Fed Obstruction

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Tim C

For the last two weeks (including last night) I have been updating the area coaches on the 2008 Rules Changes.

What I have found concerning this change:

1) Coaches want to know what is the definition of "access". Is "access" 1" of the base or 1/2 of the base?

2) The NFHS Overheads clearly state that a "train wreck" is still possible without an obstruction call. The spring news letter has an example of a "train wreck" and says it is obstruction.

3) We believe that there will be far more comments from offensive coaches than defensive.

Regards,

Four of us drove down to Illinois to attend a meeting last night. In the part regarding obstruction, one of us (not me) sarcastically said that we could just call whatever we wanted because everything is "umpire judgment" and the NFHS essentially contradicted itself so many times in the presentation (especially in the area of trainwrecks and what constitutes "access" to the base).

Like JJ said, sometimes you just gotta umpire, I guess.