Offsides
Adam Spencer
Analysis
An offside call is when the offense passes the ball to a teammate that is behind the last defender in the defensive line on the opposing end.
This is similar to real life issues because there are disagreeing countries or teams that are trying to get an advantage over one another. The major difference however is that there isn't always an official to punish the rule-breaker. When there isn't the defending party retaliates in defense which then causes the other team to fight back because they see their actions as a mistake and not on purpose. A major conflict happens all because of one mistake on one side that was not intended to be a major problem.
Application
The American revolution between the colonies and Britain was caused by offsides. The colonies thought that Britain was playing dirty because of their power and influence. I know from personal experience that when you're losing you see the other team playing dirty or cheating. I also know that when you're winning you don't see your team playing dirty. This is because you know the people on your team and how they play, but you don't know what the other team is like so you assume the worst.
This is much like the American revolution because both sides thought the other was in the wrong. Britain saw the colonists as unruly while the colonies saw Britain as oppressive. Tensions were already high from "dirty play" from both sides until the an offside on the British, the Boston Massacre, which was caused by a single group of people set everything off. While it didn't start the conflict between the two, it drove others to see the British as the "bad guys" which made the British take extreme defensive measures. After that the conflict between the two groups escalated quickly and became an all out war.
Transfer
I play soccer and more importantly I play as the goalie or on defense so I have a good understand how an offside can affect the game. There have been many times were my team could have won, but because of one offside the entire game changed. The reverse has also happened where my team was saved because of and offside. Not only that, but if there are repeated offsides on either team it affects how the players play and their attitudes to the referee and their own teammates
A similar thing can happen on the track team. In a running event if you move too earlier before the gun then you will get fowled and the whole heat will have to go stop and go again. If you do it again you are disqualified from the event. This could mean the difference in close meet because if that person would have gotten first than that's ten points less the school would have gotten. Not only that, but every person below them are bumped up a place which could mean an even bigger gap forms. That one disqualification can be devastating and the person that was disqualified might be affected in his other events too.