Quote:
Originally Posted by parepat
You propose that rules proficiency and having the rule book available are mutually exclusive. They are not. However, I've never met an official who has never kicked a rule or its application. Faced with a situation where a mistake is made, I am comfortable using any allowable resource to fix my mistake despite the effect it may have on others' opinions of me.
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It's not that rules proficiency, and having a rules book are mutually exclisive, it's that they each apply to a certain, completely different, setting. Rule books are wondeful for an open book test, unfortunately working an actual game is the ultimate "closed book test" setting.
The "allowable resources" you have to work with during a contest, are limited to your preparation, your common sense and judgment and each of the other officials on your crew. When you step on the game field, the rule book is NOT part of your tool kit.
Whether you like it, or not, your credibility, as perceived by the coaches and players, is a vital part of your performance and probability of success. If their view, of your credibility is weakened, their confidence in you is weakened which starts a downward spiral, often impossible to reverse.
As close as I can come to guaranteeing anything, pulling out a rule book on the field during a game, is not going to build confidence or enhance your credibility or do you, your crew, or either team any good and it sets a horrible presedence that might take a much bigger bite out of your backside than any rule mistake you, and your crew, might ever make.