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They got paid sixty bucks to help a bunch of school children learn about the spirit of comptetition and sportsmanship. People from the class of '67 should have already learned those lessons by now. sheesh... offside

(I wasn't there and I haven't seen the film). But it sounds like the referee judged that the ball had not yet crossed the goal line. It doesn't matter if his feet are in the end zone; we're only judging whether the ball crossed the line. That's the easy answer; here's how it's really called: The receiver has the safe option of letting the kick clearly cross the goal line for a touchback. (After all, he was not required to catch that kick at the goal line; he could've let it go untouched or he could've caught it and taken a step back to put a knee down for a touchback in either case.) Because the receiver doesn't have to attempt a return, referees tend to give him the benefit of the doubt if it's close and allow him to attempt a return. We call it an "if in doubt" situation. If in doubt, he caught it at the one-inch-line. The receiver is taking a huge risk if he does attempt to catch a kick at his own one-inch-line. He's put his team 99 yards and 35 inches away from a touchdown. Sometimes that risk pays off, sometimes not so much. The flip side is that the kickoff team has an opportunity to make him pay for a bad decision by making a tackle and pinning him deep. So, really, why do you have to blame the ref? (Insert smiley face here) offside

"Hey coach, do I have a booger hanging?"

It is in Kentucky. They start at the 20 in Ohio. offside

Sorry if we're boring you.

I was thinking the same thing. Hmm...

Lloyd. They will be very dangerous come playoff time. They got a new coach this year who's pretty good. offside

Good question; some rules are head scratchers. Like why can't a returner run a kick out of the endzone? Officials don't actually write the rules. The national coaches association and state high school athletic associations (the NFHS) write them. We just enforce what they come up with. offside

I'll have to guess about the rationale, but it's consistent with a try (PAT). A change of possession on either a try or in overtime makes the ball dead by rule in highschool. In college, the defense can recover (or intercept) and return a live ball for 2 points on a try. offside

To update from the game thread: There is a rules difference between NCAA and NFHS (highschool). In a college game, the defender can intercept and score a touchdown in OT. In highschool, the ball is dead as soon as the defender secures possession. offside

Yes! In NCAA rules, the defense can intercept a pass and return it for a touchdown in OT. In NFHS (highschool) rules, the ball is dead by rule when the defense secures possession in OT. offside

You're right, they do and I guess I don't really blame them. Unfortunately, it's sometimes used as an excuse for unnecessary roughness. offside

We weren't talking about flags; the question was about a slow whistle. offside

That's right, the ball is dead as soon as the interception occurs. Also, the whistle never ends the play, it merely confirms that the play is already ended by rule. Good officials will have their whistles in their pockets in OT. offside

1 thru 49 and 80 thru 99 is correct. 00 can no longer be worn. offside

1. Initial contact with the head while blocking and tackling has been illegal in highschool football since 1976. 2. There is no new rule. Criteria for calling the foul has not changed (See post 4 above for the definition of the foul.) There is no new interpretation as to determining the foul. 3. The state athletic associations who make the rules (collectively, the NFHS) simply want officials to call the foul when it meets those criteria. No more, no less. They cite "risk minimization concerns" for the reason behind making this foul a recent Point of Emphasis. 4. So, what are "risk minimization concerns"? Player safety is one, obviously. Do you think litigation is also a risk that the highschool associations might also want to minimize? Hmm... Bottom line is that Illegal Helmet Contact might be called a little more often going forward simply because we're talking about it more often these days and are more likely to recognize it. Hopefully, it won't be called in the absurd manner that some of the preceding posts are suggesting.

By the way, in my final game as a highschool football player (in the early '80s) I was flagged for Butt Blocking and summarily ejected from the game. I was taught to block and tackle by ramming my forehead into my opponent and I was pretty good at it. I am also probably lucky that I'm not paralyzed myself. offside

In simple terms, if the kick itself crosses the goal line it's a touchback. But if a player catches a kick in the field of play and then steps into his own endzone the ball is still live. offside

Illegal Helmet Contact leads to catastrophic neck and spine injury, and it's almost always the player who initiates the illegal contact who gets injured. This is the reason for its Point of Emphasis status. However, the rules really are no different now than they have been for some time: Illegal Helmet Contact, including face tackling, butt blocking and spearing is defined as DELIVERING A BLOW with or DRIVING A HELMET or FACEMASK into an opponent. Blockers, tacklers and runners are all subject to this rule. We (officials) understand that collisions occur and incidental contact with helmets and facemasks are inevitible on every play. However, we are more focused on recognizing when a player is DELIVERING A BLOW with his helmet or DRIVING his HEMET/FACEMASK INTO AN OPPONENT. offside

That's correct.

Not much of a fan of Star Wars, really. Used to take lunch money from those kids. offside

I've only really done baseball and football, but I've been studying up a little on basketball officiating. Based on my limited experience, I think baseball umpires have to deal more with adversarial conduct from coaches, and basketball refs have to make more snap judgement calls extremely quickly. But I think football officiating is more difficult overall for a few reasons: 1. There are 22 players moving simultaneously during almost every play, each with an opportunity to foul in one way or another. Granted, there are more officials on the field during a football game than the other sports, but there's a whole lot more to watch for, too. 2. There are different types of plays, each with situation specific rules application to master (ie., running plays, passing plays, free kicks, scrimmage kicks and loose ball plays). 3. In addition to situation specific rules knowledge and judgement, add timing factors and penalty administration to the list. And don't forget that for most rules there's usually some exception that can apply. By no means do I intend to imply that baseball umpires or basketball refs have it easy, all sports require many hours of rules study and years of practice to refine an official's judgement. Football rules are simply more complex in my opinion.

Good officials move up, they retire, and some simply give it up because of the time and energy that is required of the avocation. The good news is that there are opportunities for officials to move up. The bad news is that we're losing some very good officials for a number of reasons and we're simultaneously increasing the number of schools starting football programs, especially in Northern Kentucky. And that leads me to my two favorite dead horses to beat upon: 1. We have many very good football officials in every region in the state, not just NKY. Some have moved on to the SEC, the Big East, Conference USA, Sun Belt, Ohio Valley, Heartland and Mid South conferences and those same guys may very well appear on a Friday night in your local stadium. In addition, there are many more highschool officiating veterans who are just as good or better but have simply chosen not to add the workload of an NCAA schedule. My point is that, as a group, your local highschool football officials really are dedicated professionals; the local guys who've moved on to appear on ESPN or have their name called by Brent Mussburger are proof positive. So, we don't mind if you boo us for making calls that you don't agree with; we know that sometimes even the best officials make mistakes. But please don't publicly question our impartiality or presume were involved in some nefarious conspiracy. Especially in front of the kids. 2. Football officiating is a very rewarding endeavor. There's proof that even a simple country boy from Kentucky has a chance to make it to the big time if he's good enough and works hard enough at it. PM me if you know anybody who might be interested in giving it a try. offside

Michael Bush is the most dominant football player I've ever seen in person. Jared Lorenzen is the best quarterback. offside

"May the shwartz be with you."