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RocketBall

 Play football (American football) with Model or Amateur rockets.
 
(+1, -1) 		  [vote for,
against]

RocketBall, the sport of the 21st Century(tm)!

The "Ball" would be a regulation pigskin, but with an attachment that allows it to clip onto an engine and set of fins. Like most Amateur engines, the ball engine would have tracking smoke to allow the players to see it in flight. I think players would need some sort of device to catch the ball without breaking their arms. I propose a lacrosse stick with an enlarged net. The quarterback would have a shoulder mounted rocket launcher, and the kicker would have a mortar. The linebackers don't need a lacrosse stick or a rocketlauncher, but to make them feel better, I'll give them lances. Why lances? Why to knock one another off of their motorcycles, of course! Rocketball could be played on a standard football field, but this seems impractical with all but the smallest of engines. It's not much fun that way. The solution is a field several miles across. To get across this field, the players are mounted on motocross bikes. Except for that, it's quite the same as Football. Hehehe.

It's all good clean fun untill somebody gets hurt. Then it's good dirty fun.

—Madcat, Apr 08 2003

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       Sounds like Bag(h)dad.
—FarmerJohn, Apr 08 2003
   

       How's that?
—Madcat, Apr 08 2003
   

       Isn't this just human Robot Wars, but with rockets.....oh and motorbikes and lances and football rules and.....actually scratch that its not like it at all. (+)
—silverstormer, Apr 08 2003
   

       //How's that?// Oh, something about the rocket launchers, mortars, smoke, vehicles and people getting hurt.
—FarmerJohn, Apr 08 2003
   

       The ball will not go into the stands. The stands could be surrounded with plexiglass ala hockey and Battlebots. More importantly though, the field is several miles long so I doubt that the rocket will overshoot.   

       As for jumps, , this would appear to be "reasonable".
—Madcat, Apr 08 2003
   

       You have taken a game (american football), which in its structure and intention is a palatable metaphor for war, and in a time of war, propose to militarize the game with actual weapons.
Because life isn't violent enough for you? I'm pulling the pin now on my fishbone grenade as I toss it onto the pile.
—roby, Apr 08 2003
   

       What actual weapons? Model rockets? There there.... It will be allright...
—Madcat, Apr 09 2003
   

       //...shoulder mounted rocket launcher, and the kicker would have a mortar....give them lances...to knock one another off of their motorcycles//
Plus the grenade I sent you.
—roby, Apr 09 2003
   

       roby, I think the point you are missing is this:   

       What does "rocket launcher" really mean? It is a launching system for a rocket. Nothing more... nothing less. Does that make it a weapon? No. That all depends on what's being launched with it. In this case, it would be a RPFB (Rocket Propelled FootBall) instead of the standard RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) that you foolishly assumed. Same with the mortar.   

       Lances are hardly what I would call military these days, and with proper protective gear, not to mention padded tips, lances would be fairly safe. (compared to taking a RPFB to the head anyway)   

       I think everyone should just get over this "oh my *insert diety here*! we're at WAR. get rid of all the toys and tv shows and everything that we had before the war before someone gets offended!!! quickly, give up free speech and cancel shows (That's my Bush, for instance) because the public is too stupid to realize that the world does not change just because some hick in an oval office decided to finish a fight his daddy started." thing. (yeah, it's hard to have several sentences exist in a quote contained within a single sentence. I reserve the right to butcher the English language just as any other well meaning poet who has turned the world on its ear) There are many reasons why this idea would never work, and the only thing people seem to care about is //in a time of war, propose to militarize the game//. That's just pathetic.   

       (Note: I'm a little irked at the moment, so my grammar and spelling are probably a little off. Just accept it.)   

       Personally I think this is still a silly idea. Some form of sport involving motorcycles and huge playing fields with jumps and goals could be VERY exciting, but basing it off football (of all things) is just sad. Go back to the drawing board, get rid of the rockets, and come up with something more creative than lances and you'll get my vote.
—ArmoredHeart, Apr 09 2003
   

       I'm not missing any points, [armored heart]. You're missing the ability to understand what you read.
The game of football is a metaphor for war, and already uses military terms like blitz, bomb, attack, etc. This idea takes it one step further, and adds in weaponry accessories derived directly from warfare: rocket launchers, mortars, lances. To shoot rocketballs (modified footballs). Do you honestly think I believed the rocket launchers and mortars would be loaded with explosives?
And do you have any doubt that this idea's timing is directly related to the war dominating our news and TV? In case you didn't notice, RPG's look an awful lot like a football with a rocket engine and fins clipped on to it, and not very much at all like the little toy model rockets you play with. The quarterback's shoulder-mounted rocket launcher envisioned here is not exactly the delicate science geek's cardboard tube version, it's more likely indistinguishable from the real military hardware, given the diameter and weight of the projectile.

I offer no judgment on football or war, just a comment that this idea is a symptom of war coverage spreading its influence.

Your projections and assumptions are your problem, and have nothing to do with this idea or the annotations I've posted.
—roby, Apr 09 2003
   

       You know, it's not as though these "mortars" would be firing high explosives. What do you think I'm suggesting, gladiatiorial combat? If so, I'm sorry, I didn't explain things well enough. This would be no more violent than football plus model rocketry and jousting. Football is about equal to jousting, and model rocketry isn't violent at all. Besides which, even if it were semi-violent what't the big deal? What do you hate lasertag because it's got guns?   

       OH NO LITTLE JOHNNY WILL SEE HIS HEROES PLAYING WITH THINGS THAT LOOK LIKE GUNS!!! OH THE HUMANITY!! YOU'D THINK WE WERE TEACHING HIM TO LIKE THE ARMED FORCES OR SOMETHING!! THIS WILL MAKE HIM KILL HIS PARENTS!!
—Madcat, Apr 10 2003
   

       [madcat] The answer to your question is no. Please reread my last annotation, and think about what I'm actually saying this time. Try reading slowly, move your lips to sound out the words. Good luck.

You're worried about little johnnie, I'm not. He can take care of himself (especially if mom & dad give him the latest exploding football grenades for Christmas!) I'm just tired of seeing rocket launchers on TV. Football is fine the way it is.
—roby, Apr 10 2003
   

       Rockets are not violent by nature you know. Some are quite pretty. (Now, for a moment I'll be reasonable and admit that a commercial version of this sport would milk the "badass looking" rocket launcher bit for all it's worth)
—Madcat, Apr 11 2003
   

       I think that a field "several miles" long is too much. Change it to one thousand metres by two hundred fifty metres, and I'll pay-per-view it. And yeah, a few dirt jumps would be cool. Maybe around the 500 metre line, and some more twenty-five metres or so from the goals. I'm not worried about the "millitary" aspects of this game. I think paintball is cool, after all.   

       Shouldn't this be in "Sports"?
—Xenophile, Jun 14 2006
   

       I'm just curious to know if anyone commenting here has actually killed someone in a war. Or been shot at. Or watched "innocent" civilians die because the leader of their country incurred the wrath of our military.   

       More to the point; does anyone here unwillingly remember all that stuff when they see things that remind them of war?   

       For example, when you catch your kids watching the current G.I.Joe knock off on TV, do you suppress a need to throw up at the thought of them ever being in a war zone?   

       Does being cut off on the freeway by a hummer leave you shaking in fear and rage?   

       Don't we have enough games for you children to play that are almost, but not quite, entirely unlike war?
—James Newton, Jun 15 2006
   


 

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