[greymule]

Peter is right. At first, I figured that since this was a legal play, I'd just have to deal with it as an ump. But when you think about it, there's no limit to the nonsense that coaches and players could pull if we simply say the rule book doesn't prohibit it. Do we really want to encourage the wiseacres to search through the book to find what they might get away with?

We're empowered to rule on things that the rules don't specifically cover. Call time as Peter says, runner goes back back to first. Tell the coach to stop it. If it happens again, call it exactly what it is--making a travesty of the game, call the runner out, and throw the coach out.

When the rule book says, "A runner may run anywhere on the playing field as long as he is not avoiding a tag," I'll change my opinion.