Quote:
Originally Posted by mbcrowder
What an interesting argument. Change what I say, and then call it silly. Many call that a straw-man argument. I was saying that angle is more important than distance, and creeping out onto the field to get more distance really isn't helping you at all.
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Mike, I didn't change anything you said. I can understand "upon further review" you might want to. If you believe "angle" is more important than distance, and creeping out onto the field to get more distance really isn't helping you at all", that's fine, but doesn't therefore make it universal, or accurate for all and every situation.
The "straw man" in this argument is the notion of "angle". Despite it's importance in many other aspects of what we do,
it's simply not a significant factor in what we were originally discussing. I tried to be very clear that I agreed with starting out on a sideline is absolutely the basic position for a wing official on a Varsity level game, but that adjusting that positioning for specific formations and specific situations is
absolutely NOT the WRONG thing to do. If that's your preference, fine, knock yourself out, but castigating others for differing with your assessment places you out beyond the reach of your own headlights.
As for camping on the sideline at the Youth Football level, while judgment and judicious application is always paramount, camping on a sideline at these levels is
an effective way to take yourself completely out of the game.
As for 3 man configurations; I'm embarrassed to admit we still work 3 man at sub-varsity levels, and have so for over 40 years. We have tried every variation and repositioning possible, from the standard R-U-L to the recommended goal line formations of R-L-LJ throuout the game, and after all these years of application and testing variations have concluded (beyond the shadow of a doubt) 3 man mechanics is simply inadequate and long obsolete for today's game. You just can't draw a diamond with only 3 dots. Either a flank is exposed or the middle winds up being ignored, and trying to split the Umpire between both usually only produces half a$$ed coverage for both the middle and a sideline. (We've been using 4-man configuration at the Youth Football levels for over a decade).