"What if...."

[grantsrc]

Last night worked a college JV game. The coaches on my sidelines seem to know EVERYTHING about officiating. The had a comment for everything.

On a long pass play down the sidelines, the CB gets his hands high and twists the facemask of the WR before the ball was thrown. The pass is complete and WR takes it down to the 4 yard line. So I tell my white hat I had a 15 yard face mask and a completed pass. So we give their team the options: decline the penalty and take the result of the play; or accept the penalty and go 15 yards from the previous spot. The coaches went crazy. They wanted it tacked on to the run.

I did my best to define and explain the difference between a running play and a loose ball play. They kind of got the hint and they ran through about three or four "What if..." plays. Finally, I asked the coach, "What if he does and Irish Jig, spins a cartwheel and lands on his head? Then what?" One of his players behind me cracks up. I don't think I don't think I heard from him the rest of the night.