Held Ball Signal

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

... And if you have a dueling signal, then you go with what happened first. We make the simple things so complicated some times.

Agree. At least once, or twice, each season I'm involved with different signals with one official showing the held ball signal. It's real easy to get together to discuss it. "I saw your held ball, but my foul came before the held ball". Or, "I saw your foul, but my held ball came before the foul".

[Rich]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Agree. At least once, or twice, each season I'm involved with different signals with one official showing the held ball signal. It's real easy to get together to discuss it. "I saw your held ball, but my foul came before the held ball". Or, "I saw your foul, but my held ball came before the foul".

And it's just as easy to do what's mentioned above and not have to have the conversation at all. Shrug.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Rich

And it's just as easy to do what's mentioned above and not have to have the conversation at all.

Eye contact (and body language) can go a long way, it's, literally, a part of every pregame (sometimes it's the only part) I've been involved with over the past thirty-six years, but sometimes you just have to converse.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Rich

And it's just as easy to do what's mentioned above and not have to have the conversation at all. Shrug.

I have seen officials do just what you said and it was clear by other body language they were thinking through what they were going to call. If you give one signal, there is no question why you are blowing the whistle. When you give two signals that are associated with two different possible calls, the people watching think you are unsure. Part of our job is to look like we know what we are doing. And not everyone can see or know what you were thinking. But they do see the signal you gave and if it is one signal, there is little doubt.

Peace