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Football on Luna

by John Cunningham

They had practiced the play for weeks, but would it work now? Anyway they were committed, and there was no turning back.

Tranquility, in the white uniforms of the home team, lined up in defensive formation. Tycho, dressed in the green of Earth's plant life, lined up also on the other side of the football.

"Get set!" the Tycho quarterback's thundering voice was heard throughout the Tranquility dome. His teammates took their proper stance. "Hut 1!"

The ball was snapped. The two lines came together. There was a pop -- actually several pops making what seemed to be one sound. Players went in all directions -- even as high as ten feet in the air.

Sue Green watched from the sidelines. Even on Luna, size determined one's position on the team. Sue, who only weighed ninety pounds on Earth and fifteen pounds here, was the club's smallest player; and she had seen little playing time.

The Tycho quarterback hopped back to pass which was tricky on this small world -- comparable to throwing an empty plastic bag on Earth. Oh yes, one could throw 300 yards under optimum conditions; but things were never optimum when eleven players were coming at you. Besides, who would want to throw that far when the playing mat was only a hundred yards long? The trick was not to put too much effort into a throw. Furthermore, if one threw too hard, he would knock himself over backwards. One could hardly plant his feet and get a good throw. The best way to get off a pass was to make a leap in the direction you wanted to throw and aim from mid-air. A fake was difficult -- impossible for most, but this time the Tycho quarterback thought he would try it. Maybe it was his overconfidence that did him in.

He hopped backwards and then made another hop to his right. He stopped and, with some difficulty, made a couple of small bounces, doubled his knees, and took a mighty leap forward -- just in time to escape a Tranquility lineman who was almost upon him. About three feet into the air as he cocked his arm back to throw, anyone would have thought he was going to throw straight ahead.

Ed noticed that the Tycho quarterback suddenly looked to his left. He would not have been looking left if he were going to throw straight, Ed decided. Ed braced himself for a possible fake throw to the left; and sure enough, about five feet in the air, the quarterback suddenly threw -- not in the direction of his leap but to his left.

"Pass!" yelled several of the Tranquility players.

The ball was thrown too hard. The recoil from the throw spun the Tycho passer around in mid-air; and he slowly fell, flipping over backwards as well as spinning around. He landed on his head and bounced completely out of control. The pass, having no momentum (since it was thrown at right angles to the thrower's forward motion), wobbled wildly -- far short of its intended receiver.

Ed timed the wobbly ball, doubled his knees, and leaped up. He overtook the slow ball and wrapped his arms around it. Sue leaped off her seat and squealed as she saw her teammate intercept the pass. The Tranquility bench watched as Ed's momentum carried him away from his goal line; but once he was down, he tried to stop himself and move forward. Several Tycho players were on him before he could recover enough to run forward.

"This is the break we need," Sue heard Coach Condor say to one of his assistants. Immediately the coach called a time out.

"There is only a minute left, and we're down by three," the coach began. "We'll not risk a pass, but we'll first try an end around. Then," the coach looked straight at Sue, "Sue, you go in for Dwaine at halfback."

"Yes, Coach." Sue did not know when she had felt so nervous. Would all the practicing they had done pay off? She barely heard the rest of the coach's instructions, but she knew that this was the big one.

"That bunch from Tycho has never been beaten," Coach Condor reminded them.

"But we're going to do it. How about it, gang?" team captain and quarterback Joe shouted.

The rest of them roared agreement. "Okay. Let's go get 'em," the coach said as he turned toward the mat.

The players filed out, half walking and half flying in the light lunar gravity. Their uniforms would have been bulky on Earth, but here they enabled the athletes to almost walk as well as give everyone more than adequate protection. Sue had time to reflect that lunar football was a safe game really -- much more so than Earth football. The light gravity meant there was a limit to how hard one would fall. It also meant that one was never able to get tight enough footing for a really hard hit. Even if two players collided in mid-air, they likely would merely bounce off each other and slowly fall to the ground. Running was impossible too. If one wanted to travel fast, all he could do was move his center of gravity forward and jump. Making a tackle was easy if one got hold of his opponent the right way. A 200-pound Earthman only weighed forty pounds here -- even with all of his equipment. Sue tried to reassure herself with these thoughts, but she knew she probably had the most fearsome assignment ever given a lunar football player.

"Why would they put a girl in the game in a clutch situation?" Sue heard one of the big Tycho linemen say to the fellow next to him.

"Must be crazy," his buddy replied.

"Either that or the rest of them are all hurt," another lineman scoffed.

Sue felt herself redden. The cutting remarks made her want more than ever to show those arrogant men a thing or two.

The lines came together. Joe took a hop and leaped. Ed, the tight end, took a couple of hops and leaped also. Joe looked straight at Ed and cocked his arm as though he were going to throw to Ed.

"Pass!" someone on the Tycho team yelled. The Tycho players shifted position to cover Ed or catch the pass if one came up.

Tom came seemingly out of nowhere and grabbed the ball out of Joe's hand. Most of the Tycho defense were caught off guard because they had overshifted to their right. Now they realized the play was going to Tycho's left.

It might have worked. Tom was fast and agile. He took a couple of big hops and was around the Tycho left (Tranquility's right) side. Once at the line of scrimmage, he started to make a third leap.

The only Tycho player who was in a position to do anything was the smallest man on the team. He had shifted to his right along with the rest of his teammates, and his momentum would have taken him out of the action had he not grabbed onto the big lineman in front of him and stopped himself from going further out of the play. Then, still holding on to his teammate, he made a jerking motion with his hand that propelled him toward Tom. Sue knew this was the man she was supposed to block, and she made a move toward him. The Tycho player merely grabbed Sue by her shoulder pad, sent her faster in the direction she had been going, and moved on for Tom. He and Tom collided in mid-air -- six feet above the mat, and both men bounced. The Tycho player grabbed Tom by the ankle; and as they descended slowly to the mat, he gave his hand a twist that sent Tom backwards. On Earth such a mid-air collision would have been dangerous but not here. Furthermore, on the home planet, a flick of the wrist would not have been enough to send Tom backward; but here it was sufficient. Tom hit the mat flat on his back and bounced, and the official blew his whistle. The fall -- even from six feet up -- barely fazed Tom.

There was no huddle. Everyone knew the play. Sue's nervousness suddenly and inexplicably left. She momentarily felt bad about missing her block, but there was no time for that now. She took a deep breath the same way she had done many times in practice.

The ball was snapped on the first count as it always was when there had been no huddle. Once again there was the sound of numerous padded bodies hitting together.

Joe hopped back as though he were going to pass. Again Tom came up and appeared to grab the ball from Joe's hand. It looked like the previous play all over again.

Instead Joe kept the ball. Sue, after faking to her right, leaped up and to her left -- pretending to run interference for Joe -- and landed on Joe's shoulder. It looked as though she were clumsily getting in the quarterback's way.

The next few movements happened nearly simultaneously. Joe leaped with Sue still on his shoulder. Sue hurriedly reached down and grabbed the ball from Joe. Don gave a jerking motion that flipped him over in a somersault. As his feet came up, Joe's feet came down and their feet met. Don and Joe bent their knees and then simultaneously gave a thrust with all their might. Joe -- with Sue still on his shoulder -- was propelled upward and forward. Sue was already about six feet in the air; and the thrust carried by Tom's kick lifted them both six feet higher. As soon as Sue felt herself rising, she made a jump that normally would have propelled her seven feet high and ten yards forward. However, already having enough momentum to send her twelve feet up and six yards forward added to her own jump, Sue was nineteen feet up and carrying enough forward motion to propel her sixteen yards. She was higher than any Tycho player could hope to leap.

Some of the Tycho players thought Joe still had the ball. Some of them believed Tom had it. Sue had gone largely unnoticed by most of the Tycho defense, but one or two of them who had been closest to the play had seen Sue get the ball from Joe.

"Watch out for the little girl!" one of them yelled. The defensive safety looked up -- momentarily stunned that anyone could fly so high and so far. One of them made a move to nab Sue as she came down.

It was not to be. Ed, the wide receiver who had gone out for the fake pass, was right under Sue when she was about to land. Ed, moving as fast as he could in the light gravity, had timed his movements in such a way that Sue landed, both feet, on his shoulders. Then Ed gave a leap; and as soon as Sue felt the leap, she gave another one also. Again, the combined thrusts of the two of them propelled Sue upward about fifteen feet and forward about fifteen yards. As she came down, she was alone and on her way to the goal line.

"Hey! Get him! Stop her!" Sue could hear the roars from the Tycho bench. By now the entire Tycho team knew where the ball was, and most of them were not in a position to pursue. Some of them tried though.

Sue landed on her feet, let her knees bend almost all the way, then sprung again. The combined force of her upward and forward motion caused her to flip in mid-air. She landed on her head; but since there was no defensive player around to touch her, the play was not dead. Sue rolled on the canvas; and as her feet hit, she gave another thrust, again propelling herself forward several yards. A groan went up from the Tycho side of the field.

Sue made two more hops and heard the buzzer sound, indicating the game was over. Sue was over too -- over the goal line, that is -- several yards ahead of any of the Tycho defense. She turned to see the officials raise their hands, indicating a touchdown. The crowd inside the dome roared; and several of Sue's teammates were falling down, hopping to get to her. Tranquility was the new Lunar football champ!

Figure 1. The man in motion goes to his right as he did during the previous play. This time the ball is merely faked to him from the quarterback who keeps the ball. The fullback falls and lands on his shoulders -- feet upward. (See Figure 2.) The halfback (Sue) leaps and lands on the quarterback's shoulders. The quarterback then leaps; and as he comes down he lands on the feet of the fullback. The halfback takes the ball from the quarterback while the three of them prepare to thrust. They jump (shown by the broken circle) nearly simultaneously, and the halfback is propelled almost as though she had been thrust from a slingshot (illustrated by the broken line). Meanwhile, the tight end has positioned himself to where the flying halfback will land on his shoulders. The tight end and halfback then give another near simultaneous leap (again illustrated by a broken circle) that carries the halfback further down the field.

Figure 2. The three backs balance themselves like circus clowns. Their combined thrusts propel the lighter ball carrier higher and further than anyone could leap by himself.

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© 1996, John G. Cunningham / Shekinah House Publishers