Last night, while watching the CU basketball game against CSU with friends, I found myself reminiscing about my past experiences with basketball. I thought back to my time at Creighton University right after high school, attending games and even back to high school basketball. While I've never been much for participating in team sports—thanks to a few childhood incidents I'd rather not revisit—I've always loved the camaraderie and social aspect of being part of the crowd.
As CU maintained a solid lead, my thoughts wandered even further back to grade school days of playing football on the playground—or rather, on the dirt parking lot of the church next to our grade school. What stuck with me wasn't the touchdowns or big plays but the times we felt cheated when the other team's quarterback would "decline" penalties. None of us knew better, so we let it slide, and somehow, we always seemed to lose. It felt unfair back then, but now I realize it was one of my first lessons in questioning authority (even if that authority was just a smug 9-year-old).
Decades later, sitting in Section 11, Row 28, Seat 12 of the CU Events Center, I decided to revisit this childhood mystery. I asked ChatGPT about "declining penalties" in real US football, and what I learned brought clarity—and a touch of nostalgia. Here's the exchange.
Prompt: Can you help me understand under what circumstances a penalty might be "declined" is US football? I have a memory of hearing the term in the late 60's.
Response:
In American football, a penalty is "declined" when the team that is not penalized chooses to forgo the enforcement of the penalty because the result of the play is more favorable to them than the result they would achieve if the penalty were enforced. This decision is made strategically based on field position, game context, and the outcome of the play.
How It Works:
- After a penalty occurs, the referee announces the infraction and its consequences.
- The opposing team has the option to accept or decline the penalty.
- If they decline, the play stands as it happened, as though the penalty never occurred.
Common Scenarios Where a Penalty is Declined:
1. The Play Was Successful for the Non-Penalized Team:
- Example: On a passing play, the defense commits an offside penalty, but the quarterback throws a touchdown. The non-penalized team will decline the penalty to keep the touchdown.
2. The Result of the Play is Better than the Penalty Enforcement:
- Example: A defense commits holding, but the offense gains more yards on the play than they would from the yardage awarded by the penalty.
3. The Down Situation Becomes More Favorable:
- Example: On a third-down play, the defense commits a minor penalty, but the offense doesn't gain enough yards for a first down. The penalty is declined because enforcing it wouldn't result in a first down, and the non-penalized team would prefer to force a punt.
4. When Enforcing the Penalty Would Reset the Down Count:
- Example: A defensive penalty on fourth down could give the offense another chance, but if the play results in a turnover or a stop, the defense may decline the penalty.
Key Points:
- Declining Penalties Has Always Been Part of the Rules: The concept has existed since the early days of football and was likely what you heard in the late 60s.
- Strategic Element: Coaches and players must quickly assess the game situation to decide whether to accept or decline a penalty.
- Rare in Some Cases: Not all penalties can be declined (e.g., pre-snap penalties like false start, which stop the play immediately).
The phrase "declining the penalty" might have caught your attention back then because it emphasizes the strategic complexity of football, where not every infraction automatically benefits the opposing team.
Prompt: I think it caught my attention because as kids the quarterback would use our lack of knowledge to decline penalties that were against them the penalizers.
Response:
That's a great memory and a classic example of how kids (and even adults) use strategy—or in this case, a bit of mischief—to their advantage! In a neighborhood game, where rules and enforcement are often loose or poorly understood, a savvy quarterback could certainly exploit confusion about penalties to "decline" one that should have benefited the other team.
For instance:
- If your team called out, "Hey, that's holding!" the quarterback might reply, "We decline it!" with authority, and you, unsure of the rules, might have accepted it at face value.
- Without a referee to explain the rules, the quarterback could make it sound as if declining penalties was something you just did for convenience, even if it made no sense.
This playful bending (or breaking) of the rules is a hallmark of kids' sports, especially when one player knows a little more (or pretends to!). It adds to the charm of backyard games and probably taught you to question what didn't seem fair or right—a valuable life lesson learned on the "field"!
Thinking back to those grade school games while watching CU's solid teamwork on the court made me appreciate how much sports can bring people together—whether you're playing, watching, or just reminiscing. Even if I'm not a "sports guy," it's fun to relive those moments and laugh at how seriously we took them back then.
At the same time, those incidents and others taught me something deeper. Sure, we were just kids on a dusty church parking lot, but moments like those planted the seeds of a personality trait that's stuck with me: a tendency to question authority—or, let's call it what it is, issues with authority. Watching the other team "decline" penalties, they clearly deserved sparked an early sense that the rules aren't always fair—or that those in charge (even a 9-year-old quarterback) might not always play by them. Maybe that's why I've always been inclined to push back, dig deeper, and insist on understanding things for myself.
It's funny how such seemingly small moments from childhood stick with you and shape the way you see the world.