Most football games are routine, at least at the high school level, and are essentially over by they end of the 3rd quarter. Infrequently, officials have an impact of the outcome of the game, and even more rare, are the single mistake made by an official that determines the outcome of game. Most games are just not that evenly matched. However, this week I had three opportunities, all during a single game, where my decision determined the outcome of the game. I think I make the correct decision in all three plays although I may not have been 'right' on one of them. Let' see if you agree.
It's 4th down and the home team is backed up to their 5 yard line. The player ready to receive the long snap (i.e., the kicker) is backed-up to his end line. The snap is bad, the kicker fumbles the ball, he panics, and scrambles to get out of the end zone. Which he did. His progress was stopped a the 1 yard line and then he was driven back into the endzone. I hit my whistle and crash in signaling timeout, which means I did not rule a Safety. This was the correct ruling. I actually saw this play on the news that night and knew I ruled correctly on this play. But, here is what I thinking at the time and why I may not have been right.
We have this philosophy in our are area were we do not want to award a 'cheap safety'. If the Defensive (typically its the Defense) team earned the Safety we are not going to take this away from the Defense. But when it comes to the play I mentioned above, even if the player ran to the goal line and it was close we are going to avoid giving the Safety. In this game the player was clearly out to the 1 yard line, so there was not 'when in question' issue here.
But after the play was overheard the coach say, "We need to teach these guys [the offense] to take the Safety." Why is that?
Because now the other team has the ball at the one and has a great opportunity to score 6 points instead of the 2 points for the Safety. You can argue that taking the two points and then giving the ball back to scoring team is not a great alternative (the idea around the 'cheap safety') but, in this case, at this point of the game, awarding a cheap safety would be the right thing to do. I'm sure the other coach was not thinking "please don't award a Safety".
For the next several plays I considered whether doing the correct thing was the right thing to do. I concluded it was and I'd do it again. The play was the play, and players need to learn how to think on the field. If they make a mistake like this that costs them the game, then this is a lesson learned. The final score of the game was 28-29, so difference between a safety and a touchdown had a bearing on the final score.
Part II, in the next post, I talk about two identical play, both in the 4th quarter within two minutes of each other, which absolutely had a beating on the outcome of the game. And to be quite frank, had I not been writing this blog for the past few years and forcing myself to review the rules and philosophies, I would not rules these two plays properly. I would have directly changed the outcome of the game.
Stay tuned.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Inapproproate Touching
During Saturday’s college game mistakes were made by some players and by the officials. The game ended 38-0, so we did not influence the outcome of the game. But mistakes are mistakes.
Out You Go
One thing I did not make a mistake on was ejecting two players for throwing punches. One guy in the 2nd quarter and the other guy in the 3rd quarter. The coach for the 2nd guy (the visitors) said he was going to protest my flag. Which apparently he did, since I got a call from the Commissioner Sunday morning asking for my view of what happened. He said he was watching the film and it got cutoff before he could see anything. I explained what I saw and why I threw the flag. Now, whatever happens to this play is whatever happens. Out of my hands. But if my ruling stands, this player cannot play the during the game next week.
What I am finding is most coaches are being very good about controlling players. When I throw flags now players begin to panic. They tell me if the flag is on them the coach will make them run sprints or some other form of punishment. I love that. Other coaches don’t seem to care. We are still throwing too many flag for Unsportsmanlike conduct, and I have had to DQ three players in the last 2 weeks, but things do seem to be getting a little better.
Inappropriate Touching
Our crew made a mistake related to an illegal touching foul. The root cause of this mistake was poor communication. Here is what happened. The Side Judge reported the foul as Illegal Touching. He was correct. The rule for this is found at 7-3-4 “No eligible offensive receiver who goes out of bounds during a down shall touch a legal forward pass the field of play or end zone or while airborne until it has been touched by an opponent or an official”. Simple. If a receiver steps out of bounds, comes back on the field and touches the ball, it’s a foul. The player became ineligible (remember this) by stepping out of bounds. But, what makes this kinda odd is the penalty is -- loss of down from the previous spot. No yardage. Not much of a penalty. So this becomes, in essence, simply an incomplete pass. BUT, after a moment, the Side Judge provided some additional information.
The receiver did step out of bounds and touch the ball…. BUT before that, this player was a covered receiver who went downfield. Hmmm. This makes him an Ineligible Receiver Downfield, which is a 5-yard penalty from the previous spot. If accepted, the down would be repeated. But, before we uncover (pun intended) this quandary, let’s first review what it means to be a covered receiver.
To understand being covered you first need an understanding of what it means to be an eligible receiver. Rule 7-3-3-a says, “Each player who is in an end position on his scrimmage line and who is wearing a number other than 50 through 79.” So to be ‘covered’ means an eligible receiver by number, say #40, has another player further down (wider) on the line of scrimmage. In other words, #40 is not the LAST player (in an end position) on the line of scrimmage. There is another player is the last one on the line of scrimmage and thus #40 is ‘covered’. This makes him, if you are following this, an ineligible receiver by position. If he goes downfield and there is a legal pass downfield, we have a foul.
BUT wait… there’s more. Rule 7-3-11 says “No originally ineligible player while inbounds shall intentionally touch a legal forward pass until it touched an opponent or an official”. This is also a foul for Illegal Touching. But, the penalty for this flavor of illegal touching is 5-yards from the previous spot…. No loss of down.
So, what the heck do we have here? Here is what I think. We obviously have Ineligible Receiver Downfield once the ball is airborne. There should be a flag. Then, once the player touches the ball we have a flag for illegal touching and the Ineligible Downfield goes away. I think the defense has an option to take either the loss of down, or the 5-yard version of Illegal Touching.
I originally walked off the 5-yards because typically the penalty is called on a lineman who touched the ball (the rule 7-3-11 flavor). I brought the ball back and we eventually applied the loss of down Illegal Touching. But really, we should have given the defensive captain the option.
Either way we looked like we didn’t know what we were doing. Because we didn’t.
Out You Go
One thing I did not make a mistake on was ejecting two players for throwing punches. One guy in the 2nd quarter and the other guy in the 3rd quarter. The coach for the 2nd guy (the visitors) said he was going to protest my flag. Which apparently he did, since I got a call from the Commissioner Sunday morning asking for my view of what happened. He said he was watching the film and it got cutoff before he could see anything. I explained what I saw and why I threw the flag. Now, whatever happens to this play is whatever happens. Out of my hands. But if my ruling stands, this player cannot play the during the game next week.
What I am finding is most coaches are being very good about controlling players. When I throw flags now players begin to panic. They tell me if the flag is on them the coach will make them run sprints or some other form of punishment. I love that. Other coaches don’t seem to care. We are still throwing too many flag for Unsportsmanlike conduct, and I have had to DQ three players in the last 2 weeks, but things do seem to be getting a little better.
Inappropriate Touching
Our crew made a mistake related to an illegal touching foul. The root cause of this mistake was poor communication. Here is what happened. The Side Judge reported the foul as Illegal Touching. He was correct. The rule for this is found at 7-3-4 “No eligible offensive receiver who goes out of bounds during a down shall touch a legal forward pass the field of play or end zone or while airborne until it has been touched by an opponent or an official”. Simple. If a receiver steps out of bounds, comes back on the field and touches the ball, it’s a foul. The player became ineligible (remember this) by stepping out of bounds. But, what makes this kinda odd is the penalty is -- loss of down from the previous spot. No yardage. Not much of a penalty. So this becomes, in essence, simply an incomplete pass. BUT, after a moment, the Side Judge provided some additional information.
The receiver did step out of bounds and touch the ball…. BUT before that, this player was a covered receiver who went downfield. Hmmm. This makes him an Ineligible Receiver Downfield, which is a 5-yard penalty from the previous spot. If accepted, the down would be repeated. But, before we uncover (pun intended) this quandary, let’s first review what it means to be a covered receiver.
To understand being covered you first need an understanding of what it means to be an eligible receiver. Rule 7-3-3-a says, “Each player who is in an end position on his scrimmage line and who is wearing a number other than 50 through 79.” So to be ‘covered’ means an eligible receiver by number, say #40, has another player further down (wider) on the line of scrimmage. In other words, #40 is not the LAST player (in an end position) on the line of scrimmage. There is another player is the last one on the line of scrimmage and thus #40 is ‘covered’. This makes him, if you are following this, an ineligible receiver by position. If he goes downfield and there is a legal pass downfield, we have a foul.
BUT wait… there’s more. Rule 7-3-11 says “No originally ineligible player while inbounds shall intentionally touch a legal forward pass until it touched an opponent or an official”. This is also a foul for Illegal Touching. But, the penalty for this flavor of illegal touching is 5-yards from the previous spot…. No loss of down.
So, what the heck do we have here? Here is what I think. We obviously have Ineligible Receiver Downfield once the ball is airborne. There should be a flag. Then, once the player touches the ball we have a flag for illegal touching and the Ineligible Downfield goes away. I think the defense has an option to take either the loss of down, or the 5-yard version of Illegal Touching.
I originally walked off the 5-yards because typically the penalty is called on a lineman who touched the ball (the rule 7-3-11 flavor). I brought the ball back and we eventually applied the loss of down Illegal Touching. But really, we should have given the defensive captain the option.
Either way we looked like we didn’t know what we were doing. Because we didn’t.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Wanna Get Away?
Thank You
Before we jump into the weekly football dialog, I’d like to thank everyone for all the positive feedback from fellow officials from across the country. It means a lot to me.
Reno Football Officials Camp
I finally signed up for the 2010 Reno camp. I attended the 2007 and 2008 camps, but due to being out of work last year, I did not attend in 2009. Some readers have commented they plan on attending this year and I’d love to meet you at the camp in June. But I suggest you register quickly. It looks like there is only a single week instead to the usual two week camp. The website indicates there will only be 14 crews, so you can do the math on how many slots there are for your position.
Wanna Get Away?
This weeks game had a lot of problems and was basically a mess. Some very simple things went wrong at the most inappropriate time. Inappropriate means, the score was tied 28-28, it's 4th down and 7, there is 4 minutes remaining in the forth quarter, and... what? You think I'd tell you this early in the post?
This week I worked with a crew from our sister group in the north. They do not use crews like we do in the south and the non-crew format does not seem to work as well as it down in college. We were not on the same page in spite of having a 20 minute pre-game.
There are several issues worth mentioning during the game (which took 2:45 minutes, BTW) but, there were two major issues of interest.
The QB is running around trying to avoid a sack and while he is running for his life he simply tosses the ball forward. I ask the White Hat if there was an eligible receiver in the area. I'm working Umpire, so I have no idea about the receivers. I get a blank look. Otherwise we have Intentional Grounding. This is a huge deal in a game tied 28-28 since this is a loss of down foul. Here is the rule found in 7-5-2 "An illegal forward pass is a foul. Illegal forward passes include: A) A pass after team possession has changed during the down B) A pass from beyond the neutral zone C) A pass intentionally thrown into an area not occupied by and eligible offensive receiver D) A pass intentionally thrown incomplete to save loss of yardage or to conserve time.
Notice the key word intentional. The foul is called Intentional Grounding, after all. In most cases when this foul occurs it is obvious, as it was during Friday's game, that the QB is just dumping the ball. Which is why I found it odd the White Hat ruled this an incomplete pass. On one hand, it makes no difference. The down counts either way, Intentional Grounding or Incomplete Pass. The only real difference is that IG also includes a 5-yard penalty. But this 5-yards, at this point in the game, makes a big difference. These guys need a 1st down. They are backed-up on there own 25 yard line.
So, it turns out to not make a difference. They made the 1st down on the next play. The team is driving down the field. They have the momentum. Time is running out. We are in hurry-up offense and the defense is getting tired. And then it happened.
It's 4th down and six at the 35 yard line (the opponents 35). They gotta make this. 2:10 on the clock. A run up the middle and the runner hit the wall... but his he down? ... has his momentum stopped? Should we blow the play dead? The ball carrier falls forward. Did he make the 1st down?
No, because he didn't have the ball. The ball carrier (i.e., the runner) is sweeping to the outside. Wow, that was a good fake... holy crap, he fumbled... wait did I hear a whistle... holy crap, why is there a whistle being blown... oh, this can't be good... no, this WON'T be good. Now what?
First, thank goodness, I did not blow the whistle. But now we have a problem. So, here is the rule on IW found in 4-2-3-c, "An inadvertent whistle ends the down. Inadvertent whistles are administered as follows... The team in possession may choose to either accept the result of the play at the dead-ball spot or replay the down if, during a down or during a down in which the penalty for a foul is declined, and inadvertent whistle is sounded while the ball is in player possession."
Soooo, in this case, which is unusual, there was not a loose ball, and hence, a beanbag. Most IW's occur during a loose ball (i.e., a fumble) and the beanbag gives us a reference point to go back to if we needed to administer the accept the result at the deadball spot. But if the ball carrier still has possession and an IW is blown what do you do? Remember, it was 4th down. If they are short of the 1st down they want to obviously replay.
And the result of the dead ball spot? About 2 yards passed the line to gain. I think, but who knows because, there is no beanbag. of course, so... holy crap. Now what, Mr. White Hat?
Oh ya, I almost forgot... during the fumble the other team recovered the ball.
The White Hat panicked and choose to replay the down. But the rule says the team in possession may choose... I need a beer.
So, luckily the next play... since thy got to replay the down... they threw an interception. Game over.
There was actually a second IW during the game by the same official but I will spare you the details on that.
I also worked a college and an 8-man game on Saturday. Look for this in the next day or two. During the college game there was some inappropriate touching... I mean illegal touching. We managed the screw this up also.
Oh ya, I got a phone call Sunday morning from the State Commissioner for Community College Football about one of my flags on Saturday.
Yes, I'll explain. Stay tuned.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
...when we practice to deceive... or not
The College football contest on Saturday was another example of how disappointing the game can be at the Community College level. Long time readers may recall my ranting about just how poor game administration can be at some facilities. Combine this with behavior by the players and you have ingredients for a crappy game. Saturday's game was crappy.
A total of ninety-three points were scored (38-55), there were a total of thirty (30) fouls, ten(10) of which were Personal Fouls, two (2) Unsportsmanlike Conduct, and a player Disqualification (Ejection). So, nearly 50% of the fouls were by players acting STUPID and not playing football.
In the second quarter, the Referee approached each sideline and asked the coaches to control their teams. In the third quarter, we actually stopped the game and brought the coaches to the middle of the field and directed them to control their teams. Pretty sad to have to do this with 'adults' who are not playing the game for money.
I was the official who ejected a player for throwing a punch.
All during the game the 25-second clock was malfunctioning. We finally just kept the play clock on the field. Before the game started we had to wait twenty minutes before we could get into our locker room. This delayed our pre-game preparation. Then after the warm-up period before the game begins the teams usually go back to the locker rooms. Neither locker was open and the two teams were mingling in the same area outside the stadium. We had stand between the teams to prevent any possible altercations.
What made this a bit uneasy is our jurisdiction pretty much only applies to the field. So, now were our outside the stadium. I'm not really sure what the protocol should be here, but we thought it best to do preventative officiating.
There was a very interesting play
This is play very interesting and we still do not know what the right answer is. During the game we did not flag this is action as a foul. While having beers after the game I think we convinced ourselves we wanted this to be a foul, but could not find anything in the rule book to state this was a foul. Here is the situation.
The visitors have lined-up for Field Goal on fourth down. They line-up with these huge splits between the center and the next lineman... like, five yard splits. The have a kicker, holder, and two personal protectors -- odd. And then the other three players spread out wide. If you are paying attention you will notice there are only ten players on the field.
The Referee and I both indicate there are only ten on the field. This is odd, but no big deal. The snap goes off and its going to be a fake Field Goal... ok, haven't seen one of these in a long time. And all of a sudden, the holder throws the ball thirty yards downfield to some receiver who came out no where. The Referee and I look at one another and chase down the Linesman. When we asked if this player had substituted properly. He said he was a player who was part of the previous play. But the team ran a group of people off the field for the field goal attempt. Something looked funny.
Rule 9-2-2-b says "not simulated replacements or substitutions may be used to confuse opponents. No tactic associated with substitutes or the substitution process may be used to confuse opponents.
In the back of the college rule book there is a section called Interpretations. The Interpretations are play examples that help explain the rules. One of the Interpretation related to this play reads as follows; "A1 leaves the field of play during a down. Team A (the offense) huddles with 10 players. Substitute A12 enters, and A2 simulates leaving the field but sets near the sideline for a "hide out" pass." This is considered a simulated replacement to confuse the opponent and is a 15 yard penalty for Unsportsmanlike Conduct.
I think we blew it on this play. The team gained about 25 yards and made the first down. They scored the next play. Since the score was 38-55 is didn't change the outcome, but I think we let them get away with it.
A total of ninety-three points were scored (38-55), there were a total of thirty (30) fouls, ten(10) of which were Personal Fouls, two (2) Unsportsmanlike Conduct, and a player Disqualification (Ejection). So, nearly 50% of the fouls were by players acting STUPID and not playing football.
In the second quarter, the Referee approached each sideline and asked the coaches to control their teams. In the third quarter, we actually stopped the game and brought the coaches to the middle of the field and directed them to control their teams. Pretty sad to have to do this with 'adults' who are not playing the game for money.
I was the official who ejected a player for throwing a punch.
All during the game the 25-second clock was malfunctioning. We finally just kept the play clock on the field. Before the game started we had to wait twenty minutes before we could get into our locker room. This delayed our pre-game preparation. Then after the warm-up period before the game begins the teams usually go back to the locker rooms. Neither locker was open and the two teams were mingling in the same area outside the stadium. We had stand between the teams to prevent any possible altercations.
What made this a bit uneasy is our jurisdiction pretty much only applies to the field. So, now were our outside the stadium. I'm not really sure what the protocol should be here, but we thought it best to do preventative officiating.
There was a very interesting play
This is play very interesting and we still do not know what the right answer is. During the game we did not flag this is action as a foul. While having beers after the game I think we convinced ourselves we wanted this to be a foul, but could not find anything in the rule book to state this was a foul. Here is the situation.
The visitors have lined-up for Field Goal on fourth down. They line-up with these huge splits between the center and the next lineman... like, five yard splits. The have a kicker, holder, and two personal protectors -- odd. And then the other three players spread out wide. If you are paying attention you will notice there are only ten players on the field.
The Referee and I both indicate there are only ten on the field. This is odd, but no big deal. The snap goes off and its going to be a fake Field Goal... ok, haven't seen one of these in a long time. And all of a sudden, the holder throws the ball thirty yards downfield to some receiver who came out no where. The Referee and I look at one another and chase down the Linesman. When we asked if this player had substituted properly. He said he was a player who was part of the previous play. But the team ran a group of people off the field for the field goal attempt. Something looked funny.
Rule 9-2-2-b says "not simulated replacements or substitutions may be used to confuse opponents. No tactic associated with substitutes or the substitution process may be used to confuse opponents.
In the back of the college rule book there is a section called Interpretations. The Interpretations are play examples that help explain the rules. One of the Interpretation related to this play reads as follows; "A1 leaves the field of play during a down. Team A (the offense) huddles with 10 players. Substitute A12 enters, and A2 simulates leaving the field but sets near the sideline for a "hide out" pass." This is considered a simulated replacement to confuse the opponent and is a 15 yard penalty for Unsportsmanlike Conduct.
I think we blew it on this play. The team gained about 25 yards and made the first down. They scored the next play. Since the score was 38-55 is didn't change the outcome, but I think we let them get away with it.
Monday, September 20, 2010
It's Simply a Plane
On a non-football note, I begin a new job this week and expect to have more time to blog. My previous job was 100 miles from home and it required me to burn the candle at both ends. One must do what one must do these days, but at least I can find more of a work-life-balance now.
High School
Friday night I was fortunate to work the 'big' high school game of the week. The game ended with a final score of 19-20 and came down to a last minute hail Mary pass. This kid must have thrown the ball seventy yards. Amazing. The visitors scored 42 and 47 yard field goals which is pretty darn good for high school. But, unfortunately for the visitors, this same young man missed the extra point that would have tied the game.
We used six-man mechanics during the game instead of our usual five-man mechanics. This didn't really impact our game performance, but on big games like this one, it does make the game easier to manage. Unless your an Umpire (me) working as a Side Judge.
The Side Judge is a deep official working on the sideline, about 20 yards from the line of scrimmage, on the defensive side of the ball. My primary responsibility are the pass receivers on my side side of the field. Typically, when you see a pass interference flag it is the Side Judge (or the counter part on the opposite side of the field – the Field Judge) making the call.
The other major responsibility occurs during scrimmage kicks (punts). Most of the time the SJ focuses on the blockers and the FJ focuses on the kick receiver. During this game I found myself 'ball watching' and may have missed a block in the back. I saw the tail end of the collision, but I did not see the whole act. I did see the block on TV that night I think it was one of those blocks that looks 'bad', but technically is not a block in the back. These happen all the time. I just really can't be sure and wish I could have the game film to see if I missed it.
Onside Kick
I did make a big call during an onside kick. Boy, the crowd went crazy on this one. The visitors has just scored to make the score 19-20 and there was only about 4 minutes remaining. They lined up, kicked the ball, and were offside (encroachment is the foul in high school). I was a little late on my whistle and unfortunately, the visitors had recovered the ball, so on such a big play I should have shut this down ASAP. But I could not see the ball when it was kicked, so they were clearly offside, but from a game administration point of view, I should have sold the flag harder.
I heard later that the opposing coach was upset because we had not called ticky-tack fouls all night, and on the biggest play of the game I threw a flag. But here is the criteria. On a standard free kick (kickoff) the player is not considered to have encroached on the neutral zone (the 10 yard gap between teams) unless, before the ball is kicked, he has one foot on the ground after crossing the restraining line. In other words, we cut them some slack and don't make the restraining line a 'plane'.
However, during an onside kick there is no slack. Onside kicks are huge game changing plays and the restraining line becomes a plane similar to the goal line. And the visitors broke the plane. I may have cost them the game, but the rules are the rules.
On Saturday I was asked to work two college game. This came to a total of seven hours of game time. Not fun. But some interesting thing occurred during the contest. More on that during the next post.
Monday, September 6, 2010
High School Concussion Rule
I worked my first high school game of the season this weekend and it was a classic contest. The home team was down by seven with six seconds remaining on the clock. It was 4th down and no time outs remained. The line of scrimmage was the 17 yard line and while the QB was under pressure, tosses the ball to his teammate at the five who tips the ball once, twice, three times, falling into the end zone... empty handed.
The game became ugly in the 3rd quarter when we had to eject two players for fighting. The visiting team complained about everything and had the 'poor me' attitude going full force. Some teams are just cry babies. Otherwise, a good contest to shake off the rust.
A few new high school rules of interest. The most important, yet controversial, is the concussion rule. 3-5-10 reads, "any player who exhibits signs, symptoms, or behaviors consistent with a concussion (such as loss of consciousness, headache, dizziness, confusion, or balance problems) shall be immediately removed from the game and shall not return to play until cleared by an appropriate health-care professional." In California, where I officiate, the ruling is even more severe. If a player is removed due to exhibiting signs of concussion the player cannot return to the game, period, no matter what appropriate medical person is present.
What makes this controversial is this decision it put into the hands of the officials. I now have to be the sole judge on this issue. If I believe the player has sustained a concussion, I don't ask the medical about their opinion. Even if medical says the player does not have a concussion I must make a ruling. If anyone says anything that would lead a reasonable person to think the player is exhibiting symptoms consistent with concussion the player is to be removed. Period.
Now think of this scenario. The opposing QB runs to the sideline and gets creamed. All the opposing coach has to say is the 'C' word and I have a problem on my hand. You know this will happen.
More on this as the season goes on but I'm very uncomfortable making this kind of decision.
My first college game of the season is this Saturday. No huge changes here other than the new Wedge foul.
The game became ugly in the 3rd quarter when we had to eject two players for fighting. The visiting team complained about everything and had the 'poor me' attitude going full force. Some teams are just cry babies. Otherwise, a good contest to shake off the rust.
A few new high school rules of interest. The most important, yet controversial, is the concussion rule. 3-5-10 reads, "any player who exhibits signs, symptoms, or behaviors consistent with a concussion (such as loss of consciousness, headache, dizziness, confusion, or balance problems) shall be immediately removed from the game and shall not return to play until cleared by an appropriate health-care professional." In California, where I officiate, the ruling is even more severe. If a player is removed due to exhibiting signs of concussion the player cannot return to the game, period, no matter what appropriate medical person is present.
What makes this controversial is this decision it put into the hands of the officials. I now have to be the sole judge on this issue. If I believe the player has sustained a concussion, I don't ask the medical about their opinion. Even if medical says the player does not have a concussion I must make a ruling. If anyone says anything that would lead a reasonable person to think the player is exhibiting symptoms consistent with concussion the player is to be removed. Period.
Now think of this scenario. The opposing QB runs to the sideline and gets creamed. All the opposing coach has to say is the 'C' word and I have a problem on my hand. You know this will happen.
More on this as the season goes on but I'm very uncomfortable making this kind of decision.
My first college game of the season is this Saturday. No huge changes here other than the new Wedge foul.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Pigskinref is back
Well, I'm back. A lot has happened since the last post in November.
During the end of the High School season I had the privilege to work all three rounds of the playoffs, including the conference championship game. This was something I'd dreamed about doing for a long time. Nothing like working football in December.
I've found work since the last posting. I'm working 100 miles away and only go home on the weekends. I decided not work the Semi-pro league this season. It's a love-hate thing with me anyway.
I will continue to work College ball this season, but High School is up in the air. I won't be able to work with my old crew; no way I can make it down our area in time for games. I can work with our group in San Jose and have been attending meetings with them. It won't be the same, but it will be nice to see new teams.
I did not attend the Reno clinic this year... just could not swing the costs after being out of work for 10 months.
I have some interesting news about the college season and there are new high school rules that will be interesting to discuss.
Until next post.
Pigskinref
During the end of the High School season I had the privilege to work all three rounds of the playoffs, including the conference championship game. This was something I'd dreamed about doing for a long time. Nothing like working football in December.
I've found work since the last posting. I'm working 100 miles away and only go home on the weekends. I decided not work the Semi-pro league this season. It's a love-hate thing with me anyway.
I will continue to work College ball this season, but High School is up in the air. I won't be able to work with my old crew; no way I can make it down our area in time for games. I can work with our group in San Jose and have been attending meetings with them. It won't be the same, but it will be nice to see new teams.
I did not attend the Reno clinic this year... just could not swing the costs after being out of work for 10 months.
I have some interesting news about the college season and there are new high school rules that will be interesting to discuss.
Until next post.
Pigskinref
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