What is in the Water in Wash State?

[TXMike]

First the pink whistle mess and now this.  Where is the common sense? ?  ?

http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/Team-penalized-for-moment-of-silence-for-Sep-11?urn=highschool-wp6023

Team penalized for moment of silence for Sept. 11 victims

By Cameron Smith


Like any number of Americans, the teams and fans at the Washington high school football game between Skyline (Wash.) High and Bellevue (Wash.) High, currently ranked No. 24 in the RivalsHigh 100, wanted to honor those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks. Like those at many stadiums, Skyline officials arranged for a moment of silence for all in attendance before the highly anticipated matchup between the schools kicked off, a commemoration all agreed upon.
 
Still, that agreement didn't stop Washington officials from throwing a flag for delay of game, and blaming that penalty on the moment of silence.
 
As first highlighted by the Seattle Times, officials at the Skyline-Bellevue game employed what can only be considered a very literal interpretation of the rules when deciding to assess a delay of game penalty against Skyline in conjunction with the pre-arranged moment of silence.
 
According to Seattle Times reporter Mason Kelley, Washington standards hold that any delay after the pregame clock hits 0:00 will be assessed a delay of game penalty. That left little room for interpretation for officials, even if most in attendance probably would have been opposed to the penalty being enforced.
 
 
The teams were on their respective sidelines and the national anthem was concluded before the pregame clock expired, but the moment of silence came after that.

Luckily, the penalty appeared to have little impact on the game, if any at all. After gaining the extra 5 yards for the penalty, Bellevue booted the opening kickoff through the end zone, with Skyline starting at its own 20-yard line. Shortly thereafter, the Spartans had driven 80 yards and were celebrating an opening touchdown in the end zone.
 
Bellevue would eventually have plenty of its own to celebrate thanks to a 31-17 victory. You can see highlights from that Wolverines win above. Still, the lasting image of the game may be a bizarre penalty flag flying before any action had taken place.
 

[InsideTheStripes]

If I was the referee, I wouldn't have thrown it.  If I was the visiting HC, I wouldn't have accepted it.  If I were the administrator, I'd be ashamed I wrote such a policy.

When is WA going to get rid of this guy?

[HLinNC]

Why in the world didn't they do the moment of silence PRIOR to the National Anthem?  Any place I've ever been that had any such ceremony has always done it prior to the anthem.  Once the anthem is played, the majority of people are ready to "rock-n-roll".

Not agreeing with the officials in this one but game management could have made it easier- schedule it like the rest of the planet, tell the clock operator to hold the clock if need be.  Did anyone even let the officials know in pregame?

[NorCalMike]

I can't believe an official would throw a flag for this. As a firefighter, I reflect on the losses that FDNY suffered on that fateful day every 9/11. This year, I participated in a memorial stair climb to commemorate the 10 anniversary of the murder of 343 firefighters and 3,000 others. If a school I was working at wanted to have a moment of silence I would have let them. If the powers that be wanted to downgrade me on my evaluation for letting the game start late, well, they can just (I was going to right a cuss word but thought someone might flag me for it). 

 Of course, its a pretty stupid rule to begin with. This is high school football. Calling delay of game because the pregame clock expired seems pretty petty to me. If the game starts within a couple minutes of the published start time what's the big deal.

[Reverend30]

According to Seattle Times reporter Mason Kelley, Washington standards hold that any delay after the pregame clock hits 0:00 will be assessed a delay of game penalty. That left little room for interpretation for officials, even if most in attendance probably would have been opposed to the penalty being enforced.

Simple solution - next time tell the clock operator, when the pregame clock hits 2:00, turn it off and reset it for the first quarter. 

[NWA_UMP]

We're supposed to be working with educated people when we do High School football. That being said, they are some of the dumbest folks out there. Agreed I hate the flag, agreed game admin could have handled the clock better and hopefully everyone takes away the lesson that if you run the clock...you have all the time in the world 

[clearwall]

Pretty pitiful. Cant say a prayer, now you cant even have a freaking moment of SILENCE?

[breckjr]

Please, before we all jump on the officials, let's try to get all the facts.  I'm probably pretty sure that the officials didn't know that there was going to be a moment of silence.  I'm pretty sure that they just threw the flag because the clock ran out.  I fault game management on this all the way because the moment of silence should have been done prior to the National Anthem like the game my crew had the day before 9-11 and the youth games on that Saturday. 

[TXMike]

Really?   So there was just a moment of silence with no stadium announcement as to what was going on.  Everyone just knew it would be done and did it?  I don't care if they knew in advance or not.  One of the things the best officials are able to do is react well to the unexpected.  Once they saw what was going on, they had a choice to make.  And they chose.

[110]

Once they saw what was going on, they had a choice to make.  And they chose, poorly.

Small edit to correct your comment.

[TexDoc]

We would never do that in a varsity game in Texas.  Even if we have half times exceed the allotted maximum of 28 minutes, we do not penalize the home team.  We just report it. 

[Osric Pureheart]

I'm sure that someone from the WA association would say "yes, and how many times do they go over cos they know nothing's gonna happen to them?"

It's a valid point, but in this instance it's been expressed in about the worst way possible.

[AlUpstateNY]

There are way more than 500 Million Chinese who couldn't care less that game started a minute or two late, so how important can the starting time be?

[mbyron]

There are way more than 500 Million Chinese who couldn't care less that game started a minute or two late, so how important can the starting time be?

Reminds me of a joke. If you're "one in a million," then there are 1,350 people EXACTLY like you in China.

[fbrefga]

Common sense should be in the forefront.  It was not in this situation.  That is not the way I would like to start a game.  It makes for a long evening.

[GameWillTravel]

Must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. 

[JRutledge]

Really??

Peace

[txmustang68]

ROFL Plano ISD would be penalized every week.  They never start a game on time, moment of silence or no.