Funny story...
 

There's a guy I know who always makes the same joke. Even to this day, it's funny, and I usually know when it's coming...

After a game is done, and during our change-room post game, we talk about what fouls there were, if we missed anything, etc. Somebody will say, "I had 4 flags tonight". My friend says, "you have only one flag - but you threw it four times!" :)

I heard the same story with a difference.

The next season flags were changed to yellow and the banquet was held at the same restaurant. The restaturant after having lost all their red napkins decided it was a good idea to use yellow.

One for the player, one for the coach.

I have a white ball flag and my old trusty 2nd flag in the front right pocket. Last year in a JV game we had a 3 man crew and had 5 flags on one play. That remains our record for FPO (flags per official) on one play, 1.67.

As long as we are on flags, my hard and fast rule with my crew is NO flags showing! I think it looks very unprofessional to have a flag showing. A flag hanging out of a pocket always reminds me of a mechanic with a grease rag hanging out. At the first state final that I worked, the state supervisor said, "I don't want to see any flags out there today." It took me a moment to figure out what he meant.

But I think we would all agree that there is a difference between the ball only showing and having the rag hanging out of the pocket.

We are officials. We carry flags. Everyone knows we have flags. Shrug.

I will never tape a flag or purchase a white tip flag and the ball of my flag sticks right out over my belt. Big deal.

If you are tlaking about entire flags showing out of pockets, I agree.

I am talking about ANY part of a flag sticking out of a pocket. As for the ball showing above the belt, I can live with that. Personally, I have it white.

Of course, people know we carry flags, but that doesn't mean we can't look neat and sharp out there.

It is not about looking sharp or trying to hide the fact that I throw flags. I do not want to have someone notice that I was grabbing for a flag and then changed my mind. That was the way I was taught and that is the way I have done it. It works for me, if it does not work for you then so be it.

Peace

A coach can see you reach whether your ball is white or yellow. And I couldn't possibly care if he does. I'd just say "I changed my mind." What's the coach going to do, tell me I can't change my mind?

Well, there is a reason they make the flags with the white on the top. Someone must have recognized people do this and the reason behind it. Remember they also sell them without the white tip. I have done it that way; I will continue to do it that way. And personally I do not go around telling those to do it any other way or the way I do it. Life is too short to worry about such a minor thing.

Peace

I think most would quickly agree that flags hanging out of a pocket, or from a belt, like an auto mechanic's rag is not the look we're searching for, but all this fuss about a white ball, a yellow ball or someone reaching and not throwing is just so much nonsense.

I keep my flags in my back pockets (deep) mostly because that's the way I learned. It's not any better than keeping them tucked into my belt, but it's no worse either. What matters is they're comfortable back there and it works for me. There are times when I might reach, but change my mind as my view improves, but nothing matters until my flag is thrown. Coaches have at times, although not very often, questioned what I was reaching for and when I'm smart I just ignore them and chuckle while I wonder why they were looking at my *** instead of their players.

Sometimes, when I'm not all that smart, I might ask them that very question. I don't recall, off hand, ever getting an answer.

I am going to adamantly disagree with you on one point. I think putting your flag in your back pocket (however deep you say), looks very silly. And it looks a lot worse when officials grab for their flag behind them, only do change their mind. After all we are sales people and when we give the coach one more reason to think we passed on a play for motives that might not be pure, and then we really set ourselves up for more criticism. At the very least if the flag is in your belt that is a lot harder to tell if you are even reaching for your flag because your hands and arms are much more likely to be in front of your body. Reaching back for a flag or when I watch the SEC (ACC and other southern area) Officials reach for their flags and not throw a flag just raises more questions. I would like to keep coaches out of my head as much as possible. When you have to reach behind you at a critical moment just adds to the fact we might have seen a foul and decide for some good reason we passed. I have seen many critical plays where the officials changed their mind (likely rightfully so) and the focus was not on whether it was a foul, but the fact the official changed their mind was the only focus.

I can think of a NCAA game where Northern Illinois was hosting Maryland and NIU beat a ranked Maryland in the final minutes. The wing official reached for his flag on a critical play near the end of the game that could have been DPI or not and was not called. All SportsCenter focused on (and the local media) is the fact the official did not call this foul. Then there was in implication that this was a "homer call" by the officials.

Peace

Yes, because people will buy it and they will make money. The public in general is pretty stupid; the fact that something exists does not mean that there is a valid reason behind it. Look at grocery stores with built in banks. People take their $300 in coins over to the Coinstar machine which charges a 8.9% fee instead of taking them over to the bank which would count their coins for free.

Yup. People are stooooopid!

My thoughts exactly.

I've seen other guys blistered by coaches: "You saw that hold. I know you did! You were going to flag it! Why didn't you flag it?! I know you saw it?!"

Cute comebacks or glib answers -- even the iron-willed ability to ignore them -- don't make up for the fact a problem was caused where it didn 't need to be. I can grab and release a flag every play and no one in the stadium knows.

As to whether the ball is white or yellow, I could not possibly care less. I have both (bought the white one to see what the fuss was about) and I don't think it affects my appearance one bit. 10 yaers ago I had never heard of this being an issue, and other than other officials, not one person -- coach, player, parent or fence shaker has ever said the first word about the color of my flag.

I bought the white ball flag because I needed a flag and since so many in my association tape their flags, I figured "Why not?" I don't particularly care for it though because it shows dirt quicker. Don't worry, I'll be buying a yellow one this year.

You must have some friendly banks in your area. Every bank here would look at your sack of coins and say "That's nice, you need to roll these first." :)