Friday, February 23, 2007

I love watching Brett Favre highlights. I'm especially fond of the little fake toss he throws in from time to time to misdirect the defense.

I've seen this often playing ultimate too. The crazy inexperienced thrower with the huge obscene fakes sometimes gives the "backhand without the disc in my hand" move. The cutter who fakes in one direction as if reacting to a pass behind the defender, then sharply moving in the opposite direction. Even the "Hammer toss over your head but it's actually behind my back" fake, which I find completely boorish.

To some extent or other we're all trying to misdirect our opponent, shake them and bake them with any trick in our books. So thinking this, I was wondering how having set plays where the offensive sideline is instructed to give fake up calls would sit. Is it spirited or not? And if not, does it even matter?

Let me explain my mental situation so you can better judge:
Iso play, one cutter in the lane, he takes a small step in, breaks deep looking up at an imaginary disc in the sky, and starts sprinting deep with his defender in tow. The offensive sideline yells "UP!" in unison to sell the fake huck, and then the cutter comes back underneath for a big gainer.

I know a certain amount of misdirection is expected, but the Up call is a defensive tool and it feels a little to close to making a fake call (though Up is not a "call" in the rules by any sense). In the spirit of honesty, it feels less like misdirection and more like lying.

On the other hand, if you're falling for this kind of thing more than once you are a fool and deserve to get tooled around. Anyone who can play competent defense with good body positioning shouldn't be getting caught getting owned like this.

Spirited? Not? Would you get offended at a team that pulled this on you?