Publisher's Synopsis
What is Muckleball? Answer: A new and exciting, tackle- oriented individual contact sport. A sport where an individual player (called an Odd, as in "Odd-man-out") and fourteen defensive players (called Muckles) fight over a ball on a grass field. When the Odd picks up the ball: he scores points! If the Odd scores a Touch-Down: more points! If the Odd was tackled, the Muckle scores points! Muckleball is a fast-paced, back-and-forth game where possessions changed hands as often as basketball, but is tackle-oriented like football! Why begin with "just" a rulebook? Did not Dr. James Naismith invent "just" 13 basic rules for basketball? This is how the global sport of basketball began! Did not the UFC begin with "just" a simple question: "Can a wrestler beat a boxer?" Hasn't it been exciting to find out through nearly 200 (and counting) pay-per-view events? All sports began with a simple set of rules, either evolving naturally over the years like baseball and football, being written on a typewriter by YMCA physical educator as in basketball, or in that moment when rules were finally codified, turning an apparent lawless "blood-sport" into the global phenomenon that has become mixed-martial arts. This rulebook is just the beginning of the global phenomenon called Muckleball! INNOVATION: ONE AGAINST MANY: Individual sports are, for the most part, either played one-on-one or in groupings that have little no interaction with one another. Tiger Woods cannot actively disrupt the play of other golfers, though he certainly might want to. For a field-based, tackle-oriented individual contact sport, playing against a single opponent is nothing more than one-on-one football. This is not nearly imaginative enough. So a new innovation had to be created in which one player would play against many other players in direct competition for the ball. This is the essence of Muckleball! One player against many players! INNOVATION: DEFENSIVE SCORING: That's blasphemy, you say. Only the offense should score points, you say. With the exception of the ridiculously exciting "pick-six," you say. With fifteen players on the field and only one offensive player capable of scoring a Touch-Down, the game would not be a high-scoring affair. The concept of scoring points simply for "possessing" the ball is certainly a start, but the innovation of the defensive players actually scoring points for defensive actions like tackling the Odd gives Muckleball a definite edge in the sports world. INNOVATION: RED ZONE SCORING: Without the option of kicking a field-goal like in football, what are the rewards for entering the Red-Zone? An additional point that's what!
