taunting USL Conduct

[mbyron]

I don't know whether I'd flag mere staring. But once you warned him to return to his huddle and he refused, THAT was USC. Good call!

[ppaltice]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I don't know whether I'd flag mere staring. But once you warned him to return to his huddle and he refused, THAT was USC. Good call!

JRod, when you told a player to go to his huddle for staring, you put yourself in a position that spiraled into an eventual disqualification. At the most, you could make your presence known to both players by stating: 'Play's over!' Do I think you were right in giving an USC to the player for ignoring your request 3 times: yes. Do I think you should have made the request: no.

The second player you flagged, if I am correct, was for staring at his opponent (and not for ignoring your request to go to his huddle 3 times as the first)? Essentially, you made staring an USC foul.

Maybe it is because I am in the heart of the SEC, but officials throwing capricious unsportsmanlike fouls are coming under fire.

I may be alone, but I think you handled the situations poorly.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by ppaltice

JRod, when you told a player to go to his huddle for staring, you put yourself in a position that spiraled into an eventual disqualification. At the most, you could make your presence known to both players by stating: 'Play's over!' Do I think you were right in giving an USC to the player for ignoring your request 3 times: yes. Do I think you should have made the request: no.

The second player you flagged, if I am correct, was for staring at his opponent (and not for ignoring your request to go to his huddle 3 times as the first)? Essentially, you made staring an USC foul.

Maybe it is because I am in the heart of the SEC, but officials throwing capricious unsportsmanlike fouls are coming under fire.

I may be alone, but I think you handled the situations poorly.

I agree that there's a fine line here. Preventive officiating sometimes requires stepping in and actively sending players back to their huddles. On routine plays, though, you're right to try to stay back and watch.

If I judge that I need to step in and the player ignores my repeated instruction, we'll have a problem. I like to think that I don't step in overly often (had one in a JV game this year), and try to use the tools of preventive officiating with discretion.

[JRod37]

Thanks everyone for both sides of the argument!!! Great discussion.

Perhaps in Minnesota we're much less tolerant of baiting and taunting. The player wasn't just "staring." He was committing and act that was meant to intimidate and incite ill will on an opposing player. The only difference between what he did and hovering over a player on the ground in an intimidating manner was that the opponent wasn't on the ground. The action is meaningless to the game of football other than inciting ill will (unlike say a rip move by a DE which is essentially throwing a sucker punch in the direction of an opponent - that is a meaningful football move). It's an action that precludes something much worse such as throwing a punch - you don't get the chance to "knock it off" in that case.

All great things. Perhaps my initial flag was too quick. Perhaps I let A's bench get in my head a little more than I'm willing to admit, so my flag came out quickly. The one thing you can't change I guess is that player committed acts that were meant to intimidate and incite ill will, which is against the rules. Just because they let players get away with that on Saturdays and Sundays doesn't mean anything for Friday night.

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by ppaltice

Maybe it is because I am in the heart of the SEC, but officials throwing capricious unsportsmanlike fouls are coming under fire.

I may be alone, but I think you handled the situations poorly.

With all due respect to a great football conference, perhaps the SEC should reexamine their definition of "capricious", as there seems to be an awful lot of needless back and forth jawing going on during their games.

Once a player has been instructed to do something by an official, it should be expected that he comply. If you want to be overly technical, which shouldn't be necessary, refer to NF: 9-5-1-g.

Although far too many spectators seem to have forgotten, learning sportsmanship on the high school level, is still one of the major objectives of the entire effort of playing this game. Lowering the standards of this great game is something we are all supposed to avoid, despite popular opinion.

Trash talking, preening and intimidating your opponent is not, and hopefully will not become, accepted at this level. It's a shame it has spread as much as it has to other levels, but that's another issue, beyond our control.