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Football Officiating => War Stories => Topic started by: Blackandwhite on May 26, 2015, 07:12:57 AM
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(Season in Europe starts in spring)
Coach: Could we deflate the game ball a little bit?
LM: Sorry coach, we are not in ..... ;D
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A classic one on last saturday:
Call: illegal formation (and also added with "too many in the backfield" over the mic)
HC: Which number?
cRaZy
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Yeah that a couple of times myself. My answer "well it wasn't the QB"
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A classic one on last saturday:
Call: illegal formation (and also added with "to many in the backfield" over the mic)
HC: Which number?
cRaZy
Along those lines, had this in a youth game (11/12 yr olds) this weekend.
First play of the game. Two wideouts on my side obviously off the ball. Two running backs and a quarterback. So fairly easy call. I'm on the visitor sideline, and they see it immediately and want the flag out "That's an illegal formation! That's an illegal formation!" I tell the excited coaches it's not till the snap.
So they snap it, I toss the flag, they gain about 30 yds, the visitor coaches are all happy knowing it's coming back...and the home coach across the way is livid. I know him from previous dealings as he's a league asst director.
Coach: (after angrily charging 10 yds onto the field) "<my name> WHAT"S THE PENALTY? WHAT'S WRONG??"
Me: (considering telling him to get back, but since I knew him and there's no wing over there - 3 man - I just yell back) "Mike, illegal formation, both the wide guys were way back off the line"
Coach Mike: SO WHAT?
Me: Well, 2 receivers, 2 running backs, and the quarterback - that's 5 in the backfield
Coach Mike: WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT???
Me: <blink, blink> You can't do that.
The entire sideline behind me is just laughing at him and half the crowd is too. They line up for the next play in the exact same formation and he angrily calls timeout to fix it.
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I love that question.
"Coach, one of the five guys that wasn't on the line of scrimmage is the one who lined up wrong. Can't tell you more than that."
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I've had them ask "what number" for 5 men in the back field as well. The horse's geranium in me always wants to say, "The quarterback."
In an 8 man game(5 on the line) a few years ago, one of the 5 stepped back and went into motion. I flagged it, told coach 4 in the back field, and he was confused, but ok. They lined up and did it again, flagged, coach wanted to know who was off the line. I told him the two rbs, the qb, and the wideout when he went into motion. He tells me that the wr can go into motion. I agree with him, but with the qualifier that someone else has to shift to the los before said motion occurs. Then comes the classic, "Well we've been running this play all year and it hasn't been flagged...."
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Freshman/ JV2 game, A 1st/10 @B20 A11 throws a forward screen pass to my side (H) to A21 who then takes three steps back and passes the ball down field. I throw my flag and the coach says what is that for? I tell him its an illegal forward pass. Then he says he was behind the LOS. Then I say no you cant have two forward passes on the same play. He then says you can if he is behind the LOS. And then I inform him that is not true. First pass has to be backwards. He just turned away! I mean that is Football 101 or at least I thought it was. lol
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Wingman, until a couple of years ago, he would have been correct. I don't remember what year the Fed changed that, but I want to say it was within the last 5 years.
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This was in Texas Sorry I should have clarified. NCAA rules
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Ah.. Never mind. tiphat:
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The Federation rule was worse than that. You could throw multiple forward passes as long as each was thrown from behind the LOS.
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After a Holding call on A55 (the center), the coach asks: Who was holding?
Number 55, Coach.
No way. He doesn't block on that play.
hEaDbAnG
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Not from the coach, but a player after a free kick to his team.
R is called for blocking in the back.
R coach: what number?
me: 44 coach
Coach: Bobby, you cost us 10 yards!
44: Coach, it wasn't me, I didn't even hit anyone.
Coach: You didn't hit anyone?
44: No Sir
Coach: .... hEaDbAnG
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Texas Varsity game last night. NCAA rules
4th down Punter gets hit as he is punting the ball. Flag is thrown by R for roughing. Head coach on my side is screaming at me" Did the ball go over the LOS" I said yes it did why does that matter? He said if it doesnt cross the LOS then its not a kick and therefore we cant rough the kicker. I said Uh no he is still a kicker if he lines up in a kicking formation. They continued to argue with me. OMG. We ended up picking up the flag because the ball actually hit the shoulder of the first team B player that hit the punter but the R couldnt see it. The LJ did
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he is still a kicker if he lines up in a kicking formation.
Uh... he's a kicker when he kicks the ball. Lining up in a scrimmage kick formation does not make any player a kicker.
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Wrong wording. It was early and I got in late last night lol
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It was early and I got in late last night
No coffee or too many adult beverages? nAnA
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Late ball game. I wish I could use the excuse of too many beverages lol
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JV game Saturday. In pregame with coach we ask if all players are legally equipped followed by any casts or braces we need to look at. Coach says no, they are all good. Ten minutes later we call for the captains, out comes 30 with a cast. I looked at it and it was padded correctly and told 30 his HC said no one had any casts. He told me he has had it for 2 weeks.
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Late hit OOB by B near the 20 yd. line on A's side of the field.
Coach of B, "How does my player know he's OOB if he doesn't hear a whistle? You've got to blow those whistles, someone's going to get hurt."
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If I had a nickel for every time I've heard "they broke the huddle with twelve" this year...
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If I had a nickel for every time I've heard "they broke the huddle with twelve" this year...
I just had to explain to a coach last night about this. He then proceeded to argue with me about that the player then lined up before running off. I never say the player line up, but then again coach was also losing 23-0 in 4th and looking for any excuse to get back into the game.
Related note, I can't believe how many more coaches this year are counting players on the opposing team but can't seem to get enough of their own players out. On related note of coaches pestering, I've had a number of Assistant coaches with stop watches timing the play clock. I don't know why I'm counting or keeping track anymore I'll just go ask the assistant coaches next time I'm unsure...
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I've had a number of Assistant coaches with stop watches timing the play clock. I don't know why I'm counting or keeping track anymore I'll just go ask the assistant coaches next time I'm unsure...
That would be one way to get the assistants off your back... put 'em in the press box to work the clock. hEaDbAnG
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10th Grade game and the coach was timing the Play Clock. I just told him to put it away and I didn't want to hear about it again.
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A25 gets hit pretty good on the play and off comes his helmet. I check to see he's okay and send him to the sideline. A calls time out. Time out ends and here comes 25 back on the field. I send him off back off the field. The school's cameraman tells me that he can go back on the field after a time out. He says it has always been that way.
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Freshman game, Assistant Coaches with stop watches. "Man, you guys are off by 10 seconds!" "What?" "Off by 10 seconds!" "Let me see" Guy hands me his stop watch, I look at my watch and hit the button .... " Just what I thought, your stop watch is slow. I bet all your guys run 4.2 40 times, buy that thing at KMart?" "No Wal Mart" "Should have saved your money and watched the shoppers instead, that thing was made in China completely different time zone." "Does that affect the timing?"
Walked away shaking my head. Head Coach was rolling...made them put away the stop watches.
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Freshman game, Assistant Coaches with stop watches. "Man, you guys are off by 10 seconds!" "What?" "Off by 10 seconds!" "Let me see" Guy hands me his stop watch, I look at my watch and hit the button .... " Just what I thought, your stop watch is slow. I bet all your guys run 4.2 40 times, buy that thing at KMart?" "No Wal Mart" "Should have saved your money and watched the shoppers instead, that thing was made in China completely different time zone." "Does that affect the timing?"
Walked away shaking my head. Head Coach was rolling...made them put away the stop watches.
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL ^good
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Freshman game, Assistant Coaches with stop watches. "Man, you guys are off by 10 seconds!" "What?" "Off by 10 seconds!" "Let me see" Guy hands me his stop watch, I look at my watch and hit the button .... " Just what I thought, your stop watch is slow. I bet all your guys run 4.2 40 times, buy that thing at KMart?" "No Wal Mart" "Should have saved your money and watched the shoppers instead, that thing was made in China completely different time zone." "Does that affect the timing?"
Walked away shaking my head. Head Coach was rolling...made them put away the stop watches.
Tremendous!
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Not quite a "mouth of coaches", but this one just occurred to me for some reason. A few years back I was working a game for a group of home-schooled children that came together under the team name "Disciples". We had the national anthem, then they called for us to bow our heads in prayer. One of the parts of the prayer was for the officials to have "keen eyesight and good judgement." When we got together for our huddle prior to the kickoff I asked the crew "did we just get insulted during the pregame invocation?" :)
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I was working a JV game recently as a wing official. I had already thrown flags for chop block (my tackle and guard) and an UNS for "shoot-'em-up" gesture after a big play; I throw another flag for chop block and coach complained to me that "you're calling this game likes a VARSITY game!" hEaDbAnG
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When we got together for our huddle prior to the kickoff I asked the crew "did we just get insulted during the pregame invocation?"
Why would you take that as an insult? My crew prays before each game and asks for something similar for ourselves that evening.
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It's fine when WE ask for it. When someone else says it, it sounds a bit like an insult... :)
That said, I forgot to put the smiley face at the end of my post...
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I was working a JV game recently as a wing official. I had already thrown flags for chop block (my tackle and guard) and an UNS for "shoot-'em-up" gesture after a big play; I throw another flag for chop block and coach complained to me that "you're calling this game likes a VARSITY game!" hEaDbAnG
Better than being yelled that you're calling the game like an NFL game...
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Better than being yelled that you're calling the game like an NFL game...
Better than being yelled at because you AREN'T calling the game like an NFL game.
I've had a few youth coaches (3/4th graders) go ballistic because we were letting the ticky-tack procedural stuff go and just letting the kids play.
Yes, it'd be an illegal formation on Thursday or Friday night, but not on Saturday afternoon in the park, and the offensive lineman who fell over because he's top-heavy in his pads did not gain an advantage by "false starting".
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Had a real good one this past week.
4th and 10, A runs about 7 yds goes out of bounds and then is hit late. Flag thrown. We tell A's coach that it is B's ball since A didn't make the line to gain and we will enforce the late hit against B. Needless to say this didn't go over well. In fact one of A's asst coaches decided to tell us we need to learn the F ing rules. So much for the 15 yards against B. A's coach then called time out to discuss our ruling. First thing out of his mouth is "a late hit is a continuation play." I confess I laughed (I did try to stifle it, but wasn't successful). I wanted to tell him this wasn't basketball.
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Better than being yelled that you're calling the game like an NFL game...
Or working a game with a former fill-in NFL referee and hearing the coach yell "You're the guy that blew that coin toss last week!"
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Two weeks ago, by the defensive coach when the flag was thrown on a QB sack and before we even announced the penalty- "That can't be holding on us because it was a run play." Um, coach how do you think it went from a passing to a running play?
This week, again by the defensive coach on a holding call- "But the pass didn't cross the line of scrimmage."
Both were in varsity playoff games. The second guy actually accepted my explanation. Not so much with the first guy- "First time in 40 years I've seen that call."
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Early season game last Fall, in a pregame meeting with a coach....
Coach to our crew : "Guys, I really need a number of the player who fouled as a corrective measure."
Our crew to coach : "We'll do our best, coach."
Early in our early season game : His team broke the huddle, but snapper must have forgotten the snap count :-[. On the 2nd "HUT" everyone jumped except for the snapper who held the ball in place.
^flag ^flag ^flag ^flag ^flag = more flags than a 4th of July parade :!#
I yelled over to the sidelines : "False start on everyone but the snapper ;D."
The coach :) and sent in a new snapper :o ??? ::) :P :-X :-\ :-[....
.......and the band played on.....
(PS: that team won)