Stupid Question ???

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Why did you add this part? You obviously know that it is irrelevant.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it was added because of the way the rule reads:

7-2-1: ........unless the ball touches a player who is out of bounds prior to touching something out of bounds other than a player.



It's sad that you had to ask this.

[JugglingReferee]

As JAR outlines, it includes language used to separate the responsibility of the ball first hitting OB a player and a non-player.

The statement is well-worded, but does usually prompt a question from many people when read. (I've had a coach before ask me about this one.)

BadNewsRef's statement isn't irrelevant because by including the fact that the ball hit the floor, it "completes the circuit" (think electricity) of when a ball must becomes dead. It just so happens that a player was OB and the ball hit them first.

I have found in the years that I've trained guys, what might first go through someone's mind, that the ball hitting the floor means the ball is OB, but then they realize that A1 was OB and therefore the ball was already dead. Then they realize that they (but shouldn't) wait for the ball to hit the floor before blowing the whistle and stopping the clock.

I understand that newbies that do this might not be at Nevada's skill level yet.

The opposite, and similar way of thinking is when A1 inbounds to A2, but with pressure from B1. The pass is tipped by B1. I know that there are guys in every area that wait for the ball to be touched by A2 before chopping in time. I've seen it all over my fair province of Ontario and I believe it happens elsewhere too. (Not by me though. )

[BillyMac]

Thanks guys. For some reason the wording just threw me. I never really read this rule so closely before, that is, before I emailed it to my son, because it's so easy to understand the rule in a real game situation. The examples given now make it perfectly clear.

Was this rule any different over 30 years ago, before I started officiating? When I first started, I seem to recall a recent change in this rule. That may explain the detailed wording in the present rule.

Now, where are my keys?

[26 Year Gap]

[QUOTE=BillyMac;585583]Thanks guys. For some reason the wording just threw me. I never really read this rule so closely before, that is, before I emailed it to my son, because it's so easy to understand the rule in a real game situation. The examples given now make it perfectly clear.

Was this rule any different over 30 years ago, before I started officiating? When I first started, I seem to recall a recent change in this rule. That may explain the detailed wording in the present rule.

Now, where are my keys?[/QUOTE]

They are in that new place that you thought was a much better place to keep them than the old place.