Rules of the game

Ya know... high school is a fun time. I was a nerd. Plain and simple. Geek, nerd, weirdo, etc. I was about 5'4", and slightly over weight. What can I say, I was ahead of my time. It seems nowadays that's the popular culture. And then there was gym class. They called me "Hollywood" because I had those self-tinting glasses, and when we would go outside, they got dark. Anyhoo...We were outside, apparently playing football. Everyone was on their little imaginary lines denoting, usually, the people that were good at sports, and the people that were going to loose. Ahh... life was simpler back then. So, when they kicked the ball, or hiked it, or whatever, I ran to a nice spot on the school lawn where no one else was. Bad idea. In football, that's where the best players go to catch the ball. I did not know this. So, the ball flies to me, and in a moment of angst, I caught it amazingly enough with my eyes closed and my head turned. Well, when you have the football everyone on the other team (the winners) run after you. Imagine the startled look on my face when I opened my eyes, and there was a whole lot of people coming at me at an amazing rate of speed. Quick decision time: OK, I have the ball. Everyone is running after me. Bad thing. What has changed? Why are they running after me? I am the same as I was, all alone out here, until the ball came. I have the ball. OK, the ball is bad. Get rid of the ball. So, I threw the ball to someone, anyone. The guy was on my team, so no problem. It really made no difference to me. Just got rid of it. Welp, the dude caught it, and everyone stopped and laughed. The gym teacher came over, laughing too, and asked me why the heck I did that? I asked him what I did wrong.
"You can't throw a football forward to someone on your own team."
"Why not?"
"Because it's football. Those are the rules!"
"Well, I don't know the rules. You, the gym teacher, never taught us the rules."
He laughed and we started playing again. I never did learn the rules until quite some time after. It seems to me that if you want someone to "play the game", you should probably tell them the rules beforehand, or at least ask the person if they know them.
Just seems like common courtesy.
So, now I'm 6'3" tall, still slightly overweight and publishers are calling me about publishing a book.
The gym teacher is still teaching gym.
I guess everyone's different.
I hope he caught on to that in time enough to not humiliate a whole lot of other people.
Thank you for your consideration.