Calling All Umpires

[Mike Simonds]

Bob, regarding your points about the person being held making an unathletic move, I remember vividly one call I had last year where the center grabbed the defender by both shoulder pads (nothing subtle about it!) and then started turning the defender aware from the point of attack. The defender's upper body was being turned away from the point of attack while at the very same time the defender's legs were still moving towards the point of attack. It fits your descriptions perfectly and I sure do wish I had this one on tape. Both kids were big and strong: the center is going to play football at a small college in Oregon this fall and the linebacker he was blocking is a major college prospect. I explained to him why I called him and he was as polite and nice as can be! They scored a touchdown on the next play (I told him he was too good to be holding anyway).

Hey Bob M. let me know if you and #5 are ever coming over to Hawaii in the future. I would love to host both of you for an umpire's clinic! We have some good ones in our association and also some good referees (two of which are qualified to do WAC games and they do the annual Hula Bowl).