When Being Wrong is Right

Last year I officiated the best game of my football career. And I hardly remember anything except one play late in the second quarter. It changed my entire perspective on the role of the White Hat.

This was the last freshman game of the 2006 season and I was the White Hat for the cross-town rival game. Before the game, both coaches explained this game was for the league championship and was very important to both teams. I told the coach that was great and we all agreed we'd "let the boys play" tonight. All was well.

And it was well. This was a classic game. The air was cold, fog hanged in the air, the crowd was into the game, and the play was awesome. Both teams fought hard and the game went back and forth. I truly was a beautiful thing. Then it happened.

Somewhere around 3:00 minutes left in the 2nd quarter there was a sweep to the right sideline that went about 15 yards past the LOS. There was one hell of a late hit that the Line Judge correctly called. If a late hit in a rivalry game is not bad enough, the players ended-up on top of one the coaches. The twist is this coach happens to have no legs, no arms, and is in a wheelchair.

So I have big ass collision with a flag, in a big game, in front of God and Country, with a person in the coaches box who happens to be in a wheelchair. You can imagine what was going through my mind.

Thank goodness no one was hurt. After administrating the penalty, we resumed play. A play or two later, my Back Judge ran the ball back after a pass and asked 'are you going to let the coach stay in the box. Isn't this unsafe." Ahhhh, ya.

For the next series of plays I must admit I was not thinking about the game. I was thinking about that Bobby Martin kid from Dayton who had no legs and the officials in that game would not let him play. Those guys were scorned as villains. Ya, I want to go down that road.

But what I finally decided was to wait until half-time so I didn;t make a scene and I asked the coach if he minded remaining behind the coaches box rather then being in it. I said I felt with all the players surrounding him, he was not able to move out of the way quickly enough should another play occur near him. Thankfully, he understood and agreed.

I cannot find anything in the rules stating this coach could not be in the coaches box. All I found was rule 1-1-6. I know I did the 'right' thing because had there been a 2nd incident and a player was really hurt, I think I opened myself up to some serious safety negligence allegations. But the 'correct' thing is to do nothing because he has a right to be the box as a coach.

At the end of the game both coaches agreed this was one of the best games they had ever been apart of and thanked me for a well officiated game.

Don't ask me who won. That was the last thing on my mind.

Youth Football Blues

First, let me say I believe in youth sports. Many important life lessons can be learned by participating in sports. Often, these life lesson are not positive ones.

What I don't believe in is pretending youth ball is the NFL. Youth Football, whether it is called Pop Warner, Pee Wee, or whatever its called in your area should teach the boys how to play the game... and more importantly, how to deal with losing. Far too often winning is the only attribute of the game that is emphasized.

When I first started to officiate Football I work both HS and Youth. I'll never go back to Youth ball again. As depressing as the All-Star game I mentioned last entry, Youth Football is grotesque.

Most, and I would say none, of the coaches I encountered, have any real knowledge of rules, yet they are the first to scream when their team are losing. It's as if they have to show-off their authority or something. This has something to do with Youth Football culture because they all act like the more emphatic they are the more right they are. I kept thinking they must be watching too much Jerry Springer or something.

All this does is show young boys a very poor way to get an officials attention. Let's yell and scream so much that the official pays more attention to the coach than what the coach is bitching about. Just like on Jerry's show, a whole hell of a lot of screaming, and nothing really changes. Does the official ever change his mind? It doesn't matter if you are effective in changing the officials mind or not. The young boy looks up to you and thinks this is how a man should act.

I bring this up because in HS ball none of this goes on. The NFHS has really come down hard on sportsmanship. No cursing on the field, no bad mouthing the refs, no adornments on the uniforms, no high-stepping "look at me" NFL bullshit. This is very welcomed, but unfortunatly, when I work a HS game, and the frustration sets in on the losing team, I can still tell who played and coached Youth Football.

All Star Game Lacks Any Sparkle

Last month I was asked to work the so-called County All-Star game. I once thought this was an honor believing I was being recognized for my high caliber officiating. After working several of these contest I now know this is not a reward. It is an honor in the sense the association only asks guys who can handle the game. But, after each All-Star game I say I'll never do them again. They are distasteful and simply the poorest representation of what the game of Football is all about. This year was no exception.

I only agreed to work this year's game if we could use NCAA mechanics and use this game as a training exercise. This seemed like a good idea since four of us are CCFOA candidates. All agreed and we decided to use seven-man mechanics.

I worked line judge (I typically work White Hat on JV/Fresh and Umpire on Var) which took a series or two for me to get my eyes back, so to speak. Holding my ground until the ball passed the LOS is not natural. This is not the same mechanic as five-man HS. Eventually, I settled in.

Even more challenging for me was trusting the field judge. Again, I was not used to having this help on passes to my sideline. We had one of those plays where the receiver danced the sideline. I saw feet in, but not the ball. I ruled catch, but the FJ saw the ball was not possessed in the field of play. I should have looked at him before killing the clock. Lesson learned.

The joy of being back on the field and benefits of learning NCAA mechanics were marred in the 2nd half of the game. More than once we spoke with the team captains to get everyone under control and once we stopped the game and brought both head coaches to the center of the field to calm things down.

Thing really got out of hand when we ejected a player for throwing the ball at the opposite team's head coach following a touchdown. Unbelievable.

It all finally came to a head when the benches cleared and there was a big brawl with about 4:00 remaining in the 4th. We tried for a good two minutes to get things under control. We'd get it stopped, then it would start-up again.

We finally ran off the field when fans entered the playing field. We were already being heckled and the losing side was looking for an excuse to take it out on us. When the cops came on the field, then I knew our jurisdiction was finally over.

The real problem with these games is the organizers split the teams into East and West teams. During the regular season we have gang problems, cultural issues (read - the 'haves' and the 'have nots') with the East and West teams. Get a clue. This is a charity game. Mix the teams up. Who give a crap about where the GPS location the school is on the map. They all wear the helmets from their respective school. People come to the game to see the players one last time, not the "team".