In Canada, Punts Can Be Punted Back the Other Way for a Touchdown

You win, Canada.

When it comes to punting, the way you guys do it is much better and far more entertaining. 

A tip of the hat to Yahoo! Sports, who spotted this video and gave us some idea of what the hell is going on, as a punt is returned by a punt.

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However, in a nod to rugby, Canadian football holds that on scrimmage kicks (i.e., punts and missed field goals), the returning team can respond by immediately punting the ball back to the other team, creating a free-for-all where whichever team gets to the ball first will retain possession.

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At first, you may want to pat Canada on their heads and say, "You are so adorable with your silly little rules," but we have just as much absurdity in this country. 

For example, there is a rule that every week we have to hear the name Tim Tebow for absolutely no reason at all, which really seems like an archaic demand that should be revisited. 

Really, this rule is ridiculous and something I would like to see get incorporated into American football. 

Punts can be some of the most boring aspects of the wonderful game of football. Imagine spicing it up with the very thought that at any time, it could just be punted back the other way. 

Deadspin also reported on the story and highlighted one of the comments they received that explained the play more in depth:

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The kicking team cannot recover their own punt, except for the kicker and any players that were behind the kicker when he kicked. Which is usually all eleven—yes eleven—of the other players on the field. Sometimes when a team is punting into an extreme Prairie wind, they'll have an onside player behind the punter so he can run down and try recover the short punt after it hangs up in the air.

In a nod to the games rugby roots, that convention doesn't only apply to punt plays, but to all plays. So, technically, a receiver could catch a pass, punt it forward, and all players that were behind him when he kicked it could try to recover it. You sometimes see that strategy on the final play of a game when the offense is down by a touchdown or less, in lieu of a Stanford band multi-lateral attempt. Or, as in this case, the punt returner could do the same. You'll notice on the video that a bunch of teammates spread out wide and behind him when he kicked it forward.

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Oh, Canada. 

You are a mysterious land with so many riches—one that is also home to many gracious sports fanatics ready to explain silly quirks. 

Punting, for one magnificent day in 2012, became extremely interesting to me.

Head over to Twitter where the party really gets crackalacking. 

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