Wars, '" Mara said last week . ")
Although Amron says fear is unfounded
More problematic, says Amron, is that the system will take between $300,000 and $500,000 to install at each stadium and is not tested in actual matches.
Failed to try to run in N. F. L.
Pre-season in college football or the Canadian Football League.
"In these cases, what happens often when there are new proposals, and if they have tested elsewhere, we will be much more comfortable," Mara said . ".
Secretary Rogers reading
Rule editor for N. C. A. A.
The football rules committee says the chain approach "may not be as accurate, but it is as accurate as you need.
"After all, it is also difficult to observe the ball with the official's feet and then put it down on the court.
The attack center often moves the ball in front of the dunk.
Redding points out, who can say that the yard line on the pitch has a perfect measurement in every stadium?
"This is a matter of diminishing returns," Redding said of reinventing the chain . ".
"How much do you want to invest in the accuracy of this form?
That didn't stop Amron and his company, the laser system in the first place.
Amron has a patent for laser systems embedded in actual rods on the chain. A built-
In the gyro and automatic level, the beam remains pointed to a straight line.
He believes this is a way to prove the effectiveness of the laser concept, perhaps an intermediate step in the whole stadium system.
He hopes to be invited by the Competition Commission next spring.
If it does change, it will take years.
But this problem happens in almost every game.
Following the Green Bay Packers late in the fourth quarter of last Monday night's Chicago soldier's game, the Bears face a fourth match --and-1.
Matt Bolt ran straight back to scrum.
The advertising ball was placed on the ground and the chain arrived from the sideline.
The tip of the ball has just emerged from the marker.
Forte scores in the next game and lets the game time out.
The Bears scored a winning goal to keep their playoff hopes alive for another week.
After that, there was some debate about the marked position of the fourth balldown play.
No one wants to know if the chain is in the right place.
After 100, why don't they?
A version of this article appears on page A1 of the New York edition with the title: at High-
Football has always been an old measure of success in science and technology competitions.
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