Triple Option Football

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Triple Option Football
triple_option_football.jpg
Flag of Triple Option Football
Motto: CLASSIFIED
ALSO CLASSIFIED
Region the Pacific
Capital Timing
Official Language(s) Smack, English
Leader the Quarterback
Population 5 million
Currency yard 
NS Sunset XML

Taken from NationStates.net[[1]]:

The Dominion of Triple Option Football is a tiny, economically powerful nation, renowned for its complete absence of social welfare. Its hard-nosed, hard-working population of 5 million are either ruled by a small, efficient government or a conglomerate of multinational corporations; it's difficult to tell which.

The tiny, pro-business government devotes most of its attentions to Law & Order, with areas such as Social Welfare and Commerce receiving almost no funds by comparison. Income tax is unheard of. A substantial private sector is dominated by the Uranium Mining industry.

Voting is voluntary. Crime is a major problem. Triple Option Football's national animal is the point and its currency is the yard.

The Pacific

The Domain of Triple Option Football (DTOF) is rather inactive in the day-to-day affairs of the Pacific region--and, indeed, in most of the political hubbub there. Some political experts attribute this to its status as a relatively new nation, while others point to various socio-political factors (e.g. culture, racial distribution, income inequality) as deterring factors with regards to regional involvement. When his isolationist international policy was questioned, the Quarterback responded by saying:

"Who cares? We're the football team, they're the politicians. Good enough for me."

Though this attitude has kept the DTOF from involvement in an official capacity, it has most decidedly failed to restrain the Quarterback's unabashedly loose lips; no matter what the issue, it's a fair assumption that his particular take will be made known to the regional community. As he often says: "It's not that I care...but it's the truth."

Indeed.

Option Theory

The triple option is one of the simplest and most effective offenses in all of football, able to be used effectively on almost every down and in almost any situation. It can be a source of frustration for defenses that play either too aggressively or too passively, adjusting to each to best exploit the over-commitment of aggressive defenses and the indecisiveness of passive defenses. When an option offense finds this groove, it picks up yardage in large chunks and is practically unstoppable. This singular effectiveness is derived from play-calling, of course, but also from the quality and cohesion of three factors: the quarterback, the offensive line, and the flanker.

The quarterback is the nexus of the entire offense. If he is a step too slow, reacts badly to the defense, or executes his decision poorly, the play comes to nothing and can result in a huge loss of yardage or a turnover. His first responsibility is to check the defensive scheme before the snap: if the defense is playing to the outside in anticipation of the option pitch, he gives the ball to the "dive back" (the fullback running up the middle) to hit at that defense's weak spot. If they line up normally (not shifted heavily to the strong side), he runs out to the side and sets up a confrontation with the outside linebacker. It takes moxy to perform the absolutely necessary function of the quarterback in this situation: run at the linebacker, thereby forcing him to play either the run or the pitch and allowing the quarterback to make him pay for his choice in either instance--pitching out if the linebacker cuts at him or taking it himself if the linebacker tries to anticipate the pitch. The quarterback must also see when the defense is playing up to cut off both run options; in this instance, he sells the option pitch route while looking for his flanker downfield. The instances in this scenario when the flanker fails to separate from his coverage are the true measure of an option quarterback: where a solid player will make the safe decision to throw the ball out-of-bounds or pitch out for a few yards, the best option generals will turn upfield in an attempt either to evade the defense with a display of agility or create space for the trailing tailback to receive the pitch and run for a big gain.

The offensive line gives the quarterback the time he needs to make the right decision and anticipates the quarterback's reaction to the defensive alignment in order to block properly for the play. The big men up front read the defense in much the same way that the quarterback does: if they are spread out, they make a hole in the middle for the dive back, and if they are lined up normally or bunched-in, they try to contain the defensive front seven (the defensive line and linebackers) to give the quarterback and tailback space on the outside. If just one lineman makes an incorrect read, the play is usually blown for a big loss or a turnover--making the line's unity crucial to the offense's success. The quarterback is more important than the line because his expertise can compensate for blocking lapses--and his incompetence can squander good blocking. He makes or breaks the play ultimately, but the solid play of these gentlemen stacks the odds solidly against a "break."

The flanker prevents the triple option offense from collapsing against run-stopping defenses and forces the defense to respect the pass, taking defenders away from the line. His task is to run a crossing route that takes him five or ten yards behind the defensive front seven and in the quarterback's line of sight on the roll-out. This usually brings him into a clearing behind the defensive pressure sent to stop the option pitch; when it looks as though a pitch or run will be unsuccessful, the quarterback can drop back a step and throw over the defense to the wide-open or single-covered flanker. If the flanker is chronically unable to separate from his coverage, the defense will begin to cover him with a single cornerback and devote the rest of their personnel to playing the run. Because of this, the flanker must be able to elude man-coverage and provide an out-route for his quarterback until the defense begins to respect this option and devote more men to guarding against the pass--leaving them open to the dive or the pitch route.

Government

The DTOF is the embodiment of efficiency in football; it is the very Form (see "Platonic realism"[[2]]) of gridiron simplicity and success. Governed ultimately by the Quarterback (whose decisions are carried out either personally or by the Backs), it relies on the Offensive Line for protection against enemies and sends the Flanker into the heart of enemy territory to act for its interests.

The Quarterback is the sovereign head of Triple Option Football; its domain is his domain. He acts as a sort of chief executive officer, though he is also granted a great degree of input on legislative matters. After hearing input from the other branches of the DTOF, it is his responsibility to make final, binding decisions on matters both on his own desk and in the legislature (read: everything). His official residence is Pocket House, a marvel of modern architecture in downtown Timing (the DTOF's capital), though the demanding nature of his work allows him little time there.

The Backs, a Smack term for the legislative (Tailback) and executive (Fullback) branches of government, make and enforce the policies that govern the DTOF in conjunction with the Quarterback. The Fullback confronts anti-DTOF activity head-on and is an effective presence in the cities of the DTOF. The Tailback, by contrast, meets such challenges to the DTOF through the indirect route of legislation, working to tailor the aims of the DTOF to allow its citizens to live free from coercion. Both branches are housed in Swing Building, built at the downtown edge of Back Field (a privately-owned park in the middle of Timing).

The Offensive Line is the well-funded defense organization of the DTOF. It acts to secure the DTOF through national security measures within its borders and the maintenance of a military to deal with threats abroad. Being one of the few static expenditures on the DTOF federal budget--military spending is one of the few offices that the citizens of the DTOF view as a necessary function of government--allows the Offensive Line to plan for future innovations and gives its employees a sense of consistency in addition to their patriotic feeling of service that makes them an excellently-motivated force. Their headquarters are five towers in downtown Timing known as the "Monoliths" (an intentionally paradoxical phrase) in Smack.

The Flanker is the DTOF's central intelligence agency, sending emissaries to foreign nations for purposes of communication and (reportedly) espionage, though the former is the only official function of this branch. The diplomatic functions of government are carried out by this branch, which serves as the main point of contact between the DTOF and the international community. This branch of the DTOF government is housed in Mercury Hall, a small work of modern architecture near the Monoliths in downtown Timing.

English is the official language for use in international relations and government functions; this was decided at the DTOF's outset due to the tendency of the native tongue, Smack, to seem abusive to foreigners.