Checking Footballs

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by Rich

It takes 5 people to meet coaches? Or are the B/L/H there to protect you if the coach tries to injure the U?

You know how dangerous it is to let the U talk without being monitored.

Originally Posted by Rich

On a kickoff the umpire touches the ball?

This is probably true in NY since they still use 4 officials in a lot of places.

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by Welpe

This is probably true in NY since they still use 4 officials in a lot of places.

Sad, but unfortunately TRUE. For 4 man Kickoffs, the Umpire delegates that responsibility to the Head Linesman. The point is, anytime a new ball is introduced into the game, it should pass through an official's hands, even for a brief second.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Welpe

You know how dangerous it is to let the U talk without being monitored.

Working a rare Saturday afternoon HS game this past week (rare for me, the college season doesn't start for another 12 days) and I'm working with a fill-in at the umpire position since our usual umpire was working the LLWS.

I asked the coach for his captain's numbers and when I got those, the umpire interrupted and said, "Who are your speaking captains?"

(Personally, I've contemplated losing asking for the captain's numbers line entirely since B/L/H can always record them during the coin toss.)

I guess he read my glare pretty well, cause afterwards he said, "I shouldn't have asked that, should I?" I said, "No, you just need to STFU." I didn't use the letters.

(Let me say that the U is a friend and a newer football official and I had a smile on my face.)

Probably should've handed him a Snickers as we were heading to the coaches.

[tomes1978]

Us umpires just can't catch a break around here!

[HLin NC]

(Personally, I've contemplated losing asking for the captain's numbers line entirely since B/L/H can always record them during the coin toss.)

You'd be SOL here, Rich. Somebody here decided a few years ago that we should turn and face our sideline to look for unsportsmanlike acts prior to and during the coin toss. Guess what most of our teams do, ....stay in the end zone. So then we send B down there if they are coming out of the same end to keep them apart. We end up staring at a couple of coaches, the ball boys, and a trainer, monitoring their behavior.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by HLin NC

You'd be SOL here, Rich. Somebody here decided a few years ago that we should turn and face our sideline to look for unsportsmanlike acts prior to and during the coin toss. Guess what most of our teams do, ....stay in the end zone. So then we send B down there if they are coming out of the same end to keep them apart. We end up staring at a couple of coaches, the ball boys, and a trainer, monitoring their behavior.

We do our coin tosses while the teams are still warming up, about 6:40PM for a 7PM kickoff. The rest of the players keep warming up on their sides of the field while we do this.

I like the timing, myself, but I always wonder how this became standard practice around here, when the rest of the football world (at least NCAA/NFL, anyway) does it right before the opening kickoff.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by Rich

We do our coin tosses while the teams are still warming up, about 6:40PM for a 7PM kickoff. The rest of the players keep warming up on their sides of the field while we do this.

I like the timing, myself, but I always wonder how this became standard practice around here, when the rest of the football world (at least NCAA/NFL, anyway) does it right before the opening kickoff.

Quite often around here we will have the actual coin toss off the field about 20-30 min before the game. Then we'll do a mock toss right before kick off.