I was talking to an official last weekend. His WH insists that the BJ and LJ (5-man) only signal thumbs up or thumbs down on kicks (PATs and FGs). Only the WH is to signal "good" or "no good."

I know that's how the Big 10 used to do it eons ago, but I was amazed to hear that there's a WH that would insist upon that in 2004.

Anyone know of any other crews or WHs with quirks such as this?

--Rich

We've got a WH that absolutely REFUSES to use the thumbs up signal. He just throws his fist up there if you've got 11. His explanation is a good one: thumbs down means they've got fewer than 11, no thumb means 11, thumbs up means more than 11. It's quite a controversy among WHs in our association.

I agree with this, fist signals eleven, nothing is less than eleven and a flag is more than eleven, keep it simple for us. Although we did try the thumb up/down system, just felt it was a lot simpler for us dummies

A lot of officials I work with will put both hands, fingers spread, on their chest to signify that they have 10 players. Usually only with eye contact (you don't want to be standing there with your hands on your chest for several seconds), and often only if 1 official is obviously trying to count a team, and you already have counted them with 10.

REPLY: Rich, It reminds me of the old days with a three-man crew when the R had the ball between the uprights and the wing man had the crossbar. Wing would signal thumbs-up or thumbs-down to let the R know whether the ball passed above/below the crossbar. Haven't seen anyone anywhere use this with 5-man mechanics. Crazy!!!

I hopped on a crew and worked L in a 4-man FR/JV last night. First games of the season I didn't work as the R, and it was nice. Of course, that means I had roughing the kicker and roughing the holder on the PATs while the R had the uprights and the LJ had the crossbar.

I'd love to work on a 7-man crew once :)

Tonight, HS varsity and back to a 5.

--Rich