Quote:
Originally Posted by ajmc
Robert, you're fighting the inevitable. The rules makers had to establish a point of FINAL decision making, and did so by providing that authority to game officials. Of course game officials can be held accountable for their decisions, but it is THEIR judgments that have been deemed FINAL.
Without that clarification there would be never ending disputes and silly arguments. You have to keep reminding yourself, we are involved in a GAME, not something worthy of, or intended for, endless debate.
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You seem to approach this as if I'm from outer space. I'm sure you don't approach the rest of the game this way.
Of course the referee's judgment is final, but going by the logic you seem to be using on this question, why have a rule book at all? Why not just say, judge what's fair in football, and leave it to the officials at that?
Or, to take a less extreme example, why do they have definitions for such acts as hurdling (to take a recently discussed case)? Sure, they
could have left the term undefined, but they chose to clarify and thereby make the related rule more particular.
I don't see why the same sort of clarif'n wouldn't improve the situation w.r.t. disconcerting signals. If a player of one team may be trying to make a player of the other team think a signal has been given to their team to do something such as snap the ball, but it could just as well be the case that the signal was a legitimate one the player who was saying it intended for his own team, why would it not be an improvement to reserve certain words for one side or the other? Would it not reduce the number of unclear situations wherein you might otherwise rule incorrectly on the intention of one team or another?
It's like with intentional grounding. If it were left entirely to officials' judgment as to whether a pass was thrown with the intention of its being incomplete, that would make for a harder call than it is when the additional requirement is included that it not be in the direction of an eligible receiver.
So why are you writing as if I'm making some ridiculous argument?
Robert