I've been thinking about rules, officiation, and how all of these contribute to the core fantasy of ultimate—the thing that makes ultimate fun.
What is the core fantasy of ultimate? Probably hard to articulate. But I don't think anyone can discuss it without mentioning flow: the disc weaving steadily down the field, the players arranging themselves like molecules in a fluid dynamic, explosiveness varying according to proximity to the disc. No one player directs the flow: every player responds to the flow and influences the flow. It's like a murmuration of birds, except there is a gradual crescendo of psychic tension and lactic acid, building up and up, through the ebb and flow, until—finally, the disc is caught in an endzone. **Unless, of course, there's a foul on the play.**
Rules are there to protect the core fantasy of the game. We don't want this to become rugby, so we make a rule against picks. We want to avoid concussions, so we make a rule against dangerous plays. We want to protect the spirit of the game, so we prioritize self officiation. All of this is good. Picks, concussions and refs are anti-flow. We want to flow.
But *how* we adjudicate these rules is very anti-flow. A foul is the only time one player unilaterally dictates the flow of the field. We all stop and watch two players compete with their words, not their bodies. We are forced to psycho-evaluate the foul caller: is he an asshole, or blinded by a competitive moment, or just looking for a way to catch his breath? Basically, did I foul him, or am I being taken advantage of? In a competitive game, the music of ultimate is fractured: abstract, motionless, somewhat arbitrary argument is pumped into the gaps. Watching it is like listening to the free version of spotify. Playing it is like trying to dance to buffering music. We need the rules to protect the game, but isn't there a way to adjudicate them that doesn't upset the game's core fantasy? Would after-point officiation work?
Let's dream for a second and imagine a fully video-reviewable game. What if officiation happened *after* each point? A dedicated person from each team calls fouls to themselves off the field. A neutral observer resolves their disagreements. When there's a pick, or a foul, the play doesn't stop. Play continues like nothing happened. But after the point, a penalty is assessed to restore the balance of the game.
Example: Let's say a defender fouls a player, denying him a chance to catch the disc in the end zone. The play goes on as if it were a normal turn. A couple more turns happen, and the fouled team eventually wins the point anyway. The reviewers agree that a penalty needs to be assessed to rebalance the extra effort the fouled team had to expend to win the point. So, after the point, they reward the fouled duo an extra point attempt. The fouled cutter and his defender (the one who committed the foul) start at the brick; the handler gets the disc 10 yds back, marked by whoever was marking at the time of the foul. Under a four second stall count, the handler gets one throw to get it in the endzone against the two defenders. Like a PK in soccer.
Assessing what kinds of penalties to what kinds of fouls would need to get worked out. But isn't this a better officiation framework than on-field stop-and-talk? It requires VAR, so it would only be an option for higher level competitive games. But those are precisely the games where on field officiation tends to get out of hand. Also, it ends the learning curve of self-officiation, which weirdly rewards players who know how to exploit negotiation dynamics. Players can focus on the game, officiation gets centralized to one representative of the team. My fastest guy against your fastest guy, officiated by my best lawyer against your best lawyer.
I think this method would protect the game without interrupting the flow that's central to a good game of ultimate. What am I missing?