BLUEMOM

Need to know a couple of definitions according to the rule book. 1. A catch is the act of establishing player possession of a live ball which is in flight and first contacting the ground inbounds or being contacted by an opponent in such a way that he is prevented from returning to the ground inbounds while maintaining possession of the ball. 2. A simultaneous catch or recovery is a catch or recovery in which there is joint possession of a live ball by opposing players who are inbounds. It does not matter who comes down inbounds first if it is ruled a simultaneous catch in the officials judgment. No benefit of instant replay in high school. The back judge ruled simultaneous catch with tie to offense. Call and play stands. On watching the replay, the official makes these quick reviews: pass, incomplete? completed? simultaneous catch? I would say an extremely percentage of officials would make the small call.

You no longer have a FJ in high school football. You have a linesman on the chain side and a linejudge on the home side. You have a back judge, an umpire and a referee. The explanation is given to the crowd/announcers/coaches via hand signals from the referee. May or may not have microphone. Offending player #'s are relayed by side officials to the appropriate side. It is assumed that the coaches have attended their required meetings and know their rules books and the signals and can understand them. IF the head coach disagrees with ANY call he/she has the right to request a conference with the referee. If the official/referee does not reverse their decision, it will cost the coach a time out. If the coach doesn't have a time out remaining, it will cost them 5 yards in delay of game. Officials will only offer requested explanations to a head coach (or an assistant acting in that capacity) or a team captain. Should an explanation be provided to every player asking for a flag whether it is deserved or not? Most attempt to be courteous and give them. Admittedly, they do not have a chalkboard and a ton of time. If a complete explanation were required on every call just think how long our games would become! As to illegal touching, it is a loss of 5 yards and loss of down. Rule 7.5.13 If a player is blocked out of bounds he must return a first available opportunity (marked spot with hat/bag if can). If he dawdles and comes back in later it is a penalty for illegal participation 9.6.1 15 yard penalty.

Here goes... with consult from hubby official with state championship experience complete with ring.... You have 5 officials on the field with one clock operator in high school. The clock man is supposed to be on the sideline. The assignment responsibilities for a endzone jump ball fall on the shoulders of 2 primary officials. The closest sideman and the back judge. The backjudge should watch the end line and the sideman has the sideline for the entire length of the field. The physically closest official is responsible for interference calls and/or simultaneous catch calls. Interference, simultaneous catch calls are purely judgment calls. The school/TSSAA pays the official for his "judgement" in these matters. The school pays during regular season and the TSSAA pays during the playoffs. During the regular season, it is usually a crew that stays constant throughout the season. Upon reaching playoffs, more often than not it is a "mixed" crew. In the Chattanooga area, an official is selected for playoffs based on test scores on rules knowledge and on field performance. On field performance is graded at least twice during the season by a state supervisor. Hopefully, the mixed crew provides above average officials at every position. Should the best available. I would say that the crew who worked the championship game most likely worked a playoff game earlier in the post season together. The crew was out of West Tenn if I remember correctly.

My hat is off to you KW. I am strictly an amateur when it comes to rivalry! Mtnrasslin, I thought people looked at me funny when I suffered momentary rants of Red issues. I'm glad to know I am not on an island alone! Off to Cookeville to watch "Baylor North" as the Div I boards refer to them. Of course, I will not wear any red!

Congratulations to the Ensworth Tigers. It was a great game to watch, although I have serious heartburn about cheering for either team. Miscues on both sides....great plays on both sides....great players. Most importantly.... It was awesome to be able to sit on my sofa, wrapped up in a big quilt, drink hot chocolate and make my football official Blue Betterhalf answer the tough questions all while enjoying the game on television. Thank you to the powers that be for the live broadcast! All that being said, I am very jealous of BlueSon for being there in person and would love to have watched my team play there no matter what the game temp!

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Gobble Day! Hope it is filled with love, laughter and most of all really good food! Giving thanks for a truly wonderful husband, son and family as well as double overtime victories, first downs, completed passes down the field, good blocking and tackling and the sport of football in general! Almost forgot my favorite members of the band....those that man the drumsticks!

By signaling for a fair catch, R24 has chosen to not participate in the play other than to make the catch. He is now an illegal blocker. He has committed an illegal block at the 8 yard line. Penalty 15 yards or half the distance to the goal. First and 10 on the 4 yard line for R.

Congrats to the team across the river and best of luck on their next stop in the brackets.

Just need it called fairly! It will be interesting to watch and see how it goes. I will have my rule book and case book if we need it!

Amen, oldwiseone! Looking forward to a great game with a bunch of my favorite fellow fans! Now, it is past my bedtime, so here's to dreams of Blue touchdowns, first downs, successful goal line stands....

You are right about the short trip. That is nice. I personally have never been in the dressing facilities at Heywood but have noticed the teams lingering outside. I do avoid the restrooms on the other side of that building. I also have never set foot in the dressing facilities on the Blue campus. I generally avoid those particular areas. As to hosting the game at Spears, I really don't see it in the near future. The powers that be seem to be content with the larger facility. That however is not my call to make. Just trying to be hospitable to all involved. What is interesting, is that the crew assigned by state for the competition tomorrow is a local one. A near unheard of situation in the play-offs. Now, if only the beauty indexes added points to the scoreboard!

Well I guess I qualify as a RidgeRunner, or a Blue Guts, but I hope I see an awesome display of Big Blue guts and fortitude in a Big Blue Upset in front of a 20 deep standing room only crowd with no dressing facilities. As to the Walmart, does the Baylor property not border the Walmart location that used to be Mill & Mine? I thought I saw that on the map they provided last year. This year I think our parking has been moved back to the field behind WDOD. The campus by the river is an extremely picturesque locale. Perfect? Doubtful, none is. As to the Blue neighborhood, it was downright country when the school was originally located there in 1905. Perfect? Naw, but really good for daily aerobic conditioning! The view from the dining hall overlooking downtown Chattanooga is gorgeous!

I think a Blue victory would be awesome no matter if it was in the cow pasture! Keys are execution and ball protection! When those happen, good things happen! Made it by practice for a few minutes, saw 4 different QB takin snaps. Did not see a focus a single one! Back to volunteer to help with ticket distribution today! Very brisk yesterday. TSSAA informs us there is NO limit to the number of tickets that can be sold at a playoff game and walk up gate sales must be available until the final buzzer! (at $8 a pop) So if you've never made it in person to a game and always wanted to see it, come on out!

Thanks for the pointers KW! I also stopped by the car wash and steam cleaned the car! I'm sure the decision to hold the game on the campus by the river is all about the teams. Us parents and fans who contribute daily moral and monetary support will get by just fine. As to why you would consider playing at Finley... support of local venue that needs it, room for all who care to attend in the community, no ticket limits for player families/friends, just a few thoughts that come to mind! Anyways, it is a dead argument. It is their choice as the home team, period, end of story. I was told today when I was purchasing my tickets that Baylor was also hosting a swim meet starting Friday night? As to who the starting QB will be.... Don't know if a decision has been made yet. Will most likely attend practice tomorrow. Gotta go fit the CJ with my flag!!! Go Blue!

You are right BigOwl it can be priceless to win at home or away against your rival. I know my son relishes the Blue victory in double OT there a few years ago. I did ask some of our boys about their preference last year and their response was anytime, anyplace, anywhere. Some did have concerns about family and friends being able to get tickets. The amount of work is only one concern in my mind. I was simply bored and running the #'s as I was attempting to find out our ticket sales are to be handled. Most football programs would be hard pressed to walk away from the extra money. Still looking for tickets. According to Baylor site, no gate sales so will try to get by their store today!

I understand that Finley Stadium is out and I am resigned to walk the train tracks from Walmart (Blue Better Half says I need the exercise). But could someone review my math? Baylor approx 6500 at $8 is $52,000 Finley approx 12500 at $8 is 100,000 TSSAA cut is 50% or 26,000/50,000 Baylor cut is 25% or 13,000/25,000 McCallie cut is 25% or 13,000/25,000 Baylor is responsible for site expenses: security, toilet paper, lights etc. They do get concession revenue. They don't charge for parking or hiking. McCallie responsible for travel. Negligible to either locale. Is it worth approx $10,000 for headache of having at home? I'm thinking I like just taking my visitor $ for no work!

Rule 6-5-6 (pg. 56) states: "While any free kick is in flight, in or beyond the neutral zone (10 yds)to the receivers goal line, k shall NOT: a) touch the ball or R, unless blocked into the ball or R, or to ward a blocker obstruct R's path to the ball. This is regardless of whether a fair catch signal is given." Penalty: 15 yards or may accept a 15 yard penalty from previous spot and replay down or choose to accept an awarded fair catch at the spot of the foul Sounds as if the call was missed based on the info given in #1. #2 sounds like a correct call

1. If the ball did not touch the ground or touch an R player first, then you have kick catch interference. No TD. R has 3 choices: replay the down, 15 yard penalty then rekick from 25 yard line of K or accept the ball at the spot of the foul. 2. Same choices as above. K can never advance the kick unless possessed by R first to end the kick.

1. 7 2. 5 must be 50-79 unless in scrimmage kick formation 3. anything their heart desires 1-99

I personally don't mind the losing teams making the playoffs. If there were more teams in D2 then some could be excluded. As to it making the regular season not count, the regular season record is what is used to seed the brackets. If you want to stay at home, win. Full disclosure, my team does have a losing record this season. If there were more teams, I would have to say their season is over. As it is, we have already been to Memphis and will travel again this week. We will not complain!

I enjoyed the broadcast by the Saints announcers. They took the time to get names mostly pronounced correctly and even understood we are a singulair tornado! Kudos! It was good to listen to the Blue Tornado run an option again!

I'm thinking a McCallie/BGA rematch would be mighty nice! I think we will keep taking it one game at a time and working our 12 step program!

#16 certainly had some impressive stats. He definitely brings a true option to the table. The Blue was able to rack up 404 yards in offense but more importantly protected the ball and limited penalties. We absolutely need a repeat. I listened to the game on my handy dandy netbook and only suffered a major case of heartburn and a small amount of caffeine overload. I couldn't get to sleep until 1am and my golden now knows a few new words! It was awesome! I feel we need to protect the ball and can best handle Huesman by running a very good option and let him occupy his sideline! Ball control and flawless execution are key. Any hope of going to Finley? Go Blue!!!

McCallie 28 Saints 21 Double OT.. Let the Flags start flying! Sounds like an awesome battle!

McCallie 14 Saints 14 1:30 left in game. punt return for td by Saints