Minor League Football.. key word is minor

If Saturday's game is any indication of what is to come, then this is going to be a long, ugly season. Minor League Football conjours up the movie The Longest Yard. Saturday's game could have been the inspiration for that movie.

First, the caliber of play was dismal. I understand these guys have day-jobs and are weekend warrior's at best. And I doubt many of these players have seen a weight room or a pair of jogging shoes in a long time. But this is no excuse of the lack of character in grown men. It was pathetic. I thought the High School All-Star games were bad. This was just plain old ugly.

The game ended 22-6, so at least it was interesting, but we threw way too many flags. I broke-up several potential fights and had to talk down more than one hyped-up player. We threw at least six unsportsmanlike and three personal fouls - one of which I threw. I could, or perhaps should, have thrown other flags. Pushing, shoving, fighting. I caught a guy punching another player in the balls. What the hell?

One thing that contributed to the problem was we had a rookie crew. Three of the crew had never worked NCAA rules or mechanics. They had deer-in-the-headlights syndrome and it showed. Things started to get out of hand when the players felt we were not going to call any of the borderline things. It took us vets two quarters to get things back in line. We had to threaten to leave in order to get the players to stop being stupid.

As with many of the junior college games, there was no clock on the field, no PA system, and no field management to my knowledge. For a league what wants to improve its image, it is off to a poor start.

So get this; during the first quarter, we have a play in the flats where the runner falls down, but was not down by contact. The Line Judge blows the play dead. Ok, fine, he is a High School official and forgot we are using the NFL rule for this. No big deal. I remind him and we go on.

Another play just like this happens on the other side of the field, but the Linesman correctly does not blow the play dead and the runner gains another five yards before he is tackled. The visiting coach is jumping through his skin because the runners knee was down. We remind him of the rule, he protests, we tell him to politely get a clue. Then at halftime, the two coaches speak and agree to change the rule for the second half - now we are using High School rules.

Whatever.