Apparently it is for some. Back in the day when they used to be able to kick off of the 3" tee the goal was not to have touchbacks. They wanted the ball in the air as long as possible but to come down inside the 5 so that it had to be returned. Then they eliminated the tee, well made it hold the ball so that the ball was touching the ground, backed up the kick off, and went to kicking-only balls. All of these changes happened since the third kicker came into existence.

The skill level of all players has greatly advanced over just ten years prior. If you look at the all-time list of field goal percentage you will find it dominated by current or very recently retired players. In fact Jan Stenerud, the only kicker-only player in there, would have no chance getting into the Hall of Fame today.

Points are so valuable that whenever a team is close enough to kick a field goal they must make it. So no matter how well a kicker can kick off a team will almost always take the kicker that can score points. However field position is also so important that if they can gain 10 yards every time they kick off it is worth a roster spot.

This is far more common in college as they have 85 scholarships to work with. It is the only reason I have 4 letters from college. The other guy may have never kicked a touchback if he had been doing it but I had touchbacks 40% of the time. Knowing I was going to the road games anyway they also made me the back-up punter so as to not have to have another player traveling. It even got to where I was the starting holder for 6 games, the starting kick off guy, and the back-up field goal kicker.

The precedent sent is that your team will be penalized "to the hilt" and ultimately cost them a game which depending upon the year could mean the difference between making the playoffs or not.

How would like to be the player that has to face his teammates because they lost a tie-breaker which meant no playoffs becuase of his "bone-head" move.

I am a baseball official and I wish baseball had another penalty other then ejection for some antics that are displayed.

A similar comparison to a football player throwing an officials flag is when a baseball player dislikes a strike call by the PU and draws lines.

Both acts are meant to show-up the official, however, in football you can penalize the team severly. With all that happened, the Ravens still had a very good chance to tie the game if they were not penalized 35 yards. (30 for unsportsmanlike and during the extra point 5 more for offsides) With the wind the way it was, chances are they would have had a decent run back. There were some 44-48 seconds left and one TO left. They only trailed by 3 so they didn't need a TD.

In baseball we cannot TRULY penalize the team for unsportmanlike acts as in basketball / football. Yeah it would be nice with say 2 outs and a player draws a line and we say TIME - That's out number 3. IMO, a better way to handle things then a simple ejection.

Therefore, it's difficult to compare baseball officials to other officials when it comes to EJ's because as mentioned in baseball the TEAM does not suffer other than if the player EJ'D is their Ace F1 or number 1/2 hitter.

Pete Booth

questioning of integrity
 

After years of officiating at various levels my integrity is always on display each time I work a game.

All of us should be transparent on the field while the game is underway and our actions should only be "reactions" to the events we witness.

I have no problem when coaches or the fans question my integrity, although I never will allow a player to do so - their only job is to play.

Hide nothing, fear nothing and reveal everything on the field is the motto I have employed throughout the decades of officiating.

My personal opinion has no outlet during the contest, although I allow it to breathe after the game is over.

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