Unexplained Event During HS Football Game

just found this on a local news website. it appears as though the football lands on something in midair and then continues on its way to the player. since the news people are the ones posting this i doubt there was a cable suspended over the field or there would be no reason for them to post it.

abclocal.go.com...

hard to say what it could be

Now that was pretty crazy... the ball had to of hit something.

I think a ghost might be helping that team actually... or should I say, cheating?
I'm pretty sure the WR that caught that ball, or the QB, had someone in their family that recently died.

If im honest it looked really fake to me if you look at the receiving player think the receiving player he didnt seem off balance atall from in fact he was in perfect position for where the ball ended up after the supposed knock on the it during mid flight

reply to post by Yetichi


looks to me that the film is repeated. Notice the light poles before and after the "bounce".

Either that or this is what you would call a true "Hail Mary".

reply to post by Yetichi


It could be anything. Heck, even a strong gust of wind could do that.

Let's try to be rational here, folks, ok?

It proly hit a bird like a starling and thus the altered flight path. If there is a close-up it would be helpful.

The ball clearly "bounces" mid-flight in order to hit the receiver on pace...more or less.

If not tape tampering, it's really incredible.

If the ball did bounce off something, something solid enough to affect trajectory, the way the ball moved in the air would have changed, it would have started to tumble, not continue spinning.

i have seen this before myself throwing a football, i live in an area prone to winds that can do that to a foot ball, it's just a rare case like that where it works out for the reciever

Originally posted by Chadwickus
If the ball did bounce off something, something solid enough to affect trajectory, the way the ball moved in the air would have changed, it would have started to tumble, not continue spinning.

Not if it glanced over the top on downward trajectory, like rock skipping over water.

Weird-

I made a feature film for ESPN about THIS VERY TEAM...

That is a coincidence.

Check out:

www.TheLastGame.com

for a preview of the story... 3 minute trailer.

T. Patrick Murray

reply to post by TH3ON3


Very true, even then it would still alter the movement of the ball.

I downloaded the vid so I could slow it down and the 'wobble' of the spin doesn't change during the flight.

i only posted it because it was on a official news site. it would be strange if they are posting doctored videos. my first thoughts were a wire like the NFL has over the field or a bird. or it may be a cloaked vessel.

Wow this is weird. Some kind of force has to be equal or greater to the balls force in order for it to bounce then continue on its path. Im not going to go into any calculations because it been so long since if done anything like that and I forgot how to. Some things to consider:

-If its a bird, then the bird would have to be at its greatest point of upward force just to hold enough force so the football can bounce off of it. So the bird would have just flapped its wings down when it hit the football. In other words the timing has to be perfect. If it doesn't, then the ball hits the bird and bounces somewhere else. The weight of the bird is much less than the force/weight of the football.

-If its wind, then it has to be a very strong gust, and it has to be going either with the football or in the same direction as the spiral. Since its a football field theres nothing to really look at to see if theres a gust.

I just looked at it again for a few minutes and it looks as though the camera man is zooming out when the ball is thrown, then he zooms back in for a quick second, then zooms out again. This might create the illusion that the ball has bounced off of something.

Anyone else see that?




[edit on 10-11-2008 by KidOK]

Seems like the ball's spin would affect it's trajectory if the wind hit it. If it's spinning fast enough, it'll bounce without changing to much. I've seen stuff like this during the Super Bowel on occasion, between commercials.

reply to post by KidOK


If it was a bird, there would be a small explosion of feathers as the texture of the ball ripped the feathers off the bird. It would also have to be a very dense bird for it to be invisible to the camera and give such a sharp deflection.

The wind theory seems far more plausible, and the most likely candidate, simply as that stuff happens all the time. It's a wide open space, and the ball was quite high when it happened. Couple in the fact that it was spinning rapidly, and a wind across it would indeed cause all kinds of aerodynamic interference, easily possible of deflecting the ball upwards.

And it's not the 'force' of the ball, but the force required to illicit an acceleration great enough to cancel out the downward acceleration due to gravity, and impart its own acceleration upon the ball in an upwards motion.

As we can't see anything, and as we know this phenomenon actually happens, I'll have to go with the wind. Great video but hardly mysterious or weird.

The bounce seems to be kind of elastic, like it hit a magnetic force instead of a brick wall. There seemed to be some mild cushioning, if the ball hit a solid object it should have been altered a lot more. It is probably doctored or maybe someone put a gyro in the football or the person receiving the ball used his super powers as he noticed it was going to be short so he bumped it along.

reply to post by DraconianKing


Or it's the wind...

... that would account for the cushioning effect of the 'mysterious' force.