Reddings guide illegal participation

[Jim D.]

Originally Posted by jaybird

Alf,
The opinion, as you refer to it, is supported by the rule which states that a player is OOB when he is touching something which is OOB. Common sense, logic and the basic tone of the game (whatever the he!! that means) makes it easy to understand that when a player is airborne, he is not touching anything OOB and therefore by definition is not considered OOB. It's not rocket science, it's basic, easy to understand English that is supported by rule.

Sorry, jaybird. I know this post has gone on way too long, but the whole issue is not supported by either rule or logic which is why we have this whole arguement.

If the player who jumps is not out of bounds (and I understand that logic since he's not touching anything out of bounds) the question remains, "what is he"? Here the rule is silent. Presumably, he's either inbounds (and guilty of IP) or he's in a state of not out-of-bounds or not in-bounds. The rule does not tell us which it is, and logic would seem to say he must be in if he ain't out so we have a flag. That's as valid an interpretation as any other I've seen. I don't think the rules makers ever envisioned an neither in nor out state so I can't see how this play could be legal.

You are welcome to your view and I'm fine with it, but the rule as written leaves it open to interpretaion. There is no "right" answer as yet, and the NFHS is silent on any interpretaion.