[chrisboylan]

hey its me again! I just thought i'd talk to u about sports. last wednesday i was playing for my college at rugby! this is kinda like ur football without all the pussy safety equipment. any hoot, i was running down the field with the ball in my hand when a 320 pound guy who played in the recent world cup planted a punch on my pretty pretty face. as a result my jaw is now 6 inches further back than it ever was. the referee saw this and awarded me a penalty the guy however remained on the field. i really just want to know what would happen to the guy were this a football game. i watch some american football and my cousins sent me over a miami dolphins team shirt with 13 on it and signed by dan marino. thats cool is it?
yours faithfully,
Chris Boylan(the irish one)

[Chris]

Ouch!

Well, I wish for your speedy recovery, but that's why we play with pads and helmets. It greatly reduces the chance of cheapshot injuries. It is highly unlikely that anyone would get punched in the face on the field, because you'd have to remove his helmet first. By the time you got it off, the rest of the team would be there to kill you. If, somehow you managed to successfully hit somebody, I would suspect an immediate ejection followed by a short suspension.

As for football versus rugby, the pads allow you to play with reckless abandon. Now, I do not believe that rugby players are wimps by any means... (your face is a prime example) It is a sport that I would never willingly play. But in American football, the game is faster with specialists and more substitution and because everybody lines up before each play, there are more one-on-one direct hits that would make padless players cry.

By the way - that Dan Marino shirt is probably worth a few hundred dollars.