Coin Toss Mechanics

jjrye22

Since everyone has been discussing coins to toss, I have to ask you all a mechanics question.

Over here in Germany the tendency for the coin toss seems to be to toss it up and let it land on the ground. Most of the 'experienced' white hats do that, but I've seen it get 'caught' in long grass and not lie properly (completely flat). I haven't seen it undeterminable, but sometimes it was close...

That's why I prefer to catch it in the air, and lie it on the back of my left hand.

What do you guys do? Do any of you let it fall to the ground? Does anyone think it makes a difference?

I also don't like the way they bend over at the waist to look down at it, it looks less professional that just holding out your hand at chest level.
Thanks for the input

James

[deleted]

I'll tell you what I've seen here. I worked with 3 different white hats last fall, and 2 had similar mechanics. Theirs was to flip the coin in the air, catch it, then flip onto the top of the other hand and expose it.

The third white hat was a little different. He flipped it up, and "clap" caught it then exposed it by lifting the top hand. Of course, he has huge hands so it was kind of like watching a magic trick where the coin disappears then "ta-da!" it magically reappears.

sm_bbcoach

As I stated inthe other thread, I use a big coin (3.5 inches in diameter). I have allowed the home team to toss the coin.

My procedure: welcome and intro's of captians and officials. Any words of wisdom from myself (usually not much 🙂 ). Then show both heads and tails. Give the coin to the home captian. Ask visitors captian to callit. I echo it, and myself and ALL officials echo it as well as write it down. When ALL agree, the home captian tosses it. I let it land. It is big and heavy enough to not get caught. I also tell them it is what ever side is up OR mostly up. In 3 years, I have never had a problem with it not landing mostly or totally up.

This has worked very wqell, and the captians like the idea of tossing it. I had someone tell me that the home team can influence the toss by which side is up. I do not believe it. LAst year in all my games (fr - var) I came out 57% visitors winning the toss call.

I tried to catch it, but I dropped it 1 time, became so embarased that I have NEVER tried to do it again.

Hope this helps....

Mike Simonds

Hey, that would be interesting to see if your 57% rate gets closer to 50% over 2 or more seasons...

Over here in our league, the referees seem to favor letting the coin fall to the turf.

One referee, who is a circuit court judge (very serious on the surface but he has a wonderful sense of humor and is a joy to work with) has this little talk before the coin toss: "I'm going to toss the coin up into the air and let it drop down to the ground. If it lands sideways I will toss it again". All of this is spoken seriously but I have to admit if the grass is tall and/or the ground is muddy combined with a fairly heavy coin you do have a chance of the coin landing sideways...

Do you guys think that letting the coin fall to the ground is a bad idea? Perhaps the theory is that it removes some human manipulation with less coin handling...

ABoselli

I like catching it, only because if it falls on an edge, it can scoot sideways and land between the players feet.

I know that catching the coin is one of the high pressure moments we deal with, but, hey - that's why we get the big money!

Snake~eyes

Originally posted by ABoselli
I like catching it, only because if it falls on an edge, it can scoot sideways and land between the players feet.

I know that catching the coin is one of the high pressure moments we deal with, but, hey - that's why we get the big money!

I agree, I think its better to catch the coin, just practice a little bit and let the players know that you're going to catch it(whether you'll flip it over) and that if you drop it you will free flip.

Forksref

In one game last year, our R tossed the coin and let it hit the groundas he usually does. He bent over to read it and told the captains what it was. When we were done with the ceremonies, our U picked up the coin and kept it. The R searched and searched for it and couldn't find it. We all looked for it briefly, then went about our duties. As BJ, I was in the middle of the field and during the first quarter I looked down and thought I saw something in the grass. I reached down and found a condom (still packaged!) and picked it up. Later, I handed something to the R and told him I found what he was looking for. Great laughter when he realized what I had given him. He said at his age it was useless!

I guess the field was a 'multi-purpose' field!

Snake~eyes

Wow, now that's a good story lol.

JRutledge

I let it hit the ground. I always thought that is the way it should be. It is what I saw when I was on TV when I would watch the Rose Bowl. So that is what I have always adopted.

Peace

Forksref

Originally posted by Snake~eyes
Wow, now that's a good story lol.

The name of the town (no joke) was Climax. Go figure.

Snake~eyes

Originally posted by Forksref

Originally posted by Snake~eyes
Wow, now that's a good story lol.

The name of the town (no joke) was Climax. Go figure.

Man thats a story full of irony.

ump76

Originally posted by Forksref

Originally posted by Snake~eyes
Wow, now that's a good story lol.

The name of the town (no joke) was Climax. Go figure.

Way too funny.

I always catch the coin and inform the captains that if I drop it we will flip it again. This has always worked well for me.

Bob M.

REPLY: I'm going to be the referee at at least one of our varsity games this coming season. After reading these posts, I'm thinking about bringing a catcher's mitt out to midfield for the toss!