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Sidenote: Can football end the defer silliness? by potatohouse

Where did this fragile, procrastination device come from? What a strange, unnecessary link in the chain. It creates (and I assume actually necessitates) a decision that should never have to be made. Nobody is kicking off both times. You're always taking the ball to start the second half if you didn't want it right away. Do coaches really need to retain this inane power of choice? Do they then really need to inform an official before the end of halftime that, yes, they'd actually like to receive the ball now. "We discussed giving the other team a free possession. There was a hearty debate among the staff with good points made all around. But ultimately we'd like to do the thing that is better for winning."

You want the ball in the first, the other team gets it in the second. You want the ball in the second, the other team gets it in the first. Done. For a game that's been built on destroying brain matter, they sure like to overthink this one.