NFHS balk rule revisted

[GarthB]

Quite the imagination, Paul.

It was neither. The Oregon SRI was describing what a pitcher could do from the rubber under NFHS as he was leading a small group of clinic attendees at a Tom Hiler clinic. He recited the pro rules instead.

Matt, an friend from Medford, and I looked at each other as if to question if we heard him correctly. The exchange began and remained politely. We asked him if, since what he quoted was the pro rule, was he sure that was also the FED rule. The gentleman works under BR, FED and NCAA and we thought perhaps he was just suffering a momentary brain fart.

However, he responded by reciting the pro rule again and said that he had it right. Matt responded with, "Excuse me, but I thought in FED a pitcher in the windup position had to step off the rubber before throwing to first." The SRI again repeated his assertion. The matter was dropped at that point.

Ever since, we have, good naturedly, ribbed Tee about his SRI.

But, no one's perfect. Some of the best SRIs across the country have thought they were correct about a FED interpretation only to find out that Indianapolis disgareed. I remember when FED ruled that players could not toss a glove with the ball lodged in it that several highly regarded SRI's were surprised.

Edited to add:

Since that incident, Oregon, with much prodding from Tee, has, in a number of ways, become the vanguard in sport officiating. The changes in mechanics, enhanced training and the raising of expectations Oregon has instituted has influenced many in Washington as well.