What I Like About the A-11

[OverAndBack]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

If it is not good for us, it is not good for the game.

Well, that may be a bit of a blanket statement, Jeff.

Many times we joke about how we would prefer that teams never pass or kick the ball because that would make our lives easier. Of course, we are joking (largely) because the difficulty of this avocation is one thing that attracts many of us. If it was easy, everybody would do it. It's not. Some like the challenge.

Now, there's "good for us" and "easy for us." Sure, you'd like things to not be overly or unnecessarily complicated for us, but something can be good for the game and yet be difficult for us to officiate. That's part of the cross we bear when we choose to do this.

I'd say "You know what? Maybe I'm not cut out for this, I can't do X, Y or Z" before I'd say, "I wish they'd change the rules to make my life easier."

But that's just me.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by OverAndBack

Well, that may be a bit of a blanket statement, Jeff.

Many times we joke about how we would prefer that teams never pass or kick the ball because that would make our lives easier. Of course, we are joking (largely) because the difficulty of this avocation is one thing that attracts many of us. If it was easy, everybody would do it. It's not. Some like the challenge.

Now, there's "good for us" and "easy for us." Sure, you'd like things to not be overly or unnecessarily complicated for us, but something can be good for the game and yet be difficult for us to officiate. That's part of the cross we bear when we choose to do this.

I'd say "You know what? Maybe I'm not cut out for this, I can't do X, Y or Z" before I'd say, "I wish they'd change the rules to make my life easier."

But that's just me.

We are not talking about passing or not passing. We are talking about a rule that may or may not be more difficult to officiate for all levels and all circumstances. Do not take a statement in one context and start adding it to another situation.

The point is the term is not mutually exclusive, because if officials have a problem enforcing a rule, then the game is going to suffer. And since officials enforce rules of the game, we better be able to consistently understand and handle rules that we must deal with. They do not change rules language for just the benefit of the "game." They do this so the officials can understand the intent or apply the rules much more consistently.

Peace

[OverAndBack]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

We are not talking about passing or not passing. We are talking about a rule that may or may not be more difficult to officiate for all levels and all circumstances. Do not take a statement in one context and start adding it to another situation.

The point is the term is not mutually exclusive, because if officials have a problem enforcing a rule, then the game is going to suffer. And since officials enforce rules of the game, we better be able to consistently understand and handle rules that we must deal with. They do not change rules language for just the benefit of the "game." They do this so the officials can understand the intent or apply the rules much more consistently.

Peace

I understood your intent, Jeff. You missed mine, apparently. I was just saying that it's not necessarily what's easiest for us that's best for the game.

I would say if the officials have a problem enforcing the rule, then the game may suffer, but it's not necessarily because of the rule. It may be that we as officials have to step it up and get 'er done and not say "It's just too hard for us. Make it easier."

That was my point. We had 100+ years of football before PSK, which, to my knowledge, makes things harder for us. But it's not going away, so it's incumbent upon us to figure it out.

It may very well be that a rule or a procedure is unworkable. That is bad for the game. But it shouldn't necessarily be judged on how "difficult" it is for us as officials. Our jobs are, by their very nature, difficult.

How difficult you want them to get is a matter of degrees.

We do not make policy, gentlemen. We are the instruments of that policy.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by OverAndBack

I understood your intent, Jeff. You missed mine, apparently. I was just saying that it's not necessarily what's easiest for us that's best for the game.

I would say if the officials have a problem enforcing the rule, then the game may suffer, but it's not necessarily because of the rule. It may be that we as officials have to step it up and get 'er done and not say "It's just too hard for us. Make it easier."

That was my point. We had 100+ years of football before PSK, which, to my knowledge, makes things harder for us. But it's not going away, so it's incumbent upon us to figure it out.

It may very well be that a rule or a procedure is unworkable. That is bad for the game. But it shouldn't necessarily be judged on how "difficult" it is for us as officials. Our jobs are, by their very nature, difficult.

How difficult you want them to get is a matter of degrees.

We do not make policy, gentlemen. We are the instruments of that policy.

My point was that these things were not mutually exclusive. And I would disagree with you that we are only instruments, when we are asked all the time and used as the barometer for how and why rules are implemented.

Peace

[OverAndBack]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

My point was that these things were not mutually exclusive. And I would disagree with you that we are only instruments, when we are asked all the time and used as the barometer for how and why rules are implemented.

Peace

We are asked, but we are not the final authority.

(I would also take just a moment to say that, while I disagree with Jeff on some things from time to time, I appear to be one of the few people here who has actually met him and dealt with him and one of fewer who can actually say that I like him, personally. Jeff's a damn good official and a dedicated one who not only cares a hell of a lot about the game of football, but also about the people who officiate it, especially those who are starting out and just trying to improve themselves. But - and not that he needs me to point this out to him and not that he particularly cares - his strong-mindedness, a benefit as an official, rubs some people here the wrong way, and I get that. For the sake of fairness, I just wanted to point out to all y'all from the perspective of someone who's dealt with Jeff Rutledge the official and the person that he's not always just trying to piss y'all off.)

Okay, end digression.

Here's one thing we're missing: suppose they tighten the numbering exception, whether it's through the proposed language or some other language that makes the most sense to however many people have the final say on it. Whatever.

Seriously - how many officials and how many teams is this really affecting? Raise your hand if you've seen the A-11. I know Kurt would have you believe (and ESPN Mag would play up) that it's a great many, but how many of us, the foot soldiers, the ones who are actually out there, and who form a fairly decent cross section of football officials across the nation, will actually be affected by a change in this rule?

I would guess it's not a lot. So while we can have strong opinions about the offense, its intent, its inventor, the pub it gets, what words might be used to close the loophole or whatever, it seems to me to be a lot of sound and fury about something that probably isn't going to affect the majority of us, or even a decent number of us. Unless I'm reading this whole thing wrong.

[TXMike]

Obviously it has not affected many yet..it is too new. The point is to nip this in the bud before it DOES affect many people. Just because you may think it will never grow legs and start running is no reason NOT to shut it down before it takes off. You clearly must see the intent of the inventor to make this spread throughout the land and what he has to gain by it doing so? As another poster mentioned earlier, he could have just stayed out in his tiny little unknown piece of the woods and run this to his heart's content and nobody would have raised much fuss. He did not and his reasons for not doing so are plainly obvious.

[Forksref]

When your candidate can't answer simple questions the best thing to do is BLAME THE MEDIA!

As someone who voted for McCain in the past, I was very disappointed in his selection of Palin, or should I say, a Valley Girl. I think his advanced age affected his judgment. So sorry, because he is a truly good man. The continued effort for her to be in the spotlight and the continued hero-status she is given by some GOPers is disappointing. We should strive to obtain the best and most qualified candidates, not a token woman. My wife was incensed that they chose her, a truly unqualified candidate as the first woman on a national GOP ticket. It was an insult to women.

As for A-11, I am not worried about it. If I ever see it, it shall be a challenge, but that is what we are out there for.

[OverAndBack]

Originally Posted by TXMike

Obviously it has not affected many yet..it is too new. The point is to nip this in the bud before it DOES affect many people. Just because you may think it will never grow legs and start running is no reason NOT to shut it down before it takes off.

I do not recall ever saying that I thought it would never grow legs and start running.

I'm saying it's not affecting us now.

Like economists who have predicted 12 of the last 6 recessions, it seems like some may be ascribing too much power to this particular brand of offense.

Sure, it may be the new "West Coast Offense" and take hold some day, maybe even soon, but consider that football coaches are notoriously traditional, people who do avant-garde things like this when it comes to football are looked at askance, and it seems to me that the majority of high schools in this country either (a) don't have a need for an offense that allows them to compete with bigger, stronger, faster teams in a higher class because not everybody has the same situation as the originator in California where there weren't a lot of teams nearby in their class or (b ) don't have the personnel who could run it effectively, either physically or mentally.

You clearly must see the intent of the inventor to make this spread throughout the land and what he has to gain by it doing so?

Sure. Doesn't mean he can do it. My point is that even though he SAYS that lots of the powers that be have approved it, they haven't. And that even though he SAYS (and ESPN Magazine says) that it's spreading, we see no REAL evidence that it is. Yet there's all this hysteria about it.

You want to round up the villagers with pitchforks and torches, be my guest. But if I suggest that maybe the "nip it in the bud NOW" folks are being a touch overreactionary, I'd likely get the same response as those who said maybe one might want to tone down the rhetoric just a bit and stay on the civil side, the respectful, decent side. We all saw how the piranha came out on that one.

As another poster mentioned earlier, he could have just stayed out in his tiny little unknown piece of the woods and run this to his heart's content and nobody would have raised much fuss. He did not and his reasons for not doing so are plainly obvious.

Which doesn't mean he'd be able to do it anyway. For reasons (a) and ( b) I mention above, and with the preliminary evidence that it doesn't seem to be sweeping the country.

For me, I just want to officiate football. But I'm done talking with y'all about it. Take care.