September 2 – Bison-Ten-Yell Day

nPostednon September 2, 2013

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Today’sn“holiday” is pretty goofball. It’s supposed to be thenbicentennial birthday of a fictitious person. “The bicentennialnbirthday” means the 200^th birthday—so we would imaginenthat the birthday boy or girl was born in 1813…but in this casenEVERY year is the bicentennial birthday.

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nIt’snall one giant (and bad) pun – Bison-Ten-Yell, said just right,nsounds a lot like “bicentennial.”

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nAnyway,nsince the birthday boy or girl is fictitious, he or she never reallynexisted. In other words, she or he was never actually born. I guessnthat makes it okay for him or her to have a different birth datenevery year!

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nNow,nwhy on earth do we celebrate the bicentennial birthday of a personnwho never existed? Today is supposed to honor the person who inventednten verbal signals that could be yelled during a war to alert one’snsoldiers to the battle plan. Ten signals, yelled signals—these arenthe reasons given for the “Ten-Yell” part of the name. Let’s justnhope the battles weren’t fought against bison! They’re really big and scary!

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nThensoldiers had to memorize the meaning of each signal. Obviously, ancommander yelling something that everyone could understand wouldn’tnbe very effective—because then the enemy would know the plan, too!nSo the soldiers on one side would be taught their signals, and thensoldiers on the other side would be taught their completelyndifferent signals. And everyone hoped that the enemy didn’t figurenout their playbook.

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Younknow who uses a system like this? Football players. (I’m talkingnAmerican football here, with helmets and tackling and a bullet-shapednball.) Have you ever heard a quarterback shouting things like “Bluen32” or “Red 24” just before a play starts? Those are thenspecial signals that each team creates and memorizes and sometimesnchanges—and that each team hopes the “enemy” doesn’t crack!

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Thenyelled signals can be longer than the examples I gave.

nHow about thisnone:

n“Right.nY-Mo. 3, 15 O.P. Naked right arrow F. Pump!”

nThe meaning of the yells can be complicated. A lot of yells are nonsense, and some of the yells are attempts to throw the other side off, confuse them, trick them. For example, a quarterback will often say, “hut, hut, hut,” and he knows that the center will give him the ball on the third “hut.” But maybe the quarterback and center agreed to snap the ball on the fifth “hut.” The quarterback may still emphasize the third “hut,” as if he’s done—as if that were the “hike the ball” signal. If someone on the other team is faked out, he may surge forward at least for half a second–and get a penalty!

nSome of the yells are real information. A certain color may mean, “We’re going to stick with the play we discussed in the huddle.” (Sticking with the play discussed in the huddle is most common, by the way.) But another color may mean, “Listen up! We’re going to change the plan!”

nAfter such a signal, a common call is a number that means a particular play—such as the halfback sweeping left, catching a lateral pass, and running through a hole created by the linebackers.

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nCelebrate!

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nIfnyou like football, you may want to play it today or watch it tonight.

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nOrngrab a pen and some paper and devise a signal code for battles,nfootball, or any activity at all!

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nAlsonon this date:

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