Punt Near Endzone

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

It must have worked out fine because that was the year I got those patches a few weeks later. I said exactly what I wanted to say, all those spots are irrelevant to me. They do not mean anything because it is not hard to figure out which is the dead ball spot and compare that to the first touching spot we are going to use. I guess unless you have no field awareness or game awareness this might be difficult. I even learned a long time ago to figure out the first down spot without having to look at the sticks. If I can do that it is not hard to decide what spot to use. I know I am not alone in that at all, because officials greater than me taught me to do that.

I asked a person on my crew tonight that also worked a State Final with me and is the rules guy on our crew. We had a game tonight because of the Jewish Holiday and this was talked about in our pregame. He often will get into rules discussions with us and give his opinion. And when our crew chief sends out emails with rules and situations, he almost always responds and gives a through explanation. So if I was wrong he would tell me that is what he thought. I asked him directly several situations of different first touching spots. I did not tell him about this conversation or the context, I just asked him what would he do and how would you handle it. He did at first say he would mark all those spots, but then when he thought about it, he said, "If I do all of that, I will not have the spot for the end of the kick or the end of the related run that could occur." He even talked briefly about throwing his hat, but then said to me "Why?" Because he realized that they are not going to take the ball at the other spots anyway and the other spots would be more important. I did not direct him in any direction or try to tell him what I would do.

The conversation only took a couple of minutes. BTW he is a college official as well.

Sorry, not taking back a single word. I stand by what I said. And if you did not get it the first time, all those spots are irrelevant to me. There is a dead ball spot and a first touching spot. The furthest most spot for first touching is going to be used and I do not need to bag every single spot. And the vast majority of first touching spots are clearly identifiable. Better yet, I would not have bags for every spot even if I wanted to. I only take three and I have yet to use all three on a single play even with a first touching spots. I stand by what I say, call me wrong but that is what I am going to do. Do you!!!

Peace

I'll give him a 9.8 on the landing. It took a while but he figured out how to give the correct answer without sounding like his first answer was wrong. Very adroit.