This isn't a brain teaser.  It's more of an interesting, sports related problem.  I like meshing physics with as many different disciplines as possible.  Ok, here's the problem:

Everyone learns in a first semester physics course that the optimum angle to generate the longest range is 45 degrees assuming no air resistance.  This if a punter on a football team kicks a punt a 45 degrees, under ideal conditions, the punt will travel the farthest.  My question is that if you consider the punt returner running back the punt, what would be the optimum angle to kick the ball to maximize the net yardage of the punt - the difference of the distance the ball was in the air and how far the punter ran it back before he was tackled.  Another words if the ball is kicked at a steeper angle (greater than 45 degrees) the ball is in the air longer allowing the kicking team to close the distance between them and the punt returner and will thus limit his return.  The opposite case of a shallower angle will spend less time and the air and go shorter, so this doesn't make any sense.  However, is there an angle greater than 45 that will maximize the net return.  Of course there are several factors to consider and to simplify, one can assume the kick returner is running at constant speed and the kick team is running at constant speed and when they are at the same position coordinate, the punt returner is tackled.

I have actually done this as a function of the punt returner's speed and the kicking team's speed, and the calcualted an angle using reasonable speeds.