Preseason: The not-so-magnificent 7

In a contact sport such as football, should a ball carrier be required to make contact with the designated scoring area?

Based on the break-the-plane rule, the answer, curiously, is no. And when you see a collection of what we call airspace touchdowns strung together, it makes you wonder how rulemakers think that this is a sensible decision. 

In the still image we see the Saints’ Spencer Rattler (18) nicking the airspace above the pylon with a small fragment of the ball. That’s good for six points, we’re told. How about that?

UFL 2024: A familiar pattern

During the UFL’s inaugural 80-game regular season and three postseason games, we spotted 11 airspace touchdowns — and could have argued for a few more, but we counted only the most conclusive no-touch touchdowns that replays confirmed.

The spawn of the XFL and USFL, where rule revisions were some of the two leagues’ most interesting attributes, we hoped the UFL might consider, however briefly, the rule change this website proposes. So far, no such luck.

As a result, spring football allowed all of us to watch a wide assortment of logic-defying, eye-rolling six-pointers. Lucky us.

What if: Baseball and break-the-plane

Imagine if break-the-plane logic infiltrated all of our sports and games.

In baseball, every fly ball that gouges any portion of the airspace above or beyond an outfield fence should be considered a home run. Each one broke the plane, right? So all these over-the-fence defensive heroics should not matter.

What a sad world that would be.