I don't want to reinvent the wheel.

I am sure some of you have a document that deals with some of the most common misconceptions regarding high school football rules. If you have such a document, can you send it to my email address?

twinsears AT verizon DOT net

Note: Replace the AT and DOT with the appropriate symbols. I don't like the taste of spam :D

I know one I can think of right off hte bat.

Uncatchable pass....

If you want to post things here, too, that would be great.

The defensive tackle got back behind the line before the snap.

It wasn't grounding, he was outside the pocket.

Pass interference??? He wasn't even near the ball. Oh wait, not any more!!!!

Chin strap or mouthpiece out. "Let 'em play ref."

Well usually they yell "UNCATCHABLE PASS" which means we'll hear that this year. And then the very next play when we don't have PI because the contact occured away from the pass they'll be yelling "I THOUGHT THERE WAS NO UNCATCHABLE PASS?!"

"He hit him beyond the 5 yards, ref!"

"The center was downfield on that punt!"

"78 told you he was eligible!"

My personal one is actually believing the coach when he tells me they don't have any trick plays. Lord knows they'd rather work on those than stupid stuff like blocking and tackling.

He can jump early and get back... he's on defense.

And if, for some reason, it's illegal, it's a live ball foul.

That and the "last week...."

I hate that response.

Along these same lines:

http://www.ndfoa.org/rules/rule0.php#aint

Some good stuff in there.

I like this one off of that site.

Davis' Law
F = (D x R)I Davis' Law is a formula which computes visual acuity. It states that a clear view of any Foul is equal to the product of the Distance from the fan to the play, times his Rooting interest in a particular team raised to the power of his utter Ignorance of football rules.
This ingenious formula is expressed thus:

F = (D x R)I
Davis' Law explains why the runner's excited father at the farthest end of the top bleachers on the far side of the field could so clearly perceive that the defender maliciously grasped his son's face mask when making the tackle, while the trained official a mere three feet away saw nothing. Note how the fact that the son was facing away from Dad at the time does not factor into the formula.

Do not rely upon Davis' Law. It is bad math. Rely on this: The guy in the striped shirt three feet away had a much better view than you did. He is trained. He is impartial. He is doing a better job than you could. Do not make his call.


Do not rely upon Davis' Law. It is bad math. Rely on this: The guy in the striped shirt three feet away had a much better view than you did. He is trained. He is impartial. He is doing a better job than you could. Do not make his call.

How bout this one,

That the officials actually care who wins or looses.

How about the one I got this past Saturday, "You didn't give us our 2 minute warning timeout"!

All rules are "As seen on TV".
I think everyone who does youth football have been yelled at by the coaches and parents for not enforcing NFL & NCAA rules on Saturday morning. A few years ago we had a pass intercepted on a try, we blew it dead and the coach wondered why . He thought his player could run it back for 2 points. I asked him what college team he was coaching,as it is only used in NCAA games! He gave me the old blank stare.

The biggest misconception about youth football is that it is for the kids and that it is for fun. As I have seen, it is for the parents, especially the dads who think they are all Vince Lombardi. And it is about winning....and winning...and winning. Oh, and also because all these kids will develop into college All-Americans.

I am so old that I can remember when we had fun as kids playing football, baseball and basketball with other kids in the backyard. And we didn't need parents around to have fun. We called our own fouls, made our own teams and never worried about who was going to play the most. And, we forgot about the score when the game was over. We didn't need a trophy at the end of the season to know that we did a good job. I wish our kids today had the same opportunity.

Yeah and cars had no computes in them and gas was under $1.00 a gallon and there were no video games. Mom's would stay at home and would not need to say go outside and play and, and, and.

I miss the simplier life as well.

Heck, gas was under a buck a gallon around here ... six years ago? I remember there was a week or two where the price per gallon in cents was less than the octane rating.

Heard this from B's sideline this past Friday night as I was enforcing an illegal participation foul against B for having the 11th player enter the field after A had snaped the ball.

"He was the 11th player- that's legal".

My BJ agreed with them and tried to talk me out of it, but after I told him 3 times that no player may enter during the down, he finally relented.

Did a 2 youth games this weekend and on one team the coaches were convinced we were making calls based on who's home field it was. I had never been to that field before and didn't even know if they were playing a team who's home field it was (it was a jamboree). It's amazing the perception. Of course, the kids pick this up.

You 'Homer' you!

Last year I had a coach wanting me to call the back for false start since he was twitching a foot. Screaming and hollering at me almost every play. I call an officials TO (Remember we're talking 10 yr olds playing here) and ask him if he'd like me to also start dropping flags on his D for lining up over the ball too?

Cause while he was screaming about "movement" we were lining up his D for him prior to the snap.

"Nevermind" he says as he slunked away.

WM

One of my favorites.

Two players lined up next to each other on the left side of the offensive line and both went out for a pass.

When I tried to explain to the coach only the end could go out for a pass I get this.

One is the tight end and the other is the split end.

Of course, I tried the useless tactic of explaining what the word "end" meant.

Then the final word, "they didn't call that last week!"

I had my first games this weekend as well. Worked the two youngest-kid games on the visitors sideline. I then switched over to the home sideline for the senior game. Well, home team wasn't too happy with my calls, and thought that all of us refs must have been from the visiting town.

Only problem - I was from the home team's town.

Once had about a 10-year-old actually say to his teammates after a flag, "The refs want them to win."

Holy cow, I just had to laugh. I'd have laughed harder if it wasn't so freaking sad.