Football in the field of law

It's football season again and millions of fans are flocking to stadiums throughout the country to root for their favorite teams. As football is America's favorite spectator sport, it is not surprising that many football terms have crept into our everyday vocabulary in the more than 100 years that the game has been played.

Football jargon is also commonplace in the law. So it is important for all lawyers to know about the game and have a grasp of the football language that crops up in legal contexts. Here is a small sampling of the many football expressions regularly used by lawyers and judges:

Monday Morning quarterback. Someone who is always saying how something could have been done better to make a play or win a game. "The case before us involves a second layer of review [regarding ineffective assistance of counsel], in which the Tuesday morning quarterback assails the Monday morning quarterback for not assailing the quarterback who actually played the game." People v. Stultz, 2 N.Y. 3d 277, 287 (2004).

Instant replay. A video playback to determine if the officials made the right ruling or call on a controversial play. "The replay of this case here [on appeal], though far from instant, confirms the correctness of the jury's initial penalty call against AT&T for 'unnecessary roughness' and 'unsportsmanlike conduct.'" MCI Communications Corp. v. American Tel. & Tel. Co., 708 F.2d 1081, 1183 (7th Cir. 1983).

Ball carrier. The player currently in possession of the football. "[The defendant was not prejudiced by the replaying of a recorded instruction in his absence]. We are living in a day of instant replay. As in the observation of a replay in a televised football game, it may definitely be determined whether the receiving player of a passed football is in bounds or out of bounds or a ball carrier has crossed the goal line for dear old Arizona." Bustamante v. Eyman, 456 F.2d 269, 271 (9th Cir. 1972).

Line of scrimmage. The lines from one side of the field to the other side where the football is spotted and put into play between the offensive and defensive players. "[The trustee's broad] discretion does not exist in a vacuum. In football, the ball carrier has discretion to make a forward pass [throwing the ball forward to an offensive receiver] at any time -- provided he is behind the line of scrimmage." In re Johnson, 44 N.Y. Misc. 52, 57 (1965).

Pass interference. Illegally hindering an eligible pass receiver or a defender's opportunity to catch a forward pass. "[Arresting officer Adams's actions in wandering into the defendant's barn not covered by the search warrant and discovering the meth lab did not violate the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights]. If this were the Super Bowl, Adams would have been penalized five yards for being offside [illegally over the line of line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped into play], not forty yards for pass interference." United States v. Hoffman, 677 F. Supp. 589, 599 (E.D. Wis. 1988).

Punt. A kick by the offensive team to turn the ball over to the opponent, usually after three successive plays have been tried without sufficient forward progress totaling 10 yards to achieve a first down. "But instead of demanding that the school [whose principal banned a student banner reading 'BONG HITS 4 JESUS'] make such a showing, [the majority opinion deferring to the judgment of the school authorities] punts. Figuring out just how it punts is tricky; '[t]he mode of analysis [that the majority] employ[s] is not entirely clear.'" Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. 393, 441 (2007) (Stevens, J. dissenting).

Goal line. The front end line of the end zone to be crossed to obtain a touchdown (six points), and extra points after a touchdown (one point if kicked through the goal posts or two points if run or passed into the end zone after a touchdown), or three points if kicked through the center of the goal posts from the field. "[The mere fact that a] "settlement that is subject to court approval does not itself supply the necessary ingredients for prevailing party status. It is the presence of continuing judicial oversight that pushes the ball across the goal line and thus suffices to give a settlement the required judicial imprimatur." Hutchinson v. Patrick, 636 F.3d 1, 11 n.3 (1st Cir. 2011).

Touchdown. A play worth six points obtained by legally possessing the ball past the goal line in the opponent's end zone. "[I]n assessing the legal sufficiency of evidence in a criminal case, the State's evidence must be persuasive enough to almost make a touchdown; reaching the midfield is never enough to meet the 'beyond a reasonable doubt' standard." Brooks v. State, 323 S.W. 3d 893, 923 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010).

Hail Mary. A desperate long pass, thrown towards receivers near or in the end zone in the hope of a last resort touchdown, usually thrown with time running out. "[The prosecutor's closing argument belittling the defense cross-examination of the State's main witness contended that the defense attorney failed when] he threw the Hail Mary of criminal defenses. The desperation criminal defense pass, tried the Perry Mason moment ... Throwing out a question, making a naked assertion, [or] hoping for the Hail Mary that's never caught is not a reasonable doubt." State v. Carridine, 812 N.W.2d 130, 148 (Minn. 2012). See also State v. Santamaria, 169 N.H. 722, 724 (2017) ("The writ of coram nobis is an ancient writ that developed in sixteenth century England. [It has been] described as the criminal-law equivalent of a 'Hail Mary' pass.").

Lloyd in 1920.

Whether one is a diehard fan who wears the old-school colors to cheer on Saturday afternoons or someone who thinks that the game is just a bunch of brutes piling on one another, it is worth enjoying football from the vantage of the 50-yard line through the court's analysis in Harold Lloyd Corp. v. Witwer, 65 F.2d 1 (9th Cir. 1933). This a copyright infringement case in which a pulp fiction writer alleged that his plot was used in the movie "The Freshman" starring legendary comic Harold Lloyd, who is famous for his role in hanging on a clock off the side of a Hollywood skyscraper. In this 1925 silent film, Lloyd plays a nerdy college student who goes out for the college football team to impress his girlfriend with his athletic prowess.

The plaintiff claimed that Lloyd stole a football story that the author had sold for $75 some years before "The Freshman" hit the silver screen. His scenario concerns a talentless bench warmer who "argues for the right to go on the field in the last five minutes of the game when his college is losing, takes advantage of the silence and uncertainty of the coach and rushes on the field to take the place of a disabled player. In his excitement he forgets the signals, although he claimed to the coach to know them. The ball is thrown to him and without passing it, as the signals require, he runs down the length of the field and makes a touchdown which not only wins the game but the plaudits of his classmates as well." 65 F.2d at 3.

This is college football heroics in its finest hour. Eat your heart out, Rudy Ruettiger.

In contrast, as summarized in the 9th Circuit opinion (and with play-by-play antics now available on YouTube), Lloyd's slapstick pigskin wannabe, albeit lacking in athletic ability and common sense, "goes upon the field in the last five minutes of play when the score is against his team. He makes a touchdown, but instead of one successful play there are eight different plays [each progressively more silly], in which [the hapless Lloyd] demonstrates to the audience that he is a complete ignoramus and knows nothing of the game. On one play, although unopposed, he [raced toward the end zone and] put the ball down within two feet of the goal line on hearing a locomotive whistle, because the referee has told him on a previous play that when the whistle blows he must 'down the ball.' ... Instead of becoming a football hero he is considered a boob." 65 F.2d at 4.

Comparing the two whimsical farces, the court could find little similarity between the plaintiff's daydreaming walk-on and Lloyd's fumbling stooge and, therefore, found for the clownish matinee idol. 65 F.2d at 27-28.

No lawyer need be stuck on the sidelines by an inability to follow football chalk talk. The best way not to be held behind the line when others are tackling football jargon is to bone-up on a little gridiron lingo.

Judge Stern thanks law student Evan Chavez for his research assistance.