Okay JimNayzium.....

[BktBallRef]

Originally posted by snrmike
A wing being on the numbers during a varsity game is pretty poor mechanics. I have had it happen to me on a couple of occasions during lower level games. As a result, it taught me a hard lesson and I learned about staying in my proper position during varsity games.

What you don't realize is that Jim does not coach at a public high school. He coaches at a small private school. My guess is that the booking agent does not send a varsity crew to work the game. There are probably a varsity official or two on the field but my guess is that Jim is also seeing some less experienced officials as well. I'm not saying that this is right or wrong but I bet that's waht's happening.

Mike Simonds is absolutely correct about the unbalanced formations too. There are more things for wing officials to consider than just counting the backs. My son plays inside LB for a D-1AA school. His complaint is that officials frequently miss those OPI calls on unbalanced lines because they're too busy counting backs.

Well, I don't know who works your son's games but I can count the backs with just a two second glance. It's not brain surgery. I wasn't addressing ineligibles. I was addressing illegal formations. We count backs to know whether the formation is legal or not. If the R has 11 O players, and I've got 4 backs, this formation is legal. No need to look any further. Then we look for covered players.

Giving the officials an excuse to officiate poorly because play was ragged is kinda weak, doncha think? Those are exactly the kinds of games officials are hired for. I'm not disagreeing that they're tough games and harder to ref, I'm saying that for those types of games, we have to bear down and make the right calls - and use proper discretion in the types of calls we make.

I wasn't attempting to give "the officials an excuse to officiate poorly." I was simply pointing out that it's difficult to look sharp in poorly played games. Sorry if you don't agree.