‘Rocky Rules’: To heck with punting, let’s go for it

That Rocky Long. What a scamp.

The San Diego State football coach is toying with the idea of avoiding having to punt this season after reading about a high school coach in Arkansas who put the theory into practice and had success with it.

"It makes sense," Long told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "Additional plays would allow you to score a lot more points. It also puts a whole lot of pressure on the defense."

The "Rocky Rules" stipulate that the Aztecs must be on their opponents' side of the field. But whether it's 10 inches or 10 yards, the plan is to leave punter Joel Alesi on the sideline and go for it.

Long's inspiration for this outside-the-box strategy is Kevin Kelley, who coaches at the Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Ark. Kelley's teams have gone 104-19 and won three state titles in nine years. In 2008 and 2011, his teams punted once combined.

"Punting is offensive failure," Kelley has said. "It's willingly giving the ball to the other team - a voluntary turnover."

Long's Aztecs went 1-for-5 with Kelley's fourth-down philosophy in Saturday's scrimmage. But Long isn't ready to abandon the ploy.

"It's a day-to-day theory," Long said.

■ RGIII'S TOYS - When reporters were admitted into the Washington Redskins' locker room for the first time Tuesday, they were treated to a mini version of Toys R Us, courtesy of rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Apparently, RGIII has an affinity for action figures, with a half-dozen taking up space in his locker. Among the figurines were Spider-Man, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk and a Baylor Bear (Griffin played at Baylor).

Underneath each figurine is a motivational slogan, such as "Be Unstoppable" for the Hulk and "Amazing" for Spidey.

Hey, the guy is only 22. If he wants to keep toys in the locker and it motivates him to throw touchdown passes, why begrudge him?

Perhaps RGIII should have negotiated into his contract that for every touchdown pass he throws, he'd receive a Superman or a Batman figurine.

■ SCRABBLE CHEAT - It's not an Olympic sport, but given what happened at the national championship this week, maybe Scrabble should be added for 2016.

From a corruption standpoint, it qualifies after a teenage boy was caught with a pair of counterfeit blank letter tiles and was kicked out of the event in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday after playing in the 24th of 28 rounds.

The cheat, who was not identified because he's a minor, apparently got caught when he dropped the blanks on the floor. In Scrabble, there are 96 letter tiles along with two blanks that can be substituted for any letter. Depending on where they are placed, it could result in as many as 25 points to the player.

The winner of the tournament receives $10,000, so there's incentive to cheat. As for the kid who got busted, perhaps he can take up badminton and move to China.

COMPILED BY STEVE CARP
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL