Oklahoma Playoffs -- Update

[OKREF]

Originally Posted by Rich

The judge used some very, very good words and phrases here.

Bravo to him. He gets it.

I agree. His opinion was spot on and he really did get it.

[CT1]

"Courts ought not meddle in these activities or others, especially when the parties have agreed to be bound by and have availed themselves to the governance of these activities associations."

CT1 concurs.

[SE Minnestoa Re]

This whole scenario has me troubled. It is like the entire population thinks life is fair and we need to fix everything that is not perceived as fair.

Here is my take on this mentality when dealing with sports--Officials make mistakes. Players make mistakes. Coaches make mistakes. If the latter two err, it is considered a part of the game and life goes on. When officials make a mistake, it is like the world is coming to an end and we have to do something to fix it.

Officials are part of the contest. Without officials, the games are just scrimmages. I am sure my mistakes on the field are uncountable after 30 plus years. But at no time, have we ever replayed a game or even had an upheld protest.

We would be doing all the student athletes a big favor if we would tell them "Stuff happens in life. It isn't always fair but deal with it. Life doesn't have replays and neither do games."

[Reffing Rev.]

For once a court keeps itself out of where it does not belong.

Thankfully this is avoided: new for 2015 every football game must now have a 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th or whatever is +1th official. This official must be a certified legal arbitrator. Each coach is granted 2 appeals to the arbiter during the game. Arbitration supercedes all rulings by the game officials who must hold the game in suspension until the arbitration appeal is completed. Arbitration hearings may take up to 2 weeks. Each arbiter's decision shall be recorded and is then established as precedent for all future arbitration appeals.

[umpjim]

Originally Posted by Rich

The judge used some very, very good words and phrases here.

Bravo to him. He gets it.

Now that that's settled as I believe it should be, is the rule kick of the enforcement of this particular rule something that should not be expected of playoff officials? Or would many not have gotten the enforcement correct. Is it correct that there is a sore point regarding the suit that brought the rule inception? This baseball guy would think that if you know to throw the flag you would know how to enforce it.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by umpjim

Now that that's settled as I believe it should be, is the rule kick of the enforcement of this particular rule something that should not be expected of playoff officials? Or would many not have gotten the enforcement correct. Is it correct that there is a sore point regarding the suit that brought the rule inception? This baseball guy would think that if you know to throw the flag you would know how to enforce it.

Football is a strange sport -- it's got a LOT of rules and enforcements and a lot of officials think to themselves "that's the white hat's job" on a lot of crews. Shouldn't be that way, isn't that way on good crews, but it is far too often.

So if the white hat has a brain cramp, nobody steps up. Surely he knows the rules and if he doesn't, so what -- I'm not the white hat.

Playoff selection -- when it's made using metrics that have nothing to do with how good the crew actually is -- like coach ratings or geographic selection, there's no guarantee that the crew that works is one of the best X in the state. Just no guarantees. One person in Oklahoma makes these selections and there is no way he knows if all those crews are any good -- in my mind, the best way to make these selections is to do them regionally and have someone with knowledge of officiating and these crews help to make the selections.

[CT1]

Originally Posted by umpjim

This baseball guy would think that if you know to throw the flag you would know how to enforce it.

Not necessarily, as Rich pointed out. And I'm sure there are some baseball umpires who don't correctly award bases on a ball thrown out of play.

PLAY: R1 gets picked off, a rundown ensues, and as R1 is diving headfirst back toward first base, F4's throw hits him and ricochets into the dugout.

I'll bet there are many umpires who would only award R1 second base.

[MD Longhorn]

What Rich said. Also, while Sideline nonsense was a POE a couple of years ago - after that it became something the coaches were aware of (mostly) and didn't violate often. That first year where it became important, I probably flagged a sideline warning in 50-60% of the games early in the season, decreasing as the season progressed. The next year - maybe twice all year. After than - it's possible I went a year without having to call it.

So - this year, this call - enforcement is not top of mind. It's not an excuse - but it's probably a contributing factor to the whitehat's error - he hadn't had to enforce that particular penalty in quite a while. Possibly neither had the rest of the crew.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by CT1

Not necessarily, as Rich pointed out. And I'm sure there are some baseball umpires who don't correctly award bases on a ball thrown out of play.

PLAY: R1 gets picked off, a rundown ensues, and as R1 is diving headfirst back toward first base, F4's throw hits him and ricochets into the dugout.

I'll bet there are many umpires who would only award R1 second base.

That one doesn't get screwed up much.

More like... Runner on 1st has already passed 2nd on his way to third when the ball is miraculously caught. As he's heading back to 2nd, the ball is thrown to first, and goes out of play. There are umpires who will put the runner on 3rd. Had this exact protest just a few months ago.

[PATRICK]

I usually throw the sideline warning (if needed) early in the game. We have some coaches that will act up until you do.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

That one doesn't get screwed up much.

More like... Runner on 1st has already passed 2nd on his way to third when the ball is miraculously caught. As he's heading back to 2nd, the ball is thrown to first, and goes out of play. There are umpires who will put the runner on 3rd. Had this exact protest just a few months ago.

Depending on the rules code (and maybe which "interp" you believe) and what the runner eventually does, that is the proper award.

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by umpjim

Now that that's settled as I believe it should be, is the rule kick of the enforcement of this particular rule something that should not be expected of playoff officials? Or would many not have gotten the enforcement correct. Is it correct that there is a sore point regarding the suit that brought the rule inception? This baseball guy would think that if you know to throw the flag you would know how to enforce it.

In a perfect world, all officials in any sport enforce EVERY rule situation correctly and never make mistakes. However, ANY official, in ANY sport, who has been doing this long enough to understand reality, never forgets they're only one play away from their NEXT brain fart.

It's wise to remember, There, but for the grace of God, go I".

[Reffing Rev.]

The R I work college games with says before you throw your flag know: the foul, the number, the signal and the enforcement.

The hs crew I work with as R I push them to tell me the enforcement, and in JV games I will intentionally suggest an incorrect enforcement to see if anyone catches it.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by ajmc

In a perfect world, all officials in any sport enforce EVERY rule situation correctly and never make mistakes. However, ANY official, in ANY sport, who has been doing this long enough to understand reality, never forgets they're only one play away from their NEXT brain fart.

It's wise to remember, There, but for the grace of God, go I".

You'd think that of 5 officials one would know the rule, but I get what happens -- of the other 4 officials, 2 aren't sure and the other 2 are intimidated by the R so nothing gets corrected.

This is something that I plan on covering when our crew has its year end meeting. We worked as deep into the playoffs -- and the lesson to take away is that you don't want to end up on Twitter and Facebook cause nobody's ready to step up and save the crew. It happens Week 1, nobody knows. It happens in a state quarterfinal or semifinal, and it's a nationwide story.

[CT1]

Locust Grove won in court, but lost their semi-final on the field, 53-42.