It's great to see that refs go into a frenzy about this.
One of my favorite QB's, Doug Flute would research and try things that tested the envelope of the rules. One of his unsuccessful attempts was an old rule regarding downfield kicking in Candian Football i.e. running over the LOS and drop kicking the ball toward the goal post in free play for 3 points, which was legal and harkens back to the days when there weren't 15 refs on the field, using a rule book the size of the Bible.
He wanted to attempt this to try and win a game with 2 seconds left being down by 2 points with no time outs.
Doug Flute is also the man who drop kicked a PAT during the Patriot's game against Dolphins:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2277308
I played football for 10 years, backyard and organized through college. I have lost just about all interest in football, especially the NFL. The NFL is a boring beer commercial and is as predictable as a jack in the box. Everyone agrees that it is the rare or trick plays that make the game intresting i.e. onside kicks, fake punts, etc..
I can just about stand NCAA football, but would rather go to one of my nephew's high school games.
I truely believe if it was left up to the refs, they would amend the rules to have equal number of refs per on-field players and would ride the backs of the players like jockeys.
The refs crossed the line when they started to believe that their job wasn't background to the game and the players, but was as important, if not more important than the game itself. A refs job is to officiate the game, not control it.
The bottom line is, whether you admit it or not, over officiating football ruins the game. Commercials don't help either.
Hats off to you Coach Bryant, have fun, win and make money and pay no attention to the begrudging refs who want to ruin the game.
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A distant cousin to football is a good game called Rugby which has not been too corrupted by the refs. The rule book, called the laws of the game, has 12rules. There is one referee per 30 players and he has the assistance of two sideline judges. Other than that, there is a time keeper and a score keeper. But before you start knocking this sport, please watch a game between to good teams and then comment.
Watch, learn and understand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5FzQRyRqew -
too bad for our boys but the game is growing and we are getting better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNaUuwqbH68
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ5tHgET4N4
Jimmy