Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim D.
My goodness! I was not trying to find some innocuous loophole using hyper-technical interpretations. I was just trying to figure out if a player who steps out of bounds can touch a ball that's still inbounds without penalty. Say if a player steps out in diving for a fumble, but manages to touch a ball that's still inbounds or perhaps reaches back to bat a pass that's still inbounds, is that IP? Even reading the comments in the Case Book 9-6, I think he can do it legally.
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Hold on Jim, you've got apples and oranges going on here. Your first example was questioning the legality of a player who, "
Knowing he went out of bounds, he stays out of bounds. B99 is in pursuit of A32 and
as he passes A50, A50 reaches into the field (staying out of bounds) and pulls B99 down to the ground at the A-30 yard line. A32 runs for an apparent touchdown", which is near the
opposite end of the spectrum to, "a player steps out in diving for a fumble, but manages to touch a ball that's still inbounds or perhaps reaches back to bat a pass that's still inbounds".
There is (almost) always a problem when you try and apply a, "one size fits all" approach to hypothetical situations at opposite ends of the spectrum. I believe that is partially the reason NFHS rules rely, as often as they do, on the judgment (common sense and logic) of field officials to deal with a wide range of "unique" situations.