Interesting and weird

[Poosh]

I was just wanting to see what you guys had for the weirdest or unusual thing that has happened to you during a game. It could be anything weird wild funny. Something not ordinary. As a first timer just wanting to hear some of the war stories of crazy things that you guys have ran into that wasn't usual. You get the point. So fire a way. I bet you got to have some good ones!

[AndrewMcCarthy]

My first game ever was a youth game...

Kid is wide open and catches a pass inside the 10 yard line. Thinking he was in the end zone, he places the ball on the ground and goes to hug his teammates. Mad scramble for the loose ball causes it to squirt out of bounds at about the 3.

All this happened right in front of me- already jittery since it was my first game. Field was well-marked so I knew he wasn't in.

Since then I've always expected the unexpected.

[they scored on the next play]

[mikesears]

Pregame for a homecoming game. Home schools nickname is "the Knights" so they have a rider in full armor on top of a white horse. My crew and I are preparing for the coin toss. Home team band begins the play and two or three seconds later I see two of the guys standing shoulder to shoulder moving back and forth with a terribly frightened look in their eyes (kind of like a 3 Stooges skit). I turn and see a white horse darting right at us. Must of thought we were fellow equistrians -- zebras. You see, the band had spooked the horse, the horse threw the rider, and that horse came running directly at us like Secretariate!

We were relieved the following week when one of the posted rules on the field was, "No Horseback Riding!".

[HighSchoolWhiteHat]

1st year officiating, Close game both teams are getting a little out of line. Running is tackled and here comes a defensive player head first while the running is on the ground.I threw my flag and then threw the player out of the game for spearing. The defensive player's coach gives me the old you must be from their organizating. I turn to the coach and say, Coach ask your player that I ejected if he knows me. The coach does and shuts his mouth real fast. The player I ejected was my nephew. Not only did I eject him, his father made sure he'll never do something that stupid again.

[ABoselli]

Doing the coin toss, I'm the LJ. We are being introduced to the captains by the R. Usually he introduces the U last as he steps up and records the results of the toss and choices, only this time, no U. He was just standing there a minute ago! He's ghost now.

I step up and am going to take down the results when he comes scampering back onto the field from the end of the field where the field house/bathroom is. He was overcome with some gastrointestinal distress right before we brought the captains out and had to hoof it fast to the head. Being a U, this was out of character.

No chili before games!!!

[JMN]

1st Year. It's a beautiful Saturday morning. Can't wait to get on the field, give my 2 youth games some excellent officiating and then home to take in a college game in the pm.

I drive up to the game and park along the street adjacent to the field dressed in officiating shorts, undershirt, and sandals. The plan is to dress at the trunk and head out to the field. OK. I see a fellow official on the field and I'm trying to figure out who I'm working with. I click the trunk release and throw my keys on the floormat and lock the door (just like every other Saturday) because I'm still trying to figure out who my partners are. Well, my extra key that is ALWAYS in my bag that's in the trunk isn't there. As I slam my trunk in frustration, I realize that the car is locked up and I'm locked out!

Fast forward --- Since I don't have a sign reading "Half naked official needs help!", I flag down a parent from the just completed soccer game and borrow his phone. I also tell one of the fans coming to the football game to please let the officials know that I'm here, but uh, uh, otherwise detained. With 10 minutes to game time, I call AAA, beg them to come. The guy is awesome, gets there quickly, opens the car. I dress while I'm running to the field and join my gang for the kickoff. They are all laughing so hard, we had to postpone the kickoff for a few minutes.

The moral to the story. Get a routine and NEVER, EVER, EVER deviate from it.

[KWH]

Was working a game in Tekoa, Washington (Near Spokane) which is agricultural country.
Midway through the third quarter, the right upright in the east endzone goalpost swings down like a big pendelum. One of the home team players came running up to me shouting, "The goal post is broken, The goal post is broken!"
You see, it was made out of sprinkler pipe with "screw in" type connections and it (obviously) needed tightening!
I stopped the game as it needed to be repaired before we could continue. I wasn't going to allow a player to get harpooned by a cast iron sprinkle pipe/aka Goal Post. After a short delay, The AD reported he couldn't fix it without tools but he could resolve the problem! I said well whatever you can do as the field is not playable as is. With that he spun the left upright around and around like the hand on a clock (about four spins as I recall) until it was out of thread and then we all watched in amazement as it launched, flipped up, and stuck into the gound in the endzone like a javelin. It was removed and we continued the game.

Oh yes, I thought you might be interested!
Of course we had two more touchdowns scored in that endzone. Having no choice, we played the PAT's at the other endzone. The first PAT was a high snap that ended when the defense recovered it. The second PAT, the kid drilled it right down the middle.
We talked on the way home about the fact that we probably could have got away with playing the PAT's in the "broken endzone," however I think we made the right choice by switching ends. If we hadn't YOU KNOW what the results would have been!

My 2 cents

[Edited by KWH on Jan 22nd, 2003 at 01:10 AM]

[bluezebra]

Working U in varsity game. Throw flag on left guard. He's sitting on the ground and looks up at me. "How the Hell did you see me do that", with a puzzled look on his face. "Son, I played guard. If I didn't do it myself, it was done to me. I've seen everything".

Bob

[Bob M.]

REPLY: About twenty years ago, a sub-varsity game. U throws a flag for holding against the guard. Guard jumps up and asks, "Did you throw that on me?" The U attempting to remain under control responds, "Now, what do you think?" And there's the U's flag hanging off the guards facemask!

Bob M.

[Ed Hickland]

Working my first game, a JV contest, in a new association the referee was late and the other two officials decided I should be the ref.

Following the kickoff as per my usual routine I walked back to the offensive huddled and asked, "Center...which way do you want your laces?"

The center turns around and looks down at his shoes.

One of his teammates goes, "No silly, the football laces."

[KWH]

Friday Nite Homecoming game.
We discussed in our PreGame to remember the Blocked Field Goals were live balls unlike PATs (NFHS). To remind ourselves a reminder the signal would be "illegal procedure" (4th down fumble signal) signal above our heads and all should give the signal.
So...
4th and 8 on the R20.
K1 and K2 (Kicker and Holder) are trotting on to the field. I was LJ and I moved to my upright along with the BJ.
R, U, LJ & BJ all give illegal procedure signal but HL is not paying attention.
Offense begins to form a huddle.
R cups his hands to form a makeshift megaphone and SHOUTS loudly at HL, "IT'S A LIVE BALL"!
Not being one to be told twice, the Nose guard scoops up the ball and runs 80 yard the other way!!!

[Matt-MI]

This past season I was working some youth games played in the Silverdome. During one of the games one of the moms was working the down box. A couple of times I heard her comment that I had a nice butt. Maybe I could have flagged her for an illegal pass.

[sportswriter]

Originally posted by Poosh
I was just wanting to see what you guys had for the weirdest or unusual thing that has happened to you during a game. It could be anything weird wild funny. Something not ordinary. As a first timer just wanting to hear some of the war stories of crazy things that you guys have ran into that wasn't usual. You get the point. So fire a way. I bet you got to have some good ones!

My fave, I think, took place on the first scrimmage at an atom (age 10-11) game a few years back. I was the white cap of a four-ref crew. At that age, the basic plays are power right, power left, dive right, dive left, and the occasional sweep right, sweep left. That's about as exciting as it gets.

Save this game. First down, handoff to running back. The outside edges of the offensive line are pushed back, and there's basiclaly a nice, round "U", into which the running back goes - and fumbles the ball as he dives through, and is squished like a day-old sandwich.

At this moment, there's two people in the entire area that know the ball is loose. The kid on the ground five yards upfield, and me. I move in so I can see who gets the loose ball.

At that moment, for some reason, everybody stops, I guess not realizing the ball is loose. I'm sitting there praying that none of my other stripes blows an inadvertant, when I see one of the offence bend down to pick up the ball.

Next, he tries to hand it to me, thinking the play is over.

I start to backpedal, and this kid is now wondering why I'm not taking the ball. So he takes one, then two steps towards me, all the while holding the ball in his outstretched hand.

One tick, two ticks, (thankyoufornotblowingtheinadvertandwhistle) and two defenders suddenly clue into the fact that there's been no whistle. They charge the kid with the ball, and the first one there swipes at the ball, which goes onto the ground.

Stunned former ball carrier is still standing there, looking at me as if he wants me to do something about the impolite cretins that have interfered with his gracious attempt to hand me the ball - save that I'm ignoring him completely as I watch the bounding pigskin bounce all over hell and half acre. After a second or so, the second kid dives on ball, and I blow the whistle.

Coaches go ballistic, one with glee, the other with unpleasantries on his tongue and murder on his mind. So, the game clock shows about 28 seconds gone, and I've already got a major bruhaha to explain.

But man, that was funny.

[Edited by sportswriter on Jan 26th, 2003 at 01:30 PM]

[dchrista]

I'm working a High School JV game and the offense is running a sweep to the visitors side. The ball pops loose in front of the bench, and the mad scramble begins, resulting with a player from each side possessing the ball. I reward the ball back to the offense, by rule, and the visiting team assistant coach is somewhat upset by my call and says, "What about the alternate possession rule?" I look at him and say..."If you can find me a possession arrow, then we'll discuss." The head coach quickly turns to his assistant and there is silence, and the game goes on.

[Tom Cook]

This happened on the last regular season game of the year, senior night, etc. The visitors were an hour late, so instead of a 7:00 start it was about 8:15. the home team was heavily favored but started the game real flat (understandably, they had an extra hour of warm-up). The halftime score was H13 V6 in what should have been a blowout. Well, the home team kicked to start the second half, held, and forced the visitors to punt, then proceeded to score 3 touchdowns in the 3rd quarter. As I handed him the ball for his 4th kickoff of the 3rd quarter, I asked the kicker what (coach) Reggie said to them at the half. The kid looked me right in the eye and said "Sir, you don't want to know!"