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Well BBR, I agree. I made a turkey day call that a member of my crew couldn't believe I made and on the ride home (with my back judge) he said something like "I can't believe you had the 'nads to make that call. You got courage dude." Well enough of that...I appreciated his comment.
Here's the situation...
Team A is pinned down at their own 1 with :50 left in the 4th quarter facing 4th down leading the game 14-7. The coach of team A wanted to take an intentional safety but wanted A to run around the EZ for a few seconds to burn time off the clock (instead of risking a blocked punt). The QB danced around the EZ running parallel to the endline. When he was tackled B grabbed and pulled the back of his helmet up (from the back forward). Both my HL, moi, and my U threw the hankie.
We had a quick discussion and ruled PF. My HL wanted a 5-yarder but the player was facing him so he didn't get a good view of the B player pulling up on the helmet. I looked at my U and said "you know, he pulled up on the helmet..I got a PF." He said "so do I...we can't worry about that." (meaning what people would think)
A few fans were annoyed saying "let the kids decide the game..." But I'm thinking the B player decided the game if you want to go there. He knew the A player was going down so why the heck did he need to grab the helmet opening and pull up on the helmet?
The "football fan" part of me wanted to rule a 5 yarder but I don't think it was the right thing to do even though I knew that penalty call would eventually seal the game. I have my share of calls that could be questioned but I slept well on this one.
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