"Doing it right" vs. OOO

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

There's been a couple of threads recently that have prompted me to ask how people determine the difference between doing the right way, according to the rules, and still not be an "Overly Officious Official". I know this has to be a confusing thing for a new official; heck, I'm still trying to sort it out after all these years.

For example, determining the OOB spot on a throw-in. Scrapper corrected my triangle picture, and he is right. But I've never gotten in trouble for putting the ball at the wrong spot, unless I totally blew the call. I think most would agree that putting the ball at the proper spot is important. But on the other end of the spectrum are the officials that tomegun will be working with - they probably feel the ball needs to be OOB, who cares if it's at the "exact, pin-point placement"? If you continue to put it at the proper spot, instead of occasionally at the "easiest" spot, are you being an OOO? How do you explain to someone that, in this case, they are lazy and you are "doing it right"?

Which then brings up the other situation, where the officials saw the removal of the jerseys after the game and called the T's. Why is the general consensus that the officials were OOO's, even though what they did was perfectly within the rules. How do you argue the point if they say they are "doing it right", while the officials that high-tail it out of there as quickly as possible are the lazy ones?

I'm not trying to argue each situation; that should be left for those individual threads. I'm just trying to find out how others draw the line, and how they would explain that to newer officials. Granted, there is probably a bit of "local" influence on that line, but I would think there is still a line somewhere.

It's like George Carlin's joke about other drivers being maniacs or idiots.

Those who call more strictly than I do are OOO. Those that call less strictly are lazy.