Saturday's contest was the final regular season game and was the most competitive to date. A classic, back and forth struggle, played in the rain with several key turnovers. Final score was 34-28.
Again, and I still find this so hard to believe, but there was no chain crew until moments before the game started. At half time we had to get another chain crew. The 25 second clock was not working either. High School Freshman games are more organized that this. I worked seven venues this season and this lack of administration has been symptomatic of well over 30% of the fields.
I was run into several times by linebackers during this game. A huge bruise on my right shoulder can attest to just how hard one of these collisions was. At least I was not knocked down.
I threw a flag for holding. I actually think this was my first holding flag this season. The center was clearly holding, twisting the defenders shoulders.. but I held my flag until the ball carrier sprinted by them. The center finish off the foul by taking down the defender. I'd love to see this one film because what may have happened is the defender actually fell on the center rather than the center pulling him down. At least on film it will look like a take down.
I also threw a flag for an illegal forward pass on a blocked Try. The defense picked up the ball and began a return. When the ball carrier was stopped he lateraled, then the next guy lateraled, and the third guys lateraled - just forward this time. The Field Judge also threw a flag that hit the ground about the same time as mine. It always looks good when there are two flags on a penalty.
The only other weird thing was a roughing the center during a Try. The Visitors would line a guy right over the Center. Never a good sign. At the snap, the defender would shoot the gap, but not contact the Center. The offensive Guard would block down and drive the defender into Center. After the play, the Center was pissed off and said "He cannot line-up in front of me!" I tried to explain that the defender can line-up wherever he wants, he just can't make contact for one second. Of course the Center wasn't listening since all he knew was he was being contacted. The second time this happened he had the coach talk to me. I gave him the same answer. But the third time, the defender did drive through the Center. Of course, I heard "he's been doing that all game." Ah, no he didn't, but whatever.
As a crew we did have a blunder. We got it right, but it looked really bad. On a punt return the receivers fouled during the loose ball. For those unfamilar with penalty enforcements, a foul under these conditions will be enforced at the end of the kick... not the end of the run back. This is called the Post Scrimmage Kick spot or PSK spot. Very few non-officials understand this. Well, the Field Judge did not put a bean bag on the ground to indicate this spot. There was a long 40 yard run back on this play and the holding occurred 20 yards in behind the end of the run back. Since we did not have a bean bag we kinda had to guess where the kick ended. The problem was this just took way to long and we did not look like we knew what we were doing.
Overall, I think my performance was good during this game and the best for the season. After the game one of the seasoned officials said, "Good job Duane. You couldn't tell this is your first season."
Let's hope the association feels the same and I am offered a staff position. Stay tuned.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Another Week, Another Weak Game
This week was game number seven for me and week 10 for the season. Next week is the last regular season game. As cliche as it sounds, the season has really flown by.
Yet another lopsided games ending 58-14. The score is deceiving because the halftime score was 51-0. The victors, who are undefeated in conference, could realistically score at will. The defeated team, who was winless in conference, was lucky to make a first down. They were also winless on the season. In fact, this was the team's 45 straight loss.
The White Hat for this game is the veteran assigned as my college mentor. He is also a White Hat in the HS association I work for. He has a laid back, low-key, let's-just-get-the-game-over-with demeanor.
We had another 'observer' at this game. Before the game began he introduced himself, but not as our observer, and ask me if there was any equipment problems. I thought he was the AD for the school and simply stated I saw a few adornments but nothing critical. Then I looked at the tag he had around his neck and realized he was the observer. I have no idea if I stuck my foot into my mouth or not.
On the first play of the game, I threw a flag for twelve on the field. There were only eleven. I killed the play right at the snap and then when I placed the ball back on the ground I placed it a yard ahead of the LOS. The Lineman stopped the play and I had to reset the ball. I'm sure that really looked good to the observer.
I had a player complain to me several times that the opponent was head-slapping. I must admit I wasn't watching for this. I caught a glimpse of him with his hand the the face mask, but it was only for a brief moment. Nothing flag worthy.
Another player asked me to watch the high-low blocks (i.e., chop block). In fact, the Lineman came in and told me the coach in the press box was concerned about the high-lows. I watched. I saw them. And they were legal. The key issue is delay. If the high-low occur simultaneous by adjacent linemen then this is legal. All of these block I observed were simultaneous.
I did throw a flag on a Try when a defender jumped over leaped over the LOS and landed on top of a an opponent.
I did not throw a flag when a player took his helmet off while on the playing field and threw it to the ground following a touchdown. Technically, this is a Unsportmanslike foul. But at this time the score was 51-0. There were no opponents around him and he was near the number next to his sideline. Yes, a foul, and I could be convinced I should have penalized him, but in a way no one was harmed by this act of frustration.
I did stop the White Hat from calling a Block in the Back during a scrimmage kick return. I saw the contact and it was not a BITB. He agreed with me but because the guilty player went after the victim we decided to go with a Person Foul for unnecessary contact away from the play.
Overall, this was a hard game to work. It was hot and we spent more time focusing on dead ball officiating than live ball officiating. I always find these games mentally challenging. And then we had a 2.5 hour drive home. I was drained and went straight to bed when I got home.
Next week is last game. Then I guess I'll find out if I good enough to become a staff member officially become a NCAA Football Official.
Yet another lopsided games ending 58-14. The score is deceiving because the halftime score was 51-0. The victors, who are undefeated in conference, could realistically score at will. The defeated team, who was winless in conference, was lucky to make a first down. They were also winless on the season. In fact, this was the team's 45 straight loss.
The White Hat for this game is the veteran assigned as my college mentor. He is also a White Hat in the HS association I work for. He has a laid back, low-key, let's-just-get-the-game-over-with demeanor.
We had another 'observer' at this game. Before the game began he introduced himself, but not as our observer, and ask me if there was any equipment problems. I thought he was the AD for the school and simply stated I saw a few adornments but nothing critical. Then I looked at the tag he had around his neck and realized he was the observer. I have no idea if I stuck my foot into my mouth or not.
On the first play of the game, I threw a flag for twelve on the field. There were only eleven. I killed the play right at the snap and then when I placed the ball back on the ground I placed it a yard ahead of the LOS. The Lineman stopped the play and I had to reset the ball. I'm sure that really looked good to the observer.
I had a player complain to me several times that the opponent was head-slapping. I must admit I wasn't watching for this. I caught a glimpse of him with his hand the the face mask, but it was only for a brief moment. Nothing flag worthy.
Another player asked me to watch the high-low blocks (i.e., chop block). In fact, the Lineman came in and told me the coach in the press box was concerned about the high-lows. I watched. I saw them. And they were legal. The key issue is delay. If the high-low occur simultaneous by adjacent linemen then this is legal. All of these block I observed were simultaneous.
I did throw a flag on a Try when a defender jumped over leaped over the LOS and landed on top of a an opponent.
I did not throw a flag when a player took his helmet off while on the playing field and threw it to the ground following a touchdown. Technically, this is a Unsportmanslike foul. But at this time the score was 51-0. There were no opponents around him and he was near the number next to his sideline. Yes, a foul, and I could be convinced I should have penalized him, but in a way no one was harmed by this act of frustration.
I did stop the White Hat from calling a Block in the Back during a scrimmage kick return. I saw the contact and it was not a BITB. He agreed with me but because the guilty player went after the victim we decided to go with a Person Foul for unnecessary contact away from the play.
Overall, this was a hard game to work. It was hot and we spent more time focusing on dead ball officiating than live ball officiating. I always find these games mentally challenging. And then we had a 2.5 hour drive home. I was drained and went straight to bed when I got home.
Next week is last game. Then I guess I'll find out if I good enough to become a staff member officially become a NCAA Football Official.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Football on the Wrong Side of the Tracks
I once took a class in college... Sociology or Psychology... some kind of 'ology' where the issue of nature vs. nurture is a major point of discussion. I've had countless classes at work dealing with the issue of 'diversity' and other related topics. I even have a step-daughter who is of mixed ethnicity. I honestly make no judgments about a person relative to which side of the tracks they come from. But after working seven community college football games I can say I this - the quality of the games, the integrity of the players, and the class of the coaches are relative to where the teams come from.
This weeks game was almost as appalling as the All-Star game I worked earlier in the year and was by far the hardest game mentally. And having a score of 63-40 didn't help matters much either.
Before the game started a gentleman introduced himself as our 'observer'. This means we were being rated. I have no idea how we get rated or what exactly we get rated on, but this would certainly be an interesting game to see how we did.
The first quarter was pretty clean and fast. Then things went to hell.
Both sidelines were given sideline warnings during the second period. Countless times I had to get between players and break-up conflicts. All of us except the Linesman had some kind of Unsportsmanlike or Personal Foul call.
Things really got out of hand midway in the 4th quarter. During a Try, I threw a false start on the left tackle. The players had begun to engage one another once again so I stepped in to clean-up. Apparently, someone was on the ground and a player and kicked someone with both his feet. I never saw this as I was looking at another player who had thrust both his hands into the chest of an opponent. I threw my second flag. Both these players were ejected from the game. Naturally, neither coach like this.
What I'm sure happened is the 'victim' taunted the guy and he retaliated by shoving him. If I had heard the taunting, this also would be an ejectionable foul. But, as the old saying goes, we only see the 2nd guy.
The next play, recall this is still on the Try, there was a roughing the kicker. Then, the Try was made. Before we got the subsequent kick-off started, we had another Unsportsmanlike foul. This was pretty ugly.
With about 2:00 remaining one of the players asked me, "blue, can we just get this game over with?' My reply was, 'no shit, lets get out of here.'
Between both teams we threw seven unsportsmanlike fouls and had two ejections.
When we were ready to leave the locker room following our showers we heard a some noise outside. Fans from the losing team had entered the home team's locker room and started a fight. Then we heard a knock at our door. It was a Security escort.
Not a comfortable feeling at 11:00PM, 2.5 hours from home in a city which is on the wrong side of the tracks.
Its good to be home in suburbia.
This weeks game was almost as appalling as the All-Star game I worked earlier in the year and was by far the hardest game mentally. And having a score of 63-40 didn't help matters much either.
Before the game started a gentleman introduced himself as our 'observer'. This means we were being rated. I have no idea how we get rated or what exactly we get rated on, but this would certainly be an interesting game to see how we did.
The first quarter was pretty clean and fast. Then things went to hell.
Both sidelines were given sideline warnings during the second period. Countless times I had to get between players and break-up conflicts. All of us except the Linesman had some kind of Unsportsmanlike or Personal Foul call.
Things really got out of hand midway in the 4th quarter. During a Try, I threw a false start on the left tackle. The players had begun to engage one another once again so I stepped in to clean-up. Apparently, someone was on the ground and a player and kicked someone with both his feet. I never saw this as I was looking at another player who had thrust both his hands into the chest of an opponent. I threw my second flag. Both these players were ejected from the game. Naturally, neither coach like this.
What I'm sure happened is the 'victim' taunted the guy and he retaliated by shoving him. If I had heard the taunting, this also would be an ejectionable foul. But, as the old saying goes, we only see the 2nd guy.
The next play, recall this is still on the Try, there was a roughing the kicker. Then, the Try was made. Before we got the subsequent kick-off started, we had another Unsportsmanlike foul. This was pretty ugly.
With about 2:00 remaining one of the players asked me, "blue, can we just get this game over with?' My reply was, 'no shit, lets get out of here.'
Between both teams we threw seven unsportsmanlike fouls and had two ejections.
When we were ready to leave the locker room following our showers we heard a some noise outside. Fans from the losing team had entered the home team's locker room and started a fight. Then we heard a knock at our door. It was a Security escort.
Not a comfortable feeling at 11:00PM, 2.5 hours from home in a city which is on the wrong side of the tracks.
Its good to be home in suburbia.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Week 8 Malaise
No game for me this week, which I am frankly okay with. Three games a weekend for the past 8 weeks. Sometimes I just need to take a break. I'm not physical drained, as much as I am mentally. I notice the most when I White Hat HS games. I'm getting the rules between HS and College mix-up which is becoming very annoying.
It doesn't help when many of these crews I White Hat with are just thrown together and their skill level is less than par. Trying to do my job and then mentor these yahoo's while coaches are screaming they are not making calls - which is true. All I want is a simple, clean, fast game. This rarely happens. And then my confidence gets weakened.
Every season about week seven or eight I begin to lack confidence. I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm pretty confident (pun intended) its due to the number of mistakes I've made. I know I make them -- mostly calls I didn't make but should have. None of these mistakes made a difference in the outcome of the game and most are based upon my own self-critical high standard. Hardly anyone would know. But they are there and I don't forget them until about mid-January.
But maybe its not a lack of confidence and much as it is a weakened spirit.
I think this malaise is partially due to the games being boring. Not as boring as my day-job mind you. And certainly not as boring as watching Oprah. But most of these games are one-sided and pretty much over by halftime. The quality of play is okay I guess, but what I don't see much of is the beauty of the well oiled machine. It's just raw football action with no finesse. As much I love football, this type of play is just not exciting.
The next three weeks, which happen to be the last three weeks of the season, are going to be a pain in the ass. Next week the game is 100+ miles away and does not start until 7:00PM. I won't get home until after midnight for sure. The following week, the game is over 150 miles away. At least this game is at 1:00PM. Which means I'll have to leave the house by around 8:00AM and won't get home until 7:00PM or so. My last game, another 1:00PM start, will be over an hour away.
I'm not complaining. This is still better than my day job.
It doesn't help when many of these crews I White Hat with are just thrown together and their skill level is less than par. Trying to do my job and then mentor these yahoo's while coaches are screaming they are not making calls - which is true. All I want is a simple, clean, fast game. This rarely happens. And then my confidence gets weakened.
Every season about week seven or eight I begin to lack confidence. I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm pretty confident (pun intended) its due to the number of mistakes I've made. I know I make them -- mostly calls I didn't make but should have. None of these mistakes made a difference in the outcome of the game and most are based upon my own self-critical high standard. Hardly anyone would know. But they are there and I don't forget them until about mid-January.
But maybe its not a lack of confidence and much as it is a weakened spirit.
I think this malaise is partially due to the games being boring. Not as boring as my day-job mind you. And certainly not as boring as watching Oprah. But most of these games are one-sided and pretty much over by halftime. The quality of play is okay I guess, but what I don't see much of is the beauty of the well oiled machine. It's just raw football action with no finesse. As much I love football, this type of play is just not exciting.
The next three weeks, which happen to be the last three weeks of the season, are going to be a pain in the ass. Next week the game is 100+ miles away and does not start until 7:00PM. I won't get home until after midnight for sure. The following week, the game is over 150 miles away. At least this game is at 1:00PM. Which means I'll have to leave the house by around 8:00AM and won't get home until 7:00PM or so. My last game, another 1:00PM start, will be over an hour away.
I'm not complaining. This is still better than my day job.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
A Watched Clock Never Runs
Saturday's game took me back to the school where the season started. One thing I failed to mention previously - there is no scoreboard at this college. There are also no bleachers, no press box, no cheerleaders, and no PA system. There is brand new portable game clock everyone seems to be very proud of. Until it stopped working in the 3rd quarter.
This was yet another lopsided game ending 43-28. I mention this because the officials organization I am candidate for wants us to keep games under 3 hours. But with 70+ points scored, and the clock stopped for at least 2 minutes per score, these expectations are bit misplaced. Add the 35 fouls with and average of 30 second clock stoppage per foul and the 'dead' time really adds up. We also had a few injury delays and each team used all their timeouts.
Then the clock stopped running late in the 3rd quarter. We had to stop play three times adding or taking away time before the clock just died. Finally, we ran the time on the field for the remainder of the 3rd. I'm not sure why our White Hat waited so long to this. At the start of the 4th we waited for another 2-3 minutes while the ground crew promised it would be start. It finally did. Again, I don't know why we just didn't start the quarter with the time on the field and adjust the clock when it started early. This whole fiasco burned another 5 minutes.
My performance was on par with my previous games. Once I ran up the wrong sideline following the Try once and on two occasions turned to the wrong sideline to accept a new ball.
I am finding I am not alone with this problem - forgetting which color is offense. I've asked dozens of officials about there experience and they have all said the same thing. It is easy to forget which team is on offense and which direction they are going. For example, on scrimmage kicks, I am constantly have to say to myself "white is going to be stupid". Meaning, if White are the receiving team, they will be the ones doing the blocks in the back or the holding or the 'stupid' stuff. The kickers will often be guilty of personal fouls, but these are easy to catch because they usually are at the end of the play.
I did have any flags this game. The inside was clean and players on both sides were tired and lazy. There was a lot of passing in this game, so the offensive linemen just backed-up and the defenders were too tired to charge hard.
The home team coach complied there were some chop block. What happened was a lineman had fallen to the ground and the center/nose guard tripped over him. Looked really ugly and I don't know how it will look on film, but the act was not deliberate. Just something that happened during the course of the game.
I do think I missed a spearing. This was very late in the 4th quarter at around the 5 yard line. Some kid come in helmet first into the pile so hard hit feet were up in the air. This is an ejectionable act and a big deal. In the 10 milliseconds you have to make a decision, I decided I did not see the entire act. If someone questioned me 'did you see if he was pushed from behind' I could not say yes. There were also the wing and the deep official on that side (we were at the has mark) who had better angles than me, since I was looking inside out. Bottom line is I think we missed a call and I'm sure we will be on the training film next summer.
Overall, I feel I am doing a decent job at this level. I have no real feedback other than White Hat's saying 'good hustle'. I still have a long way to go before I would consider myself a GOOD college umpire. I still have to ask about some of the penalty enforcements (however I do it under the guise of 'confirming'). I should not have to do that.
This was yet another lopsided game ending 43-28. I mention this because the officials organization I am candidate for wants us to keep games under 3 hours. But with 70+ points scored, and the clock stopped for at least 2 minutes per score, these expectations are bit misplaced. Add the 35 fouls with and average of 30 second clock stoppage per foul and the 'dead' time really adds up. We also had a few injury delays and each team used all their timeouts.
Then the clock stopped running late in the 3rd quarter. We had to stop play three times adding or taking away time before the clock just died. Finally, we ran the time on the field for the remainder of the 3rd. I'm not sure why our White Hat waited so long to this. At the start of the 4th we waited for another 2-3 minutes while the ground crew promised it would be start. It finally did. Again, I don't know why we just didn't start the quarter with the time on the field and adjust the clock when it started early. This whole fiasco burned another 5 minutes.
My performance was on par with my previous games. Once I ran up the wrong sideline following the Try once and on two occasions turned to the wrong sideline to accept a new ball.
I am finding I am not alone with this problem - forgetting which color is offense. I've asked dozens of officials about there experience and they have all said the same thing. It is easy to forget which team is on offense and which direction they are going. For example, on scrimmage kicks, I am constantly have to say to myself "white is going to be stupid". Meaning, if White are the receiving team, they will be the ones doing the blocks in the back or the holding or the 'stupid' stuff. The kickers will often be guilty of personal fouls, but these are easy to catch because they usually are at the end of the play.
I did have any flags this game. The inside was clean and players on both sides were tired and lazy. There was a lot of passing in this game, so the offensive linemen just backed-up and the defenders were too tired to charge hard.
The home team coach complied there were some chop block. What happened was a lineman had fallen to the ground and the center/nose guard tripped over him. Looked really ugly and I don't know how it will look on film, but the act was not deliberate. Just something that happened during the course of the game.
I do think I missed a spearing. This was very late in the 4th quarter at around the 5 yard line. Some kid come in helmet first into the pile so hard hit feet were up in the air. This is an ejectionable act and a big deal. In the 10 milliseconds you have to make a decision, I decided I did not see the entire act. If someone questioned me 'did you see if he was pushed from behind' I could not say yes. There were also the wing and the deep official on that side (we were at the has mark) who had better angles than me, since I was looking inside out. Bottom line is I think we missed a call and I'm sure we will be on the training film next summer.
Overall, I feel I am doing a decent job at this level. I have no real feedback other than White Hat's saying 'good hustle'. I still have a long way to go before I would consider myself a GOOD college umpire. I still have to ask about some of the penalty enforcements (however I do it under the guise of 'confirming'). I should not have to do that.
Weekly Update Coming
I haven't been home all weekend, so no time for an entry yet. This weeks game was... come back in a day or two and see.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
This is College Football??
Before this game the crew anticipated a pretty close contest. This was the first week of Conference play, and both squads were 1-4 coming off their first victory. We expected both teams to be hungry for a win. But (you knew there was a but coming) apparently only one team wanted to play. The final score was 55-21 after three hours of misery.
On several levels this was the worse college game I worked so far. First of all, the home team A.D. was nowhere to be found, we had neither a clock operator nor a chain crew until after the coin toss was completed. The chain crew consisted of three females from the Basketball team, one of which had her young child with her. Our White Hat quickly shut that down. Basically, the game started late while all this administrative BS took place.
At halftime the chain crew announced they were not coming back for the second half. Are you kidding! So, we had to find four more people to assist and the second half started late. Oh, what else -- the 25 second clock never started on the kick-offs, the ball boys were in la-la land, we did not have our security escort, and the locker room was not open at halftime or at the end of the game. And remember, this is NCAA, not High School.
As bad as all that was the game itself wasn't any better. The visiting coach was one of these guys who thinks calling a fair game means the fouls should be equally distributed. He was given a Sideline Warning three minutes into the game, so you kinda knew what kind of an ass he was going to be. So, since most of the fouls were against his team, we apparently were not being 'fair'. I didn't get the final count, but there were at least 35 fouls in total and I would guess 25 were against his team. Most of these were Personal Fouls or Unsportsmanlike. These fouls went both ways, as this was really an ugly game, but his team was hit harder because they deserved it. They were just playing dirty. I could have thrown more fouls on his team, but the White Hat asked us to only call 'big' things.
When the visitors finally scored a TD, during the Try, a home team player jumped into the neutral zone and then jumped back before the snap. After the Try, when I have to run up the sideline for the kickoff, the coach was screaming at me that the defender contacted his player when he entered the neutral zone. I politely said, "Coach I did not see contact" and kept running up the field. Now, how he could possibly see what really happened from the sideline 25 yards away is beyond me. What really happened is when the defender entered the neutral zone and his player false started. In that order. But since there was no flag by the wings who really cares. The player who is at the most disadvantage is the defender on his heels not his offensive player. The coach of course questioned how I could not see the contact when it was right in front of me. I learned long ago there is no point discussing these things. I clearly saw what didn't happen. I asked the wings later if they saw contact and they both said, hell no.
Later in the game he actually said, "this is not the PAC-10, why are you guys calling that?". Well, lets see, your man was holding in the end zone and your team scored a TD. Even in High School we would make this call. Now granted, there was 1:30 left in a game that was 55-21, so ya, he has a point. But, a foul is a foul ,and because he had been a prick all night, no cheap scores for you friend.
And just maybe we make these call because we all WANT to get into the PAC-10. It wasn't my flag, but I would have made the same call in that situation.
There is a lot more I could say about this coach, but I save that for WAMO.
Now, to be honest, this was not my best game either. My biggest blunder was not walking off two penalties properly. The first was a half-distance from the 24 yard line. How hard is this. Go to the 12 dumbass. I stopped at the 17. The side judge caught this one so I didn't look like a complete fool. Then we had a spot foul two yards beyond the LOS. I went from the LOS. I had to pick-up the ball and move it. A big time no-no for the Umpire. I'm sure I'll get marked down for that. And I should.
A few times in the first-half I was dwelling on these blunders too much and forgot which side to relay the ball from on a change of posession. No one in the stands will notice this and it won't be on film, but it shows my head is not in the game. Overall, my first-half was terrible and if I was and observer, I would say I did not appear to have control of the game and at times, I appeared confused. I got my act together in the second half and did not make any more stupid mistakes.
I threw three flags -- Roughing the Snapper, Block in the Back, and a False Start.
Luckily I don't have either of these teams again this season,
On several levels this was the worse college game I worked so far. First of all, the home team A.D. was nowhere to be found, we had neither a clock operator nor a chain crew until after the coin toss was completed. The chain crew consisted of three females from the Basketball team, one of which had her young child with her. Our White Hat quickly shut that down. Basically, the game started late while all this administrative BS took place.
At halftime the chain crew announced they were not coming back for the second half. Are you kidding! So, we had to find four more people to assist and the second half started late. Oh, what else -- the 25 second clock never started on the kick-offs, the ball boys were in la-la land, we did not have our security escort, and the locker room was not open at halftime or at the end of the game. And remember, this is NCAA, not High School.
As bad as all that was the game itself wasn't any better. The visiting coach was one of these guys who thinks calling a fair game means the fouls should be equally distributed. He was given a Sideline Warning three minutes into the game, so you kinda knew what kind of an ass he was going to be. So, since most of the fouls were against his team, we apparently were not being 'fair'. I didn't get the final count, but there were at least 35 fouls in total and I would guess 25 were against his team. Most of these were Personal Fouls or Unsportsmanlike. These fouls went both ways, as this was really an ugly game, but his team was hit harder because they deserved it. They were just playing dirty. I could have thrown more fouls on his team, but the White Hat asked us to only call 'big' things.
When the visitors finally scored a TD, during the Try, a home team player jumped into the neutral zone and then jumped back before the snap. After the Try, when I have to run up the sideline for the kickoff, the coach was screaming at me that the defender contacted his player when he entered the neutral zone. I politely said, "Coach I did not see contact" and kept running up the field. Now, how he could possibly see what really happened from the sideline 25 yards away is beyond me. What really happened is when the defender entered the neutral zone and his player false started. In that order. But since there was no flag by the wings who really cares. The player who is at the most disadvantage is the defender on his heels not his offensive player. The coach of course questioned how I could not see the contact when it was right in front of me. I learned long ago there is no point discussing these things. I clearly saw what didn't happen. I asked the wings later if they saw contact and they both said, hell no.
Later in the game he actually said, "this is not the PAC-10, why are you guys calling that?". Well, lets see, your man was holding in the end zone and your team scored a TD. Even in High School we would make this call. Now granted, there was 1:30 left in a game that was 55-21, so ya, he has a point. But, a foul is a foul ,and because he had been a prick all night, no cheap scores for you friend.
And just maybe we make these call because we all WANT to get into the PAC-10. It wasn't my flag, but I would have made the same call in that situation.
There is a lot more I could say about this coach, but I save that for WAMO.
Now, to be honest, this was not my best game either. My biggest blunder was not walking off two penalties properly. The first was a half-distance from the 24 yard line. How hard is this. Go to the 12 dumbass. I stopped at the 17. The side judge caught this one so I didn't look like a complete fool. Then we had a spot foul two yards beyond the LOS. I went from the LOS. I had to pick-up the ball and move it. A big time no-no for the Umpire. I'm sure I'll get marked down for that. And I should.
A few times in the first-half I was dwelling on these blunders too much and forgot which side to relay the ball from on a change of posession. No one in the stands will notice this and it won't be on film, but it shows my head is not in the game. Overall, my first-half was terrible and if I was and observer, I would say I did not appear to have control of the game and at times, I appeared confused. I got my act together in the second half and did not make any more stupid mistakes.
I threw three flags -- Roughing the Snapper, Block in the Back, and a False Start.
Luckily I don't have either of these teams again this season,
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