Andre, I used them in my solitaire season and loved it. The first 3 'weeks' (12 actual games) I used my dice system, then switched to the sticks for 4 'weeks' (16 games), then went back to the dice for one 'week' (4 games) and found I prefered the sticks, so the last 2 'weeks' (8 games) and playoffs (2 games) and championship game were with sticks. So, having just played 27 games with the sticks, here are my thoughts....
1) Just like in real life, the further out you "throw" the ball, the less likely you are to complete it. I found myself throwing to the backs coming out of the backfield often, though many times it was because they were the only ones open with enough room to run to the stick.
2) Short passes are
not automatic! I had a few times where the receiver just plained missed it for absolutely no reason other than he was just trying to ******** me off!
3) You can
never be sure what is going to happen. I've had guys go straight to the stick, then suddenly turn away at the last second, and guys who looked like they were going to miss it, then turn like they were being sucked in by a magnet and hit it. I had guys who fell over and rolled into the stick, defenders who were twice as far away as the receiver run like a bat out of hell to intercept, linemen who were engaged in a block facing away from the stick suddenly turn and race to it for an interception...... You gotta love it.
The only thing I didn't like was when you're near the endzone, there isn't much room to throw to.
If you're going to play with sticks, take this advice, turn the defenders away from the receivers before the play starts so that they go out into coverage. It makes it more fun and
realistic, in the sense that the receivers get to run their routes. Also, you may find that they are too covered to throw to forcing the QB to either run with the ball or throw it away.
Like they used to say in those old Alka Seltzer commercials,
try it, you'll
like it!
