Other Sports
Faceoffs are also used in lacrosse. In a lacrosse faceoff, two players face each other in a crouching position with the ball placed between the two sticks. At a signal from the official, each tries to gain possession of the ball. A player can not hold on to the ball.
A faceoff is also similar to a jump ball in basketball and a ball-up in Australian rules football. They also involve two opposing players attempting to gain control of the ball after it is released by an official.
A faceoff-like event has been attempted in at least one league of American football. The XFL, a short-lived professional football league that played its lone season in 2001, instituted an "opening scramble," replacing the coin toss, in which one player from each team attempted to recover a loose football after a twenty-yard dash. The team whose player recovered the ball got first choice of kicking, receiving, or defending one side of the field. Because of an extremely high rate of injury in these events (one XFL player was lost for the season after separating his shoulder in a scramble), the event has not gained mainstream popularity in any other football league, and the coin toss remains the method of choice for determining possession at the beginning of a game.
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