THE WEEKLY BULL – Sept. 11, 2019

No Meeting This Week – Don’t show up this week…no one will be there!!!  We will be meeting next week 9/18.  

San Diego County Sports Officials Hall of Fame 2019 Induction Ceremony - will take place Tuesday, September 24th at 6:00 pm.  So get your tickets and enjoy the comradery and the induction of football and softball official David Hardage.  Let’s all welcome him into the Hall of Fame and recognize his contribution to SDCFOA football officiating.  You may purchase tickets on the website at https://www.sandiegosportsofficialshof.com/induction-dinner  Credit cards will be accepted on the website.

Game Check Weekend for SD Youth Football Fund – September 20 and 21. This is one of our biggest fundraisers for our Youth Fund and it is a great crew event and effort!  Let’s all get fired up to raise a considerable amount so we can support the football community in San Diego and support kids with scholarships as they go off to college.  Last year we supported a record number of student-athletes with scholarships and that was because we raised a huge amount during Game Check Weekend.  Don’t forget to get your crew’s observer involved in your efforts!  Did you know that you supported a scholarship 3 years ago to a youngster named Luqman Barcoo from Castle Park and now he is the starting corner back on the San Diego State Aztecs!  Our annual goal is to raise $5,000 on Game Check Weekend.  While $5,000 sounds like a lot, if 200 members donated $25 each, not even half of a Pop Warner game, we would get there. Crew Chiefs, please get involved, work with your crew to achieve a minimum $25 contribution per man, if we can get the crews to do that, we are at our goal.  

The SDYFF will buy the crew who contributes the most during this weekend a full crew dinner after your game on October 25th, up to $30/official! That’s more than the $25/official we are requesting, so strive to be the best, and we’ll take care of your dinner that night!! Officials not on crews are also asked to participate as this is our Association’s gift back to the football community, and we need every official to be a part of that effort. We will be providing you with instructions on how to donate before our fund raising weekend, but save your dollars and tell your crew chief you are in!

Items From the Observers:

• Read and Review the Bull and Watch the Weekly Instructional Video - Make sure your crew is reviewing the Bull and watching the instructional video each week. We must avoid mistakes made by others and we must be caught up on the latest points of emphasis and clarification.

• Mouth Guards – These illegal mouth guards are made by Loud Mouth and feature a hard plastic insert of fangs or teeth which protrude and have been ruled by CIF to be illegal. Not all Loud Mouth mouth guards are illegal.  Just the ones with the hard plastic features on the outside.

• Use of radios – Keep the use minimal. Information for the opposite sideline, warnings to players, etc. Don’t compromise your regular signals because we have radios.

• Correction to Last Week’s Bull – Unintentional contact in the restricted area is a personal foul…not unsportsmanlike. – Sorry!

• Consistency with Equipment Violations – It is expected that we are consistent in observing that all players are legally equipped and the legal equipment is being worn in a legal manner. Please let Steve know of any major problems with teams or players.

• Defense Blocking Below the Waist in Free Blocking Zone – Last week’s instructional video showed a team’s defensive tackle going to the ground on all fours in advance of the offensive blocker’s initial step. I will show two different techniques (one legal and one illegal) in this week’s Instructional Video.  Remember, as long as the defender does not “obstruct the opponent by contacting him”…it is legal.   Sometimes, a defender can drop down and not contact the opponent, then the opponent contacts the defender who is on the ground.  Who initiated this contact?  In this case the offense did….NOW – If the defender does fire out and obstruct the opponent by contacting the offensive player, then we would have the defense BBW.  All of this being discussed assumes the ball has left the FBZ, as would normally be the case if the QB were in shotgun.  Watch the Weekly Instructional Video!

• Chain Crew – Pay attention to your chains and your chain crew. We have visual evidence of a chain crew who did not pull the chain tight during a critical series thus establishing a “false” line to gain.

• Depth of Back Judges – If you have two running teams, you may adjust your starting position to be more a part of the game. You may be creeping closer that even 20 yards deep.  This is an exception for this type of game.

• Flanks Slightly Behind Progress – Most times it is best for our flanks to be slide stepping not exactly parallel to the runner, but rather trailing slightly. Try it!

• Automatic Unsportsmanlike Penalties – Throat slash, demonstrations of violence such as “six guns” or “machine guns”, removal of helmet, Heisman pose, dancing, somersault or flip, high step, dunking the ball over the crossbar, spinning the ball, spitting, posing with teammates, posing for a picture, excessive celebrations that are choreographed or prolonged, and finally Posing and Pointing 1^st down after a completion or long run for a 1^st I know this is allowed in NCAA and NFL but not in high school football.