My first game this week

[Rich]

Originally Posted by AndrewMcCarthy

On a lot of plays you'll have to be working an Umpire-Back Judge combo position. A lot of what you've learned about the Umpire position in 4- and 5-man crews goes out the window.

When I lived in TN, we worked a R with 2 wings -- if the ball was downed in the side zone, the R would spot it. I still prefer this method for 3-man, although we take 5 to every game these days and won't accept an assignment unless they pay for at least 4.

[ToGreySt]

first of all, all of the training that the apprentices in my area are given is in 4 man mechanics. Because of that, I was really unprepared for the sheer amount of ground that the U has to cover in 3man. but I did the best I could and ran a WHOLE LOT. just a couple of little problems plagued me other than that. second play of the game, my flag fell out of my back pocket. So after that I had it stuffed too far down, and I missed flagging two face masks because I couldn't get my flag out quickly enough, but luckily the R flagged both also. No IWs, but that doesn't mean it won't happen soon.

moving into the second half, I felt a lot more comfortable taking spots and moving quickly into the play, however pacing off penalties caused a little concern. even for something as simple as a five yard penalty after 1 and 10, I was hoping that the Linesman would move to the five yard spot on the chains and help me out, however that never happened.

overall, I was completely overwhelmed by how much I was responsible to watch over, it will get better, but damn. my next game is tomorrow, I'm the U in a four man JV game.

Joe