NF: 2008 timeout rule change

[ajmc]

Sorry if some feathers were ruffled, but if the Referee decides any particular situation is not an emergency, THEN it's not an emergency. Caution, however, because the other side of that coin is that, as always, the Referee will be held responsible for his decision especially if it's considered wrong or excessive.

Again, the basic intent of the original rule was to provide each team with a single administrative (non-player) voice to directly request a charged TO. This years expansion allows the Head Coach to designate that duty to another person and restricts that designation to being permanent for the duration of the game, except when there is an emergency.

It seems logical that the emergency provision was made available so as not to deprive either team of this provision when an emergency, which in and of itself should be unplanned and unavoidable, arises.

If you want to "hang your hat" on a disqualified head coach, or his designee, as not qualifying as an emergency, as related to his team being deprived of their single, non-player, person authorized to directly request a charged TO, that is your perogative. However you may have to answer for that decision.

Authority and responsibility are opposite sides of the same coin. Even a gnat has a finite number of eyelash hairs to split.