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REPLY: Just a quick comment on Texas Aggie's thoughts about basketball officials joining the ranks of footbal officials. I agree wholeheartedly that any officiating experience prior to working football is an advantage. Basketball, IMHO, is probably the most difficult game to officiate because of the need to make those split-second decisions that Texas Aggie referred to. Add the that the need to determine the flow of the game and process that in your mind, and it becomes a difficult task. Also, just as in football, basketball has its own philosophies that need to be integrated with your knowledge of the rules so that you can officiate "with the book" rather than just "by the book."
However, there are a few adjustments that even a great basketball official needs to make in order to be successful on the gridiron: (1) In basketball, decisions have to be made extremely quickly, (2) Each decision (as opposed to 'non-decisons') is accompanied by a whistle--a quick whistle. In football, things need to happen at a more 'leisurely' pace. Decision making on potential fouls can take 2 or 3 seconds so that the official can assess the foul, determine its effect on the play, and then decide whether an opponent was put at a material disadvantage. The flag doesn't need to come out immediately in most cases (exception being LOS infractions like false starts). And...(this is a big one)...the decision on a foul is not accompanied by a whistle. That's where a different kind of whistle control needs to be learned.
But I agree with TA that having had officiating experience should be a great advantage for anyone looking to get out on a football field.
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Bob M.
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