Thursday, June 18, 2009

MY LETTER TO THE SCROLL (What do you think?)



I think football in it's pure unadulterated form is the greatest thing since peanut-butter meeting jelly.  I have played flag football in the BYU-Idaho rec sports program for most of my time here at school.  It's a lot of fun, and I have made a lot of friends playing.  If I had to do college all over again I would defiantly play flag football again, like I said its been a lot of fun.  I just feel that there needs to be two major changes with the program.  


The first change is with the referee's.  The referees are so inconsistent from week to week, one will say you can or you can't do this particular thing and the next week another official will say something contradictory, and we as participance are expected  to adjust with out questioning the wisdom of the referee.  Keep in mind how hard that is sometimes with some ref's not all but some have this Napoleon Complex where we have to bow down to and be chill with them and take what they say as the gospel truth.  


I have tried to help avoid this confusion by bringing a laminated copy of the rules which we can review on-line.  More then one time even though I had highlighted main points that are apparently vague and not direct the referee has told me that their superior has told them something different.  I have requested that the referee's all meet together on a regular basics so that the rules can be correlated and everyone can be on the same page, but I was informed that they all ready do that.  (So, why in the world is there so much confusion on the field?)  


My second complaint is the fact that they have taken athleticism out of an athletic event!  Seriously, when I first started playing the line-men could block with elbows locked out where the arms are strait, or the hands had to be close into the body.  There could be no going back and forth like in a pushing motion and you know what I am cool with that!  Over time they have changed it to where you can't use your hands to block just your body, now they tell us that we can make zero contact with the opponent wither on offense or defense.  So, imagine having to block using a magical force field around you to keep the  guy on defense from getting to your quarterback.  Oh and I almost forgot when a defender does hit you and you fall the referee will tell you not to insult his intelligence by “flopping.”  WHAT! It doesn't matter if I flopped or not the fact of the matter is that he broke my magical force field and made contact with me when this is not a contact sport!  


Something else that irritates me to no end is how they misinterpret the no hurdling rule.  As outlined in the on-line rule book for player, (perhaps there is another rule book for the ref's), but the one that we read states that jumping over a player who has both feet planted on the ground is illegal, so therefore according to some officials this includes any type of jump, skip, or hop out of the way of a would be flag getter.  We can't stiff arm or swat their hand out of the way and now we can't do the smallest hop to the left while in the pocket to avoid losing our flag.  As previously stated they are taking athleticism out of this athletic event which I love.  


Brigham Young is reported to have said that the greatest fear he had was that members of the Church would take what he said as the mind and will of God without first praying and obtaining a witness of the same for themselves.  We did the same things a missionaries we never wanted people to just say oh ok if that is the way then I will just go with the crowed.  No, we challenged them to question everything taught to them research, ponder, and prey.  Now I understand that our Heavenly Father has more pressing issues then Flag Football, but the point that I am trying to make is that it is Ok no wait it's expected to challenge the norm, to ask questions, to want to make changes when we feel that something is wrong!  


Brother's and Sisters there needs to be some changes made and the time is now!  I invite everyone everywhere within the sound of my pen to pick up a writing utensil of your own write into the REC Sports Program to let your voice be heard about problems you see within the program.  This is the only way to  make any changes.  Let it be known that the Officials are separate from REC Sports, but if we let the REC know then they will make things happen! 


1 comment:

Thome said...

the officiating has always been a joke. but the new no touching rule is homo, i mean romo. trying to block last night was useless cause you can't stop them you just run with them to your QB. I know they don't want anyone to get hurt but we know there is a chance when we start playing and we are fine with that. but let us play a little bit. also that ref that said you flopped was a douche. the end, but good job and calling them out on this.