Even if you are too young to have watched the TV show, you should be familiar with the Lone Ranger, a fictional character that has become an enduring icon of American culture. He is a masked ex-Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. His alter ego …
Two huge mistakes that officials can make are ball-watching and officiating air. The former means watching the runner to the exclusion of what’s happening around him. The latter means focusing on areas where nothing is going on instead of shifting our eyes to where something is happening. Both prevent us from seeing things we need to see. That problem, moreover, afflicts veterans and newer officials. At times, …
Ball-Watching Afflicts Veterans and Newer Officials Alike Read More »
Two huge mistakes that officials can make are ball-watching and officiating air. The former means watching the runner to the exclusion of what’s happening around him. The latter means focusing on areas where nothing is going on instead of shifting our eyes to where something is happening. Both prevent us from seeing things we need to see. That problem, moreover, afflicts veterans and newer officials. At times, …
Ball-Watching Afflicts Veterans and Newer Officials Alike Read More »
According to Webster, judgment is the ability to make a decision. An official’s judgment calls will be questioned more often than his or her knowledge of the rules. At the prep level, without replay and the availability of clear, concise video, the truth often remains unknown. On some plays, officials have to make a calculated …
You are the referee for tonight’s game. You have completed the pregame conference with your crew, met with the head coaches and conducted the coin toss. Now you hustle into position for the opening kickoff. While you have probably performed that routine hundreds of times and taken it for granted, there is a long list of action items that need to be processed in order …
When the word “intentional” is mentioned, the first thing that springs to the mind of most football officials is intentional grounding. However, intent plays a role in many more acts than that. There are roughly 15 acts in which intent is a factor at least to some extent. Intentional is an adjective which means done on purpose or deliberately. Some of the synonyms that may …
No one has ever attempted to rank fouls in the order of the difficulty in calling them. However, it’s clear there is pecking order. For example, encroachment is easier to call than holding. There are some fouls which are understandably called inconsistently, primarily because it’s often difficult for a single official to see everything which …
No one has ever attempted to rank fouls in the order of the difficulty in calling them. However, it’s clear there is pecking order. For example, encroachment is easier to call than holding. There are some fouls which are understandably called inconsistently, primarily because it’s often difficult for a single official to see everything which …
It takes a great deal of fortitude to venture into the jumble of flailing arms and bodies where only linebackers dare to tread. But in addition to being fearless, umpires must be intelligent. They should be able to read offenses and defenses equally well; should talk to defensive players when they need talking to; must stand with the ball at the correct enforcement spot until …
It takes a great deal of fortitude to venture into the jumble of flailing arms and bodies where only linebackers dare to tread. But in addition to being fearless, umpires must be intelligent. They should be able to read offenses and defenses equally well; should talk to defensive players when they need talking to; must stand with the ball at the correct enforcement spot until …
