[h=2][
edit] "Hook and Ladder"[/h]The "hook and lateral" is sometimes referred to as a "hook and ladder", which is a topic of considerable debate among football fans and analysts. Although the terms are used interchangeably by some, others believe this is not technically accurate. "Hook and lateral" may actually be a newer, more descriptive term for the play. However, since it is so commonly referred to as the "hook and ladder", perhaps this is actually an equally correct term for the play. Indeed, many argue that it IS the correct term for the play, inasmuch as the play when diagrammed resembles a hook-and-ladder firetruck turning a corner.
One well known iteration of the play came in the aforementioned 1981 AFC playoff game, when the Dolphins surprised the Chargers and sent the
Orange Bowl crowd into a frenzy.
"We called it 87 Circle Curl Lateral," says
Don Strock, the quarterback for the Dolphins that night. "And, believe me, the damn thing never worked in practice."
In current culture, the play is referred to as the "hook and ladder" on the cover of EA Sports NCAA Football 2008, possibly because the term has been used commonly by sportscasters, coaches and fans for years.
[h=3][
edit] Speculation on origins of play names[/h]Some proponents of the term "hook and lateral" claim that the "hook" refers to the pattern run by the receiver who catches the pass from the quarterback. The "lateral" refers to the pitching of the ball by the receiver to his teammate. This is not synonymous with a "ladder", which is a specific route (also called a "chair") in which a receiver cuts out before turning up the field along the sideline. If the "hook" receiver laterals the ball to a teammate running a ladder route, the play could accurately be described as a "hook and ladder".[SUP][
citation needed][/SUP] This would not be true of many hook and lateral plays; in the case of the play run by the Boise State Broncos in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl,
the player who received the lateral from
the "hook" receiver was running a
slant route across the center of the field rather than a ladder route.
On the January 2, 2007 broadcast of ESPN's
Around the Horn, sportswriter
Woody Paige claimed, perhaps facetiously, that the name "hook and ladder" originated with
NYC Firemen Football Team in
Hell's Kitchen, New York. This was in response to the other panelists ridiculing his use of "hook and ladder" rather than "hook and lateral". The next day,
Jay Mariotti claimed the phrase "hook and ladder" referred to
coal mining in
Pennsylvania in the 1930s — his research claims that coal miners need a hook and ladder when trapped in a mine. Another possible explanation is that "hook and ladder" is just a corruption of the phrase "hook and lateral".
A "hook and ladder" is a common name for a firetruck, which used to carry various hooks and ladders. The analogies that could be drawn to this play based on a "hook" route (with or without an actual "lateral") and a "hook and ladder" apparatus are numerous. Long extension ladders include two or more pieces, perhaps the first piece being a "hook" route, and the second piece being a run up the "ladder" to the end-zone. The second part of the play is sometimes accomplished with a hand-off, and not a lateral at all. Notwithstanding, there does not seem to be any definitive proof of what the play was originally called or why.
