Quote:
Originally posted by Andy
Just to throw some more into the discussion, "suspending play" and "calling time" are not synonomous, in my opinion.
To me, "suspense" means that the play will resume at the point of suspension. the most common example would be weather conditions. "Time" means that this play is over, we will start the next play.
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I agree with the semantic distinction - I suspect the original question would have been better phrased "should play have been suspended..."
I don't believe play should have been suspended in mid-play except in very unusual exceptions (e.g. injured player). Another example: sudden lightning strike; other safety issue (can't think of one off hand).
But just because you let the play conclude doesn't mean you would always live with the result. In the example cited, I'd say the result stands since the defense did make the play in spite of circumstances. But, in greymule's example, play was suspended after the play (more or less), but the "completion" of the play was by umpire judgment. In other circumstances, umpire judgment as to what "would have happened" may be applied, or the league officials may decide on a do-over.
But, to reiterate what I said above, the wording of 10-8E and the included exception means, to me, the umpire
may suspend play while playing action is on-going under certain conditions - safety being the obvious reason.