PAC10 Supervisor Discusses BYU-WA Call

[PeteBooth]

Rut IMO, this NCAA rule is akin to many baseball rules that are "the black letter of the law' so to speak yet as baseball officials we are to use good sound judgement.

Here's a baseball example:

When a player elbows another player it is considered a Malicous act.
Sitch; Player coming home and the ball is coming in from the out-field Player in an effort to protect himself, raises his hands however, he also contacts elbows F2 in the process.

Now the aforementioned ACT in an by istelf as with the player throwing the ball in the air is DEFINED by rule as unsportsmanlike etc. however, if a baseball official called MC on the part of the runner they would be chastized all over the place.

Over on the baseball side Carl Childress has written a book 51 ways to ruin a baseball game. In addition, Peter Osborne wrote an article Third world plays happen to third world umpires.

I am wondering if there is such a book or article for football referees.

i agree the NCAA should re-look at the rule but IMO, the official could have and should have "left it alone" similar to what we as basbeall officials have to judge whenever we toss someone.

Pete Booth

[TXMike]

Bases loaded, 2 outs, top of the 9th, score is Visitors 3 - Home 2. Batter takes a called third strike for the 3d out. What is the catcher supposed to do with the ball? And if he decides to launch it 30 feet into the air over home plate, what do you do?

[Adam]

Originally Posted by TXMike

Bases loaded, 2 outs, top of the 9th, score is Visitors 3 - Home 2. Batter takes a called third strike for the 3d out. What is the catcher supposed to do with the ball? And if he decides to launch it 30 feet into the air over home plate, what do you do?

Shouldn't the catcher do whatever it is he does with the ball if the same situation happened in the top of the 8th? Or the 5th?

Is there a rule that says he can't throw it in the air, similar to the NCAA FB rule? If so, what's the prescribed penalty? 20 yards and a loss of down?

[JRutledge]

Pete,

This is not baseball. Baseball has a lot of things we do not have to call because of the nature of the game. And if there is certain celebrations in a baseball game, players tend to think they are Major League Baseball Players and start throwing at each other to correct it. That kind of justice is not something that you see in football circles.

Once again, the NCAA had a directive on how to handle these situations. They made it very clear this was illegal along with several other acts. And the NCAA used video to make that point clearer. This is not about Carl Childress or some book. The sports have different expectations and there is a lot more money and focus on the football side than there ever has been on the baseball side. There are a lot of acts that the football committee has curtailed this way and they are getting very specific. I do not see baseball having the same problem because they do not have a game stop after a score.

Peace