How do you call this

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

JR, my point is that both officials made a call/decision, but only one blew his whistle. The other official decided that the play was perfectly legal and chose not to sound his whistle. What I am asking is why does the decision of the whistle-blower override the decision of the non-whistler. There is no logical reason for it.

Why can't I say that the call that the play is legal will stand?

If we always go with the whistle, then we are actually allowing one official to always overrule the judgment of another who chose not to blow simply by putting air into his whistle. That's not right.

That's funny...my point is that only one official blew his whistle too. That would be the official that made the ONLY call on the play.

There was only ONE call made. And the RULES say that call will stand unless the official who made the call decides to change it. And if the official doesn't decide to change it, the RULES say that the call will then stand as called. And neither "logic" or "right and wrong" enter into the equation either.

You can't say that the call that the play was legal can stand because there was NO call that the play was legal. There was one call and one call only on this play.

Yes, the calling official may have screwed up badly. But that's on him. And don't forget that he thinks that he was right. That's why he doesn't want to change his call. Hopefully someone straightens him out later and he learns from it...and never makes the same mistake again. But if he doesn't learn from it, then it's still on him.

Ask yourself this....who would you rather work with?
1) a partner that screwed-up a call unknowingly and then admitted later that he was wrong when privately shown the right ruling, or
2) a partner that threw a fellow official under the bus, as Ignats75 so eloquently put it. A partner that just publically destroyed any credibility that the calling official may have had for the rest of that game.

Not a tough choice for me....and just about every official that I know. I can tell you that I would never work with that official again. I'd be afraid to turn my back on him.