Being Kinda Right is no Option - The Final Chapter

Lesson Learned #2

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. Truman Capote

Truman Capote is the one of the last people I'd associate with football, but I'm hoping his metaphor rings true. That lessons learned during screw-ups make uncertain future success that much more satisfying.

The screw-up occurred midway through the second quarter. And screw-up does not even begin to describe the severity of this mistake. For screw-up, Roget's recommends; botch, blunder, foul up, mess up, mishandle, spoil, make a muck of. The description to harm irreparably through inept handling is pretty close.

The play itself is pretty simple. The quarterback rolls out to my left, scrambles for a bit, and then throws the ball away. Simple. Basic. And apparently easy for the officials to botch.

As soon as the football skids across the feild the White Hat throws a flag for Intentional Grounding (IG) . This didn't make any sense to me. IG occurs when the QB dumps the ball to save a loss of yardage (i.e., to prevent a sack). Clearly, this is why the QB dumped the ball on this play. However, if the QB is outside the of the normal tackle position (i.e., outside of the pocket) when the pass is thrown you have two criteria to consider before it becomes a foul.

The first is whether the ball is thrown pass the line of scrimmage (LOS). If the QB is outside the pocket and the ball crosses the LOS, then IG should NOT be called. The second is whether the QB is outside the pocket and there is a receiver with a reasonable opportunity to catch the pass. If so, then IG will also NOT be called.

During our game the QB was outside the pocket and the ball was thrown beyond the LOS. No foul. Yet we enforced a penalty for IG. This was a botch, but this is not the BOTCH I have been teasing you about.

Why did we enforce a phantom foul? The White Hat generally has no idea where the pass goes. He should be watching the QB and nothing else. If he feels the QB is throwing the ball away to avoid a sack then he tosses a flag. The protocol during these situations is the wing official hustles over to the White Hat and tells him either there was a player in the area or whether the ball crossed the LOS or not. This did not happen.

Neither did the deep official (he is the official who speaks with the coach) get the foul information and report to the coach. And finally, I didn't question the White Hat on the pass crossing the LOS. I should have asked the White Hat what was reported. This is a simple technique to save the White Hat from doing something stupid. And I knew there was no foul. I knew this was not right.

But at the time I did not have the confidence I knew the rules on IG. The White Hat is Mr. Rules. He is a Crew Chief in our High School association. He's been officiating since the 1960's. He was my college mentor last year. I trusted him. And he was wrong. It's my job as umpire to cover his ass.

I now confidently know the IG rules and will never forget them. I've seared them into my brain. So, major mistake. We penalized a team that did not foul.

But it gets worse.

The penalty for IG is five yards from the spot of the foul PLUS a loss of down. We did not enforce the loss of down. Meaning, we let them repeat the down. We gave them another down. I don't even remember what down it WAS, let alone what is was supposed to be, but this is cardinal rule #1, go straight to hell and do not collect $200 kinda botch. Know what down it is and never, never, never, EVER give a team an extra down. This is Officiating 101. It's preschool officiating.

So here is the rub; if there was no foul, then it was an incomplete pass and the down ends. If it was a IG foul then they would lose the down. Get it? Botch with a capital B.

And of course they scored two plays later. (Insert awkward silence) Good thing they lost the game.

It doesn't end here. Our entire crew was downgraded. Here is an except from the weekly bulletin "This situation is a CREW downgrade as 5 other members, within their responsibilities during penalty enforcement failed to recognize, question or communicate the loss of down situation."

Downgrading is a form of disciplinary action. Everyone at some point gets downgraded for mistakes. Even the NFL guys. But too many of these and you'll never get moved up.

Its been a week and I still cannot stop thinking about this.

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. I can't think about eating. Too much egg on my face and I am crying over spilled milk.

Being 'kinda' Right is not an Option - Part II

Being Kinda Right in College

Last Saturday I worked two College games. One was great. The other was a complete disaster.

First Game
The first game started at 1:00PM ended in 2:50 minutes in spite of a score of 38-22 and nine timeouts being called. I'm still loving this new timing rule. The game ran smoothly and the game was easy to manage. We only had a total of thirteen fouls.

I did throw an Illegal Helmet contact on a tackler. That was easy. I also threw a Personal Foul when #55 drive both this hands into the chest of opponent. I could have tossed him for fighting, but told the White Hat I did not want to eject him. I didn't need to. You could hear his coach screaming across the field "I told you never to retaliate!". He's right. We always catch the second guy. Otherwise a simple game. Then came the second game.

Second Game
The second game began at 7:00PM. By 8:00 I wish I was somewhere else.

The White Hat and I worked the 1:00 game and we also were working the 7:00 game. The first game ended at 3:50, but by the time we completed the game report, took a shower and drove to the 7:00pm game, we did not arrive until 5:30pm. We were rushed.

Being rushed didn't help as this was a difficult game to officiate. There were several personal fouls, and an Unnecessary Roughness when the a defender threw the QB out of bounds and then the QB retaliated. I think there were four flags on the ground.

I threw a flag on an open field Chop Block. The 'low' part of this block needs to be at the thigh or below. I wish I could see the film to confirm the low block. At worst we was at the thigh, but on film it will look pretty dramatic. The defender went head-over-heals folowing the block.

In all there were twenty-six fouls during the game.

I nearly had an Inadvertent Whistle when a receiver muffed a pass, it falls towards the ground, hits a defender on the foot, springs into the air and is finally intercepted. I had moved the whistle into my mouth when the receiver muffed anticipating the incomplete pass. By the time the third player was going after the ball, I had taken it out. That was a close one.

I was involved in two controversial calls, one of which I'm still feeling the sting about. I learned a lot during this game.

Lesson Learned #1

The first was on a pass to the flats to my right. The QB put a lot of heat on the pass so I had to turn quickly to help with coverage. The ball was behind the receiver and thrown short. A defender stretches for the ball and it does a shoe-string catch. I instantly signal incomplete. I know I heard the ball hit the ground and from my angle the ground assisted the receiver with the catch. The wing official did not protest my call, but later said he felt his hand was under the ball. I still felt the ground assisted.

What complicates my call is the interception occurred right in front of the wing official. No, he was trailing the guy who intercepted the pass where I was observing from the front. This is why I turn to assist on these type of passes, because I have a better angle. After the game I asked one of the deep officials who is a former Umpire what his opinion was. Did I go fishing is someone else's pond?

He felt it is OK for an umpire to make that call, but it's one of those things you have to be 100% positive about. The question is -- was I in the best position to make that call? He felt I was still in the process of moving. I had not planted my feet and I was not in the best position to make the call, right or wrong.

In hindsight, I still believe my call was correct, but when this situation occurs again I will add to my mental checklist "am I positioned to make this call." If I'm not positioned properly, how can I really make a call like that even if I am right?

Lesson Learned #2, is a big, painful, humbling lesson I'll describe in the next post.

Being 'kinda' Right is not an Option - Part I

Being Kinda Right in High School Game

Last week I worked four games; two High School and two College. Working two High School games in a row is easy. But that extra twelve minutes in a College game really adds-up. By Saturday night, I was beat.

Before the JV game (I was the White Hat) the visiting coach asks me about a defensive play they want to run. He tells me the home team runs an option offense and they want to 'take out' the option man. By 'take out' he means tackle or drive the guy out of the play. Essentially, take the option out of the option.

My first response was 'no' that would be holding. The coach says, 'but it's behind the line'. Well, ya, that means there is no 'interference'. I told him if a runner is simulating being the ball carrier then he can be tackled, but in the case of an option, he is only a 'potential' runner. I said, let me talk to the other guys and see what the consensus is. Nothing like running a game by committee.

We decided that if the ball was being passed to the option man, then we would allow contact, but if there was contact prior to the ball being released, then this would be a foul. We decided it would be a person foul for unnecessary contact.

Luckily, they never succeeded when they attempted this play because we would have ruled it improperly. In 2-3-5-b it says "when a player simulates possession of the ball, reasonable allowances may be made for failure of the defense to discover the deception. This does not cancel the responsibility of any defensive player to exercise reasonable caution in avoiding any unnecessary contact."

Taking out the option-man is not avoiding unnecessary contact so we were 'kinda' right. OK, this play is clearly wrong. But what is the call?

In 9-2-3-c is says the defensive player shall not; use his hands to hook, clamp, grasp, encircle or hold in an effort to restrain an opponent other than the runner." In my opinion, this list a series of examples and not an exhaustive list of acts. The key word is 'restrain'. So, the foul would be holding, enforced from the end of the run.

The Varsity games was a one-sided contest and a fairly routine game. I had one exciting call at the pylon. The snap was at the eight, so we were in goal-line mechanics. The ball carrier came to my side on the sweep and sprinted to the pylon. I backed-off the goal-line and the ball carrier leaped for the goal. Alas, he stepped on the sideline as he fumbled the ball forward at the two. The other coach was screaming he fumbled into, and then out-of, then end zone. He wanted a Touchback. The ball never went into the end zone.

Some major mistakes and a 'what was I thinking' call made during the college games in the next post.

New Timing Rule is Awesome

Saturday's game was hot. Frickin hot. And then on top of that it was hot.

The field itself (grass) was in okay shape, we had a twenty-five second clock that actually worked, the chain-crew actually did a good job. The home team provided water and sports drink, towels and soap for showers. Nothing to gripe about.

The new NCAA timing rules seem to be working. Our game finish in exactly three hours. This was with twenty-five penalities, eleven time-outs, and final score of 38-16, so there were plenty of times where the clock stopped. Last season the average was something like 3:15. I'm loving the new clock mechanic.

In simple terms the clock is now only stopping on incomplete passes. For plays going out of bounds (could be a run, completed pass, fumble out of bounds, backward pass, etc.) the clock will start on the Ready. Once I put the ball down the White Hat starts the clock. The clock will still be start on the snap on change of possession and and will be stoped to move the chains as ususl. The twist is within two minutes in the 2nd and 4th quarters we fall back to the previous timing rules. But for 56 minutes, it is pure bliss.

The game started on a strange note. During the opening kickoff, the 25-second clock expired way before the kickers were even close to kicking the ball. When I say expired, I mean it was '00' for five seconds. I threw a flag for delay of game. As umpire, this is not my call, but no one seemed to be paying attention. I heard the coach say "that was ticky-tack". Well, ya, it was, but why bother having the rule if we aren't going to follow them. We keep getting preasured to speed the games up, so what the hell. And you damn well know if it was the the other team he'd be screaming. Nonetheless, I won't do that again.

We had an unusual Illegal Batting by the offense following a blocked scrimmage kick. Batting, in case you are not familiar, is intentionally striking or intentionally changing the balls direction with the hands or arms. So, in this case, the blocking of the scrimmage kick (punt) is technically batting, but that touching is ignored. What is not ignored is after the kick is blocked a player from the kicking team leaps in the air and intentionally strikes the ball so it goes forward. Batting is complicated because sometimes you can and sometimes you can't. I'll do a post just on batting soon. Luckily, batting does not occur often, but when it does it is a 15-yard, loss of down penalty. But there are exceptions to this also.

I threw flags for Chop Block, False Start, Ineligible Receiver Downfield, and a Defensive Holding.

The new Chop Block rule is also great. More on this next time.

There we also several defensive holding fouls during pass plays.

Gridiron Brain Fart - Part II

Varsity Game

During Friday's Varsity game, I moved to Line Judge. I have not worked the wings for quite some time, but soon felt at home.

The game was a one-sided runaway game with the visitors winning 35-6. The visitors scored thirty-five points and I threw flags for holding which called back two touchdown runs. On the second holding call two of the other officials also threw flags and said "number thirty-nine, right?" Yup.

I also threw a flag for a huge facemask. The White Hat also threw a flag for this. It always looks good when there is more than one flag on these fouls.

We did have this awkward moment as a crew. When the home team was driving for their only score they got to the 1/2 foot line. Then they false started. The crowd was deflated. Then, they drive back to to the 1/2 foot line. The tension in the stadium was thick. People were pissed we didn't just give them a TD. On the next play, they run to the opposite hash mark. I have no idea where the ball actually is, but I'm pretty sure they have scored. I'm looking at my partner across the field... what the heck, is it a score or not... dude, you're killing us here. After something like ten seconds he finally rules TD.

The best part for the night, which made up for my brain fart (see previous post), was correcting our association leader. He was working Umpire and walked off a holding penalty. The problem was it was an all-but-one enforcement and he marked it off from the end of the run. This was a six yard distinction. After he had already marched it off and put the ball on the ground, I had remind him the flag was behind the end of the run. And, yes, I am gloating.

Gridiron Brain Fart

Friday night I worked a JV and Var game. The JV report is list below. The Var will be next posting.

"Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose that you resolved to effect." Shakespeare, "The Tempest". This will make more sense as you read on.

JV Game:

Excluding an Inadvertent Whistle the JV game, the contest was pretty routine for a season opener. I was anxious before I arrived at the stadium, but once I got there I settled in. After a series or two, I was back into the routine. There was the ubiquitous holdings, false starts, and encroachments. Nothing too exciting. Until early in the 4th quarter.

The visitors intercepted a pass at the six yard line. Then a false start took them back to the three. On the next play the QB drops back for a pass, the pocket breaks down, he scrambles for his life, and finally fumbles the ball in the endzone when the defenders reach him. He was not making an attempt to throw the ball. So, now we have a loose ball in the endzone. This is not going to end well for the offense no matter what happens.

Now, this is where I forgo-ed the purpose I resolved to effect. I made a colossal screw-up because I could not make-up my frigging mind.

During certain situations in the game, one of the axioms officials use is -- try to make the play what it wants to be. I wanted to make this play an incomplete pass. This poor team was getting killed and this unfortunate set of circumstances wasn't helping. I did not want to give the home team a Safety, but I just couldn't turn it into an incomplete pass.

So since I'm not ruling incomplete pass the play cascades into a scrum for the ball. But I still haven't given-up trying to make this an incomplete pass. Ok, fine its a fumble. Sorry guys. When I awake from this stupor, I'm thinking, oh crap, this is a loose ball... in the end zone... this is going to end in a Safety or TD... oh crap, which color is offense again... oh crap, why didn't I just rule incomplete... oh crap, why am I blowing my whistle!!!

As I'm blowing my frigging whistle the defenders jump on the ball. I pause. Oh my god, what have I done. So, now I want to crawl in a hole. How am I going to get out of this one?

My crew said my hands go up and it appeared I was ruling Safety, but then I separated them to rule TD. They were right. I was so focused on the Safety, or the prevention of the Safety, only at the last second did it register this was a TD for the defense.

Technically, I blew an inadvertent whistle, however it would be splitting hairs whether it impacted the outcome of the play. There were no offensive players around the ball. The play ended the way it would have ended.

If I was thinking clearly, I should have swallowed my pride and given the offense the Inadvertent Whistle. They could have replayed the down... better than ruling an incomplete pass.

In retrospect, in a JV game with the score 33-0, had the QB been tackled, I would have no choice than to rule Safety. But, it was a pass play, I'd make the play what it wants to be -- an incomplete pass even if it wasn't.

I haven't had a brain fart like this is a long time.

"Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose that you resolved to effect."

Bill, you're right. Make up my mind and stick with the decision.

The Offensive Coach Unhappy with a DPI Call?

I worked college scrimmages, albeit inter-squad, last Thursday and Saturday.

Thursday's scrimmage only lasted about an hour. Okay, I guess, but not a lot of work for an hour drive. Our sixth official (a female) never arrived, so we did five-man mechanics. I don't think the coaches even noticed.

But the head coach was smart enough to ask an interesting question following a DPI call. Here is the scenario:

It was 2nd and 8 and a DPI was called 11 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. The pass was caught, they made the line to gain, and earned a first down. In these cases the DPI would be declined because DPI fouls within 15 yards are 'spot fouls'. There is no yardage penalty, but there is an automatic first-down at the spot of the foul. In a sense, DPI within 15 yards of the LOS, is an awarded catch. But since they made the line-to-gain there is no need for the automatic first-down. Just decline the penalty and let's get out of here.

But this cleaver coach asks - can I decline the spot foul (ignore the completed catch) and take the penalty from the previous spot? (DPI fouls beyond 15 yards are enforced from the previous spot). In other words, forgo the automatic first, but take 15 yards from the previous spot and gain 15 yards instead of 11. A net +4. He wasn't upset his man was fouled, but rather he was fouled too early. Interesting.

At certain times during the game yards are more important than and 'benefit' of an awarded catch. Its late in the game and they need yards to get close to field goal. It may be advantageous for the defense to foul if the passes are short. Better to give them the awarded catch than the chance of catching the ball and gaining even more yards.

The college rules have a bias towards punishing the defense, but in the case of DPI on short passes, the benefit may be in the favor of the defense.

Let me know what you think.

Friday night will be my first High School games for the season. I'm the White Hat for the JV game and then move to Line Judge for Varsity. I'm working with the leader of our association during the Varsity game.

As you may recall, I recently asked if I could be considered for the next available Varsity White Hat position. I think I'm being watched during the JV game... like a test. I'll let you know.