Friday, February 24, 2012

In Defense of Power Jams

One of the most compelling parts of being involved in modern roller derby for me is the fact that the sport is still in its infancy. The future is unknown and full of possibilities. I get to experiment with things like roller derby stats because no one has ever done it before. The book has yet to be written on a lot of things, and I get a chance to play some small part in writing it.

As a result, there's a lot of debate going on about everything derby-related. I guess it comes with the territory. Being new and malleable, the sport is open to experimentation in a way that other sports simply aren't. There's going to be trial and error and adjustments to be made. Mix that with a lot of varying opinions, and you've got a good recipe for criticism.

When it comes to the sport itself, the most obvious adjustments come in the form of rules changes. It seems like everyone has an opinion on how to "fix" slow derby. Everyone seems to hate it when teams choose not to skate past the pivot line to bleed the clock or get an extra blocker back from the penalty box. There has also been a lot of discussion surrounding the idea that WFTDA might abolish minor penalties with the next rules update. Plenty of derby folk on the interwebs are more than happy to express their desire for WFTDA to adopt a "no minors" rules set. In fact, WFTDA actually beta tested that idea last year.

Both the "no minors" and "forced play" ideas have gained some traction. You can read various blogs about them elsewhere, so I'm not going to retread those debates here. In stead, I want to chime in on another common complaint about the current WFTDA rules set I've been seeing lately: The idea that power jams are somehow bad for roller derby.

The main criticism is essentially: "Power jams are too impactful on the game." No one can argue that power jams don't matter. Everyone has seen a 20-point swing result from a jammer penalty and completely change the complexion of a bout. The ever-present threat of this is undeniable. What is debatable is whether or not this is a bad thing.

Opponents of the current rules would say that it's bad for the sport that a critical power jam can change the outcome of a bout. I've seen several blog posts and internet comments that have put forth this argument. I could not disagree more.

Big plays are a part of a lot of different sports. They add excitement. In football, a deep pass to the end zone or a sudden interception return for a touchdown can be heart-stoppingly awesome. In baseball, a 3-run homer run can completely change a game. Hell, the simple threat of a big play making the difference helps keep a game interesting. Any bout within 20 or so points going into the last jam is not out of reach. It can make for some extremely dramatic finishes. Anyone who watched the end of the 2010 WFTDA championship bout knows what I'm talking about. Should we really want to change that?

I've also seen an argument that power jams usually only help the team in the lead. Jerry Seltzer wrote: "The concept that power jams will allow teams to come back from a big deficit rarely works; often they just allow the team that is leading to increase its lead."

Well, the fact is that when one team is winning by 100+ points, power jams are not to blame. One team is just a lot better than their opposition. Eliminating power jams is not going to make blowouts more interesting. The only thing that can fix that is the evolution of the sport. As the sport evolves, competition will become tighter, and match-ups will feature more similarly-skilled teams. In that setting, power jams will allow for more exciting bouts because more bouts will still be "within reach" in the final jam.

Another common criticism of the power jam is that it forces the officiating to affect the game to a larger degree. I won't argue with this, but I will point out that this is true of every team sport that uses a penalty system. In football, receivers are constantly trying to draw a big pass inference penalty. Basketball has been built around trying to draw fouls and get to the free-throw line. —And soccer... ESPN actually ran a commercial making fun of how soccer players fake injuries to draw penalties.

It's an inherent part of having a penalty system. There are always going to be strategies employed to try and force penalties to gain the advantage through the refs. It's unavoidable. I say we should embrace it. In my opinion, it's pretty awesome when that last blocker forces a track cut on the jammer and gives her team a big power jam. If you lessen the effect by shortening jammer penalties or eliminating them altogether, you just end up cheapening the value of good blockers.

The power jam rules debate really boils down to an argument between consistency and excitement. Do you want teams to win by playing a solid game throughout a bout, or do you want inconsistent teams to have a puncher's chance at the end? Obviously, there's a happy medium between those two aspects in any sport, but I would argue that the medium we currently have is pretty happy already.

I've been working on a a rather comprehensive stats study (the results of which you'll be seeing shortly) which includes the previously mentioned Points off Power Jams statistic. What I've found indicates that the average power jam doesn't have as much of an impact on a bout as many people assume. The words "power jam" automatically bring to mind an image of one team racking up numerous grand slams and completely taking over the bout.

The reality is that power jams like that are not very common in competitive bouts (and they simply don't matter at all in non-competitive bouts). Would you believe that in high-level, similarly-skilled match-ups, the average impact of a power jam is only about 10-12 points? Yes, there are some 20-point gougers, but there are just as many 5-point penalty kills. Just like with power plays in hockey, how well a team capitalizes on a power jam or kills a penalty can add another level of intrigue to the sport.

If you truly examine them, you'll find that power jams simply aren't the sport-destoying monsters that some people believe them to be. In fact, I would argue that they are part of what makes roller derby as awesome as it is.

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