Former Referrees in booth

[PeteBooth]

Hi guys:

I am from the baseball side but would like your comments.

Years ago Fox had Steve Palermo (IMO one of the top ten umpires to ever officiate in the Big Leagues) in the booth to explain certain calls in the game.

I enjoyed it. It was DEFINITELY better then hearing McCarver or Buck go off on a tangent not knowing what the rule or interp was. Fox did away with that. Do not know the reason.

Now we have the SD / Jets game in which one of the Charger Players kicked the red challenge flag thrown by Rex. SD was flagged for a 15 yd unsportsmanlike penalty.

Both Jim Nance and Phil Simms were obset at the call (paraphrase) saying the officals should use better judgement in a game of this magnitude and should not have thrown the flag.

Here in NY on WFAN (Mike Francesa) I assume the NFL office was called because on Francesa's show he too thought the penalty was bogus but heard from a league official that the call was "right on" I believe the NFL rule is any player touching a flag is an automatic penalty.

Therefore, for you football officials just like us baseball officials would like to see a football official in the booth to "jump in" when these announcers have "no clue" on what the rule is.

FWIW IMO one of the best football announcers in the game was Joe Buck's Dad Jack because Jack was an EX football official and knew the rules.

Pete Booth