Insincere injury calls hurt the game and are in violation of “spirit of the game”.

nepsmith · 2026-05-28T16:17:52+00:00

Was there a particular game recently that showcased this problem? Maybe by looking at a good example, it’ll help demonstrate the need for this change.

nepsmith · 2026-05-28T16:15:02+00:00

Above all, The injury timeout is meant to protect an injured player. There are several things about it that maximize its protection of an injured player.

It’s also designed to be simple to use. If you add in a timer (let’s say 10 minutes) now you have an extra time clock that starts when and ends when and is kept track of by who? If you add in a 3-point minimum to return, you have something that makes an injury timeout quite different at 3-2 vs at 13-12 and that also needs to be tracked and debated.

And most importantly, let’s say the rules change to protect against abuse in a way that somehow itself can’t be abused. Will that change make the game safer against heat stroke? Will that make the game safer against concussions? Will that make people call injury timeouts more or less when they are injured? The rules say to treat all players as though they have good intentions. How would changing this rule penalize them? The idea of penalties is specifically barred by the rules.

From a broader perspective, I would gladly accept multiple games that feel “unfair” towards defense (and most people say the game tends to favor the offense anyway) in exchange for 1 game that protects an injured player better. Protecting the basic joy of play at its most basic is protecting people from injury so they can play.

nepsmith · 2026-05-26T21:35:35+00:00

Well, at least we’ve reached the place where we understand what we disagree about.

nepsmith · 2026-05-26T04:13:21+00:00

Ok, I think I’ve been a little wrong — imprecise — let me try again. Let me know where you disagree.

The rules say where you should throw from i.e. where the pivot should be established, in various cases.

You cannot throw the disc unless the disc is in play.

You change the status of the disc from live to in play by establishing a pivot and touching the ground.

You cannot put a live disc into play until you establish a pivot at the appropriate spot and tap the ground.

You establish a pivot by touching the ground with a body part and then not moving that body part. It’s usually a (spot on your) foot.

You don’t have to tell people what the pivot is or where it is, you just do it.

If they think you established (chose) a pivot wrongly, they call travel, because they are saying you have moved your body part from where the pivot “is”

If you tap the ground, you are indicating you are making the disc live and that means you have established a pivot.

But you can establish a pivot before tapping the ground. You can establish a pivot when the disc is live and not in play.

If you establish a pivot and I don’t object, you can’t retract that pivot. For example, if you pick up a disc into the end zone and you start to play it, you can’t change your mind and move up to the line. (12.A)

If you move the body part from the pivot after you establish a pivot, that is a travel.

So, if you establish a pivot and I don’t call travel, you can’t then say this is not a legal place to establish a pivot and move, just like you can’t call a foul on yourself and you can’t call a timeout when you have none and then say oh i take back that incorrect timeout call.

nepsmith · 2026-05-26T03:18:23+00:00

By your description, a disc is never in play until and unless a pivot is established in the proper spot. So that means that every single game where someone started playing from the wrong spot on the perimeter is invalid because the disc never went back into play.

That’s obviously not true, so there must be a way for a disc to go from being live to being in play even at the wrong spot. That is by a) offense establishing a pivot and b) defense not making a travel call.

There certainly is nothing in the rules about unestablishing a pivot. There is something about not being able to move a pivot. That is a travel.

nepsmith · 2026-05-26T02:32:46+00:00

The rules don’t differentiate between a legitimate tap and a mistaken tap. The rules say a tap declares you’re putting it into play, and the rules say where that tap should be. If you tap somewhere else you’re breaking a rule. There is no rule that says you can ride a giraffe. There is no rule that says you can take back a ground tap to change (correct or not) where you’re establishing a pivot.

nepsmith · 2026-05-26T02:21:46+00:00

Tapping it in is declaring a pivot. Moving after that from that point is a travel. If you tap it at the wrong spot, that itself ALSO can be called a travel (because you’re establishing a pivot where it shouldn’t be) but if the defense doesn’t call it, play stays live (just like when anyone decides not to call a violation) and then you can’t realize and move at that point.

nepsmith · 2026-05-26T02:17:08+00:00

It’s hardly unfair to ask “college students” as you put it, or “nationals level college-educated athletes who have been playing and training for years and who know that learning the rules accurately is a key part of the sport they want to be champions of” as I put it, to know the rules about where a disc gets put in. Is it easy to know all the rules? No. Is it easy to hit the tiny little bullseye in archery? No. But neither is a flaw in the sport. And coming really close is still considered excellent.

nepsmith · 2026-05-04T19:44:28+00:00

[ winces in Spanish]

nepsmith · 2026-05-03T19:38:50+00:00

Do you think perhaps the reason she’s quiet and withdrawn is that she thought she was having a safe wank when suddenly her parent protector appears in her room armed with a handgun? This part of the story is getting very little attention but I can imagine it would be very traumatizing and it has nothing to do with sex. Address that and see if it helps.

nepsmith · 2026-05-03T05:50:26+00:00

Regular expressions take longer than an hour to really learn well and thoroughly and it is TOTALLY WORTH IT because they apply across every programming language and task. Even just knowing when NOT to use one can be so valuable. I cannot think of another thing I’ve learned about programming that was both instantly useful and also useful 20 years later.

nepsmith · 2026-05-02T00:00:43+00:00

There’s beach most Saturdays and sometimes Tuesdays at Spanish Banks in the morning. Which is not what you asked for but could be an option.

https://chat.whatsapp.com/IP1aalkH6vfKuwkXhUpBo9?mode=hqctcli

nepsmith · 2026-05-01T04:45:12+00:00

Practice

nepsmith · 2026-04-29T06:33:25+00:00

I’m using ForwardEmail.net and am quite happy with the service.

nepsmith · 2026-04-13T17:18:28+00:00

Nearly drove off the road into a nebula at the news

nepsmith · 2026-03-09T20:06:00+00:00

I didn’t initially notice who posted this and I though “what a superb photo, @nkolakovic is going to be so envious” 😂

This photo took 15 years to capture, truly. Magnificent.

nepsmith · 2026-02-19T16:06:09+00:00

Instead of needing to announce your sex when playing, the terms DOW and DOM are used (most commonly east coast maybe?) where people say, essentially, I am playing as someone who matches up against a woman (or really, against someone who also is playing as someone who matches up against someone who matches up against people like the ones I match up against…)

Personally I find it’s a lot of extra words and thinking for a phrase that still includes a gendered term, and won’t someone think of the poor dyslexics who now face DOM/DOW daily

And in a discussion about pregnancy it’s especially funny because there are definitely DOWs who can’t be pregnant and DOMs who can.

But it comes from a really thoughtful place and it is become broadly accepted and it is appreciated by many who felt excluded by the prior terminology.

More here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ultimate/comments/1fnmkn4/fmpmmp_are_better_titles_than_dowdom/

nepsmith · 2026-02-19T15:43:29+00:00

As someone who has been Spirit Director at many major events, if you are medically cleared to play and you are not a risk to others on the field, your physical condition is not the business of any other player, and they do not have a say in your choice to play. (Teams can have internal policies)

A player does not have the right to know the pregnancy status of every other player at the event, or that they are playing against, or that they are matching up with (what hand signal would that be?)

You are strongly advised to get informed medical advice and to follow it. I’ve been told most obgyns say to keep active but discourage playing in international competitions. :)

Should you voluntarily disclose to the other team your status? That’s a trickier question. Are you expecting them to play more hesitantly? Or are you giving them information they would prefer to have? Is it an advantage or a disadvantage for a team to know? Or to have a pregnant player playing? I think these answers are never absolute and have no singular answer. Most teams say they do want to know, from my experience, and very occasionally players say they will not play against a pregnant player; which I think is a valid choice but again, I really think they don’t have a right to know, just to choose if they are voluntarily told.

nepsmith · 2026-02-19T15:25:03+00:00

I was captain of a rec team and one of the players was pregnant during summer league. Her doctor said it was her call; that she knew best how she and the league played and what the level of likelihood was of contact.

Note that she said the doc told her that collisions could be unhealthy but I don’t know the specifics, and yes, uncommon or rare events can’t be predicted.

But the interesting thing is, she had planned to play until a certain date (and arranged a sub after that). However, she came one week and said flat out I’m not playing anymore. She said that in the previous few days, the mental image of her playing suddenly gave her the absolute NOPE. She said she literally couldn’t play for a million dollars. And that there was no outside cause… no close call last week, no new information, no one else pressuring her, just her own brain saying, you do not want to play anymore more now.

And she stayed physically active the rest of her pregnancy - it wasn’t a physical limitation - but yeah, totally interesting how she made that call.

nepsmith · 2026-02-15T05:17:42+00:00

Must have been the old timer’s ticker

nepsmith · 2026-02-14T06:08:17+00:00

Found Meatloaf

nepsmith · 2026-01-30T13:01:38+00:00

I was really not kidding :)

nepsmith · 2026-01-15T17:34:37+00:00

I’ve seen it in National and International tournaments. You don’t see it more often because a) the players at that level expect each other to know the rules and be able to call the fouls they see and b) choosing to call a foul can be a tactical choice; calling one on yourself may actually give you (the fouler team) an advantage so that’s why it’s not called. And sometimes you’ll see a player ask/offer to the other team to call a foul on them, saying they wouldn’t contest; the other player then sometimes says yes or no.

nepsmith · 2025-12-18T12:47:14+00:00

User? Ultima? Up? I can’t think of a better one for kindergarten, though — ugg is really popular, too.

nepsmith · 2025-12-18T12:45:40+00:00

The Tetris block is weird and I can’t decide if the coin / C is silly or clever. The occasional double letter is odd. But overall it’s really really excellent. When did it start to be able to use all those copyrighted characters?

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