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Thu Dec 04, 2003, 10:43am
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I sent this this to my own crew and thought I would share our collective thought process.
---------------------------------------------------------- We agree with the standpoint that we want to get the call right. But we better not be out there (at least collectively as a crew) if we can't enforce the rules properly. A game is no place to partake in a rules clinic. If a coach talks us into looking at the rule book in one instance, then Katy-bar-the-door if we think we're going to stop it from happening again and again. Further, how do we convince a coach that we have the ruling right (as agreed upon by the entire crew) when we previously looked at a rule book in the game? That's a credibility issue. Also, why stop with looking at a rule book? Why not go over and look at the TV camera and the replay if someone challenges a fumble call? (I am being a bit facetious here, but where do you draw the line???) Finally, Officials have been vilified (and even occasionally vindicated) in lots of papers and on TV over the years. Most of us have never met a sports writer, radio or TV commentator, or coach who could hold our jock straps when it came to rules knowledge. If we (as a crew) have to explain a call to our supervisor or governing body (and everyone at some point has misapplied a rule), then that's the medicine that goes with the territory. Tom White faced it in the NFL. Last year's officials in the SF-GIA playoff game did too. One of my crewmates quipped "Bringing a rulebook to an official is like bringing a Bible to Jesus. I just shouldn't happen". No official would equate himself with Jesus (at least not publicly), but the official is the closest thing to the arbiter of final judgment that can exist in sports. Get the calls right - and be competent enough as a crew to do so on your own without intervention.
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Mike Sears 
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Thu Dec 04, 2003, 10:43am
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I agree with those who think the rule book does not belong on the field. However, most who visit this forum take the time to study the rules and probably have a good command of them.
But, I go back to Georgia. The facts are a player for Duluth punches a Dacula player during a play. Duluth got a first down on the play and the penalty was enforced from the end of the run giving Duluth a first down. The coach protested that the penalty should have been enforced form the spot of the foul (correct) giving Duluth a third down and 18 at the 12 not 1/10 at the 17. Georgia authorities in their infinite wisdom upheld the protest and ordered the game replayed from the misapplication, 11:51 in the 4th quarter. Dacula still lost. How can a situation like this be avoided, or can it? The rules are tough to master but this was a simple interpretation. Live ball foul because it occurred during the play. I am sure the answer lies in knowing and understanding the rules. Yet, the impetus for seeking that level of knowledge may not be there at the high school level -- coaches who typically don't understand rules and mechanics determine who are the best officials. And, when one official in one game makes one mistake it reflects poorly on everyone because those naysayers who think officials don't know the rules have an example.
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Thu Dec 04, 2003, 11:01am
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Quote:
I think sometimes the problem lies with inexperienced officials telling the white hat that they have an unsporting conduct foul when in fact they have a personal foul. The white hat fails to ask "what happened" and bing-ba-da-ding, we may have a mistake in application. In the GA incident, I would love to have been privy to the conference to see what exactly was said and who was consulted.
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Mike Sears
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Thu Dec 04, 2003, 11:56am
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Again, a couple of things.
Assuming that the Georgia crew was competent, but made a mistake......... - they misread the situation in terms of a personal or an unsportsmanlike foul. Looking it up would have likely affirmed their decision because they would have looked up the rule that made it work for them (that's where anyone would look first) - as for the coach showing me the rulebook..... I work 7 sports, and in 6 of them, as soon as the rulebook gets shown to me, the coach is ejected. This is just not tolerated anywhere else. Not that it is a bad thing, just interesting contrast.
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Thu Dec 04, 2003, 03:18pm
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Good one Mike Sears!!!
Like Moses told Aaron in the Book of Numbers: "Would all the Lord's people be prophets."
In other words: we succeed and we fail as a crew. Each crew member needs to be a rules expert. Each crew member needs to step-in and correct the ruling, penalty enforcement, etc. when he knows that an error has been made. And most importantly, each crew member needs to be humble and admit when he makes a mistake. In penalty administration, its most important to slow down, take our time, and get it right. But also, the coaches need to know the rules in order to make a proper challenge at the place and time allowed by rule. I don't like the Georgia ruling and the NFHS needs to update the rules so this does not happen again. Oh, and by the way, I don't believe you should have a rule book on the field. [Edited by Mike Simonds on Dec 4th, 2003 at 02:21 PM]
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Mike Simonds
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