Rules play a significant part in any activity system. How we define an activity system is best described in the essay “Activity Theory” by Kain and Wardle. In this essay they define an activity system as “a group of people who share a common object and motive over time, as well as the wide range of tools they use together to act on that object and realize that motive.” (Kain and Wardle 275). They establish boundaries and limits to maintain order in a given system as an example the “Dead Ball” rule in football; In football the dead ball rule controls the flow of the game. When the ball is dead the clock stops and teams go back to their huddles to prepare for the next play. Without the dead ball rule the activity system would be significantly more chaotic, players would not know when to stop which could lead to injuries. Rules in activity systems vary in complexity and thoroughness The National Football League 's rule book thoroughly explains the rule and all possible situations that can result in a dead ball. A dead ball in football can happen for a number of reasons, and the ball does not always have to touch the ground.
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The official definition of a dead ball in accordance to The National Football League 's rule book is “A Dead Ball is one that is not in play. The time period during which the ball is dead is Between Downs. This includes the interval during all timeouts, including intermission, and from the time the ball becomes dead until it is legally put in play. “ (Goodell 4). According to the rule book a dead ball can be declared for a number of reasons namely when the player is down, when a player 's forward progression is halted, on an incomplete pass, when the carrier is out of bounds or when a touchdown has been achieved. In this example the dead ball rule is crucial for the football activity system. Dead balls control the flow of the game and allow scoring to be possible. Without the dead ball rule a player couldn’t score a touchdown because the ball would still be considered in play and fair game. The game would start to more closely resemble rugby instead of football where downed players would be wrestled for control of the ball. Rules in activity system also in some cases provide fairness and safety. Consider a runner in football who has made it to the end zone for a touchdown. Without the dead ball rule the play would still be active and we would be open to player tackling him with a twenty yard head start, this would be a very dangerous situation and would create inherent risk to runners who scored touchdowns. The word touchdown comes from rugby where in order to score a point the player must physically touch the ball down in the end zone, then the team can kick the extra point from where the ball touched the end zone. One of the major rules that divides these two activity systems is the dead ball rule. There are many rules in football and other activity systems that are meant to uphold the values, create order, fairness and safety among other things that without the activity system could be changed completely. Because rules are so important there is a lot of effort put into making sure that everybody knows and abides by the rule. One of the first rules you learn when you start playing the game is the dead ball rule and you also learn to associate the referee 's whistle with dead ball or end of play. This is a speech act, the referee 's whistle effectively everyone on the field is obligated to now stop what they are doing and return to their side of the ball. Charles Bazerman in his article “Speech Acts, Genres, and Activity Systems: How Texts Organize Activity and People”. Defines a speech act as: “A set of words said at the proper time in the proper circumstances by the proper person, someone will be obligated to do something, or the life arrangements of two people will change.“ (Bazerman 374). In the case of football, all the players share the common object of the ball with the motive of scoring touchdowns over the course of
The official definition of a dead ball in accordance to The National Football League 's rule book is “A Dead Ball is one that is not in play. The time period during which the ball is dead is Between Downs. This includes the interval during all timeouts, including intermission, and from the time the ball becomes dead until it is legally put in play. “ (Goodell 4). According to the rule book a dead ball can be declared for a number of reasons namely when the player is down, when a player 's forward progression is halted, on an incomplete pass, when the carrier is out of bounds or when a touchdown has been achieved. In this example the dead ball rule is crucial for the football activity system. Dead balls control the flow of the game and allow scoring to be possible. Without the dead ball rule a player couldn’t score a touchdown because the ball would still be considered in play and fair game. The game would start to more closely resemble rugby instead of football where downed players would be wrestled for control of the ball. Rules in activity system also in some cases provide fairness and safety. Consider a runner in football who has made it to the end zone for a touchdown. Without the dead ball rule the play would still be active and we would be open to player tackling him with a twenty yard head start, this would be a very dangerous situation and would create inherent risk to runners who scored touchdowns. The word touchdown comes from rugby where in order to score a point the player must physically touch the ball down in the end zone, then the team can kick the extra point from where the ball touched the end zone. One of the major rules that divides these two activity systems is the dead ball rule. There are many rules in football and other activity systems that are meant to uphold the values, create order, fairness and safety among other things that without the activity system could be changed completely. Because rules are so important there is a lot of effort put into making sure that everybody knows and abides by the rule. One of the first rules you learn when you start playing the game is the dead ball rule and you also learn to associate the referee 's whistle with dead ball or end of play. This is a speech act, the referee 's whistle effectively everyone on the field is obligated to now stop what they are doing and return to their side of the ball. Charles Bazerman in his article “Speech Acts, Genres, and Activity Systems: How Texts Organize Activity and People”. Defines a speech act as: “A set of words said at the proper time in the proper circumstances by the proper person, someone will be obligated to do something, or the life arrangements of two people will change.“ (Bazerman 374). In the case of football, all the players share the common object of the ball with the motive of scoring touchdowns over the course of