Playoff game

[ElvisLives]

Had to travel 3 1/2 hours (one way) for a playoff game. That was the bad news, and, as it turned out, the only bad news.  Everything else was an exceptional experience. Dressing room was the fieldhouse weight room - not luxurious, but tons of room, comfortable, and totally private. Had a great conversation with the clock operators, and got them on the same CORRECT page on a couple of items. During the game, they were exceptional. Marvelous. Chain crew was also exceptional. The game itself was very competitive, and pretty well played. Both teams very disciplined, except for a brief period during the 4th period, when we had to flex our muscles a little bit to reign some folks in, but got that done quite nicely. We performed exceptionally, if I do say so myself. Best game of the season.
The weather was very cool, but only needed light gloves. Ear protection not needed. Clear and dry. Totally fine.
Very nice box meals in the dressing room after the game - chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, corn, roll, salad. About as good of food as I’ve ever had at a high school game (over 45 seasons).
Got home about 2:15 am. All in all, a good experience, for having to travel 31/2 hours each way.

Regarding clocks:
I will never understand why some officials are telling play clock operators to ‘hold’ on starting the play clock for 5, 8, 10 seconds or so after a kickoff, instead of CORRECTLY starting it very momentarily after the ball becomes dead; see the signal, take a breath, pause an instant, then start the clock. That is about 1 1/2 seconds - 2 maximum - then get the clock going. Be consistent. Same on touchdowns. Same after every scrimmage down. Doing otherwise is to change the rules, and we don’t get to do that.
In talking to the game clock operator, I asked if the clock displayed 1/10s of a second, and he said yes. He didn’t know of a way to change or defeat that feature. When I told him that, by rule, the clocks are not allowed to display 10ths, he seemed surprised. When I asked if anybody had told him that before, he said “no.” Obviously, we played the game, anyway. But, how do we get 11 games into a season and this is the first time anybody has discussed this with them?

Well, now we’ll see what next week brings.

[Official_21]

In talking to the game clock operator, I asked if the clock displayed 1/10s of a second, and he said yes. He didn’t know of a way to change or defeat that feature. When I told him that, by rule, the clocks are not allowed to display 10ths, he seemed surprised. When I asked if anybody had told him that before, he said “no.” Obviously, we played the game, anyway. But, how do we get 11 games into a season and this is the first time anybody has discussed this with them?

Well, now we’ll see what next week brings.

Had the same situation last night...scoreboard had 1/10th of a second. Not that it mattered to me, as I was running the PC.

[DieHardCubFan]

We worked a game in week # 11.  As an Umpire, I go out on the field to inspect player's equipment and go along with our white hat to talk to the QBs and I talk to the Centers.  I talk to the Center about when we are coming out of a time out, a penalty enforcement, etc. and how I will be standing over the ball and the process of him waiting until given the go ahead to run the play.  I also ask them what their snap count is so in case the defense tries any disconcerting signals, I know what to listen for.

One of the teams we had in week # 11 we had also had in week # 2, so I remembered the Center and the young man remembered me.  He told me that I was the only official to ever come talk to him before the game.