Weekly Bull 9/26/18
No Meeting This Week – Next meeting will be Wednesday October 3rd. Great time to get back into a rule and/or review a section in the mechanics book.
San Diego Sports Officials Hall of Fame Induction Dinner – Our own Tim Podraza goes into the Hall of Fame tomorrow night (Tuesday 9/25). Social hour is at 6:00 and dinner starts at 7:00pm at the Scottish Rite Event Center in Mission Valley. Congratulations Tim!
Game Check Weekend for SD Youth Football Fund. October 18-20. The SDYFF will buy the crew who contributes the most during this weekend a full crew dinner after your game on October 26th, up to $30/official! Strive to be the best, and we’ll take care of your dinner that night!!
Interested in Running for the Board? – Contact Robin House. Four new board members will be elected starting at our next meeting on October 3rd.
Golf Tournament – This year’s golf tournament will take place on Wednesday, November 7th at Riverwalk GC in Mission Valley. Shotgun start at 11:00am. $125 covers golf, cart, and lunch. $145 gets you all that plus drink tickets and a chance to win lots of great prizes at the raffle. You can play as a crew, foursome, or play as an individual. Golfers of all abilities and guests are welcome. Contact Ed Blick, Mike Downing, or Jake Minger with questions or go on-line to check out the details and register at www.sandiegoyouthfootballfund.org
Ball Boys/Girls Can Help the Crew and the Umpire! - If you recruit or carefully instruct those who are available to you, they can help get balls spotted even more efficiently. Rather than waiting for the BJ and flanks to relay that ball back down the field on long incompletions, we now have ball persons who can immediately bring in the new ball through the flank official on the offensive’s side of the field. Umpires and flanks, seek out this help at game sites!
Homecoming – By rule the home team may be extended to 20 minutes for homecoming or any other major event. The visiting team must have been notified at least 5 minutes prior to the game. Teams will also have the mandatory 3 minute warm up for a total of 23 minutes.
Blocking Below the Waist Made Simple – In most cases, if the QB is under center, the low block will be found to be legal (ball will most likely be in the zone). If the QB is in shotgun, the low block will most likely be found to be illegal (ball most likely out of the zone). **Assuming both players were on the LOS at the snap and the block is in the zone. Remember, this goes for defense as well!
Game Ends With Skirmish – We’ve had two games end early due to a skirmish on the field. In each case the actions by the game officials were critical to the safety of the teams and coaches, and were responsible for outstanding and reliable written game reports to the CIF. We will continue to do whatever we can to intercede and prevent the illegal action from spreading. This most recent one provided us with an example of how to get involved and work hard to de-escalate the situation. Rule of thumb, get involved early to prevent and separate, take mental notes of numbers for reporting purposes, then when it has ended, get together and collaborate with the crew to make sure everyone has accurate notes. After the game, the crew must share all information with the crew chief who will write the final report. Game site administration is critical to determining if a game can be successfully restarted, or not.
The Regular Season Begins - Teams are now playing conference opponents and league championships are at stake. We need to "up our game" in response to this unique part of the schedule. Teams are more familiar with each other and that can be a good thing or a bad thing. Be aware of rivalries.
Crowds Outside the Team Box – This is a good problem! Some of our feature games are attracting huge crowds which can also mean a lot of extra fans standing on the sideline. Remember, these fans are not a part of the team and cannot be penalized, but should any or some of them interfere with the game and our officiating, then they can be removed by the home school administration. Administration is there for a reason, so don’t bother the head coach, elicit help from the site admin. Remember, unsportsmanlike behavior of someone out of the team box is not a foul on that team and cannot be penalized. Use game administration to correct that problem by removing the person from the sidelines.
Signals and Clock Awareness – Everyone on the crew should be relaying signals. If one person signals time out, we all signal time out. I’ve seen video where crew members were getting lazy with this and making the crew look sloppy and unprofessional. The clock operator is dependent on good signals from all officials. Let’s make this a crew goal for this week!
Bands – The following is taken from the CIF Green Book: “Bands are not allowed to play during the course of the actual contest. In the sport of football, bands may play during timeouts, halftime or in between plays. Bands must stop playing when a team breaks the huddle or in the case of a no huddle offense, when the quarterback lines up in position to take a snap.” Any violation of this CIF policy can be directed to the game administration for immediate correction. Continued violations would be considered an 'unfair act' under NFHS Football Rule 9-10-1 and could result in a 15-yard penalty being assessed to the head football coach of the offending school for unsportsmanlike conduct.
National Association of Sports Public Address Announcers (NASPAA) - Code of Conduct -
The following principles and expectations underscore the NASPAA’s P.A. announcing philosophy. P.A. announcers must utilize these guidelines.
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Announcers shall understand that their role is to provide pertinent information in a timely manner and to do so professionally and not attempt to be bigger than the game or event by doing play-by-play or by providing commentary in an effort to entertain or to draw attention to himself or herself.
2.Announcers shall understand that because they have a tremendous influence on the crowd and that cheerleading or antics designed to incite the crowd for the purpose of gaining an advantage for their team is inappropriate.
3. Announcers shall promote good sportsmanship and a positive environment by what they say and how they act.
4. Announcers shall treat the opponents and their fans as guests, not the enemy.
5. Announcers shall respect the individuals who are responsible for the conduct and administration of athletic games and events, such as coaches, officials and administrators, and avoid making any comments that reflect positively or negatively on them.
6. Announcers shall respect the participants of all teams and remain neutral when introducing the starting participants, announcing substitutions and the outcome of plays or performances of the participants.
7. Announcers shall exhibit professional behavior and represent their school, organization or association with respect and dignity at all times by what they say, how they act and how they appear.