Post by n41rudy on Sept 21, 2007 8:04:58 GMT -6
Well guys, I am still laughing from the encounter that I had with a Ref at my flag football league the other night. But at the same time this is very scary
I coach offense for our local varsity team, but also participate in a local flag football league on Monday nights. many of the local HS refs also ref these games so it is a nice chance to get to know them a bit better and whatnot.
this past Monday, my team was winning in the last 2 minutes and the other team was trying to run outs to get yardage and stop the clock, pretty standard. I am standing on the sidelines near the 40 when they threw an 10 yd out right at me. I back up a few steps and watched as the receiver made a great catch and put his foot directly down on the sideline. Square on the line. Out of bounds right?
The trailing side judgee comes up the line and waving his hands to stop the clock, places his foot on the place where the player had stepped on this line, and signaling a catch. At the same time he said to all the players on the sideline, myself included, "He got his foot on the line guys."
We all kind of looked at each other trying to figure out what just happened. As he stood there preparing for the next play I decided to get an explanation.
I said "I know I am new to this so is the rule different for this league? Is the line in?"
and here is the scary part:
He responded, "No, the line is always in at all levels."
"So you mean when they stop the games for 5 minutes on Sundays to see if his toe hits the line there are just wasting time?" I replied.
He said, "Those announcers just don't know the rules."
At this point I was just trying not to laugh at him (since I know I will see him on a Friday night in a couple weeks.) I decided to continue my line of questioning.
" So you are telling me that I should tell my receivers to play to the outside of the white line even on those fields with lines that are 1 yard wide?" I continued.
"I guess so," he said as the next play began.
Walk away, just walk away I say to myself.
Later after the game we are all walking off the field and he walks right by me on his way out. I suggest to him, as kindly as I can muster, that he check that rule once again to make sure he is correct. He replies by saying that everyday for lunch that is all he does. Study the rule book. I told him that I would find the rule and bring it next week.
Anyway, as you can tell, this makes me think much less of the refs that we have if they don't even know how to call a simple plain out of bounds play. Scary I tell you
I coach offense for our local varsity team, but also participate in a local flag football league on Monday nights. many of the local HS refs also ref these games so it is a nice chance to get to know them a bit better and whatnot.
this past Monday, my team was winning in the last 2 minutes and the other team was trying to run outs to get yardage and stop the clock, pretty standard. I am standing on the sidelines near the 40 when they threw an 10 yd out right at me. I back up a few steps and watched as the receiver made a great catch and put his foot directly down on the sideline. Square on the line. Out of bounds right?
The trailing side judgee comes up the line and waving his hands to stop the clock, places his foot on the place where the player had stepped on this line, and signaling a catch. At the same time he said to all the players on the sideline, myself included, "He got his foot on the line guys."
We all kind of looked at each other trying to figure out what just happened. As he stood there preparing for the next play I decided to get an explanation.
I said "I know I am new to this so is the rule different for this league? Is the line in?"
and here is the scary part:
He responded, "No, the line is always in at all levels."
"So you mean when they stop the games for 5 minutes on Sundays to see if his toe hits the line there are just wasting time?" I replied.
He said, "Those announcers just don't know the rules."
At this point I was just trying not to laugh at him (since I know I will see him on a Friday night in a couple weeks.) I decided to continue my line of questioning.
" So you are telling me that I should tell my receivers to play to the outside of the white line even on those fields with lines that are 1 yard wide?" I continued.
"I guess so," he said as the next play began.
Walk away, just walk away I say to myself.
Later after the game we are all walking off the field and he walks right by me on his way out. I suggest to him, as kindly as I can muster, that he check that rule once again to make sure he is correct. He replies by saying that everyday for lunch that is all he does. Study the rule book. I told him that I would find the rule and bring it next week.
Anyway, as you can tell, this makes me think much less of the refs that we have if they don't even know how to call a simple plain out of bounds play. Scary I tell you
