{"id":77194,"date":"2015-10-18T16:23:51","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T00:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=77194"},"modified":"2015-10-18T16:29:58","modified_gmt":"2015-10-19T00:29:58","slug":"idiot-australian-punter-loses-game-for-michigan-on-last-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=77194","title":{"rendered":"Idiot Australian Punter Loses Game For Michigan On Last Play"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Sailer writes: \u201cAustralian Rules football is a big time professional sport in one of the world\u2019s big time sports countries, and the game is centered around punting. So, the best athletes focus on punting, and they tend to be more athletic about punting. Instead of mechanically punting the same way every times, Aussie Rules players are used to punting off the run and in a variety of trajectories and spins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comments to Steve Sailer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

* I guess you missed the last play of the unbelievable Michigan-Michigan State yesterday which was lost when Michigan punter Blake O\u2019Neil botched the punt with only 10 seconds left in the game: \u201cO\u2019Neill, from Melbourne, Australia, played his first game on the gridiron only last year, converting to a punter after playing Australian Rules football. He was trained by Nathan Chapman of Prokick Australia and spent a successful season at Weber State last year before switching to Michigan as a graduate transfer.\u201d It turns out that a punter needs to not only have a good ability to kick the ball but to also be handle a snap from center. I don\u2019t think Australian football puts a lot of emphasis on use of hands. I found the following comment on Wikipedia: \u201cThere are rules on how the ball can be handled: for example, players running with the ball must intermittently bounce or touch it on the ground.\u201d Maybe O\u2019Neil blacked out and thought he was playing Australian rules football.<\/p>\n