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It's Official with Andy Anderson and Joe Polosky · Cover IV Podcast

• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Our guests today are Andy Anderson and Joe Pulaski.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: They are members of the Southern Tier Football Officials Chapter.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, guys.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Good, glad to be here.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, Tim.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: How are you doing?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for taking the time to have a conversation with us.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate that.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: You probably don't think of officials in this way, but they're the third team on the field.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And without them, there's no game.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Every play, they're communicating information not only to each other, but also to the broadcast booth, so that you and I, as fans or broadcasters, can actually keep track of what's going on on the field.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: So they're they're not only making sure the game's in check, but they're also keeping us informed as well.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: We appreciate that.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So Andy and Joe, I'd like each of you to take these three questions and answer that.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: We can start with Andy because and A's first.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: But Andy, I want you to let us know how long have you been officiating?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: I've been officiating for 40 years.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: So you've seen a lot, done a lot, been there, experienced that probably.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's been a great experience, and uh it's been a lot of fun too.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a great time.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: How did you get to this particular point in your officiating career?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let us know how you got into officiating and how you kind of got up to this particular point in your career.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: I had a friend of mine that lived up in Sydney, okay, that uh I visited quite often, and he he was an official up there.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: He tried to talk me into becoming official, and I says, Well, I don't know if I really want to do this, uh I don't want to get yelled at, and everything else.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: He says, Ah, come on, you'll like it.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I joined the uh the Sydney chapter, okay.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: I was there for a year and a half, and I transferred down to uh Binghamton, but that's that sort of got the bug to me.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: I got onto the field, I got with the rest of the teams and the rest of the officials, and it was a great time.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: You be you generate some kind of uh commodity with the with the rest of the crew, okay.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you're always there, but it's the fun of looking at the kids and making sure you're doing the best thing for them for both teams, okay.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's it's really a fun time.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, what part of the officiating crew do you usually work?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: I usually work as a referee.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: I started out as a line judge, line umpire, okay, uh, line judge, headlinesman.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Then uh about 25 years ago, I became a referee and I've been a referee ever since.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a great position.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and it's a position that you have to keep your on your toes at all times, okay?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: There's always something that happens that's the unexpected.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: And usually with the crew, we just it's just like clockwork.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: You pick it right up right away.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: As long as you practice, uh, when we have official meetings, what do you do in this situation and that situation?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: And how do you communicate with the rest of the crew?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's really key to me, uh, to making sure the game flows correctly.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Joe, same series of questions for you.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: How long have you been officiating?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: I've been officiating uh over about 35 years now.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh got involved back right out of college.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: And what got me started in it all was when I was in college trying to make some money, I used to officiate the Armiro games.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: And back then you'd probably get maybe four or five dollars a game and take a lot of abuse from fellow students from back then in those days.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: But so then when I kept got out of college, I said, you know what, why don't I just continue on?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: I love the game of football.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: And at the time I was working at um the Binghamton Press, and a gentleman by the name of Frank Gennarelli, God rest his soul, got me involved in it.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: And he asked me, uh, why don't you come join us?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: And we did.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I went to the uh first meeting and I said, Okay, I'm hooked.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: So 30 some years later, here I am.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: So and you guys do a great job.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: What part of the officiating crew do you usually uh work?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: You know what?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: My role, and I think we'll talk about this a little later, Tim, is the assigner.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: I predominantly do the referee position like Andy, but most as to be an assigner, I got to fill in a lot of different spots.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: So pretty much all five positions I've filled in over the last few years just because of the the asshorance of officials we have.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: So, and like Andy said, you know, uh, it's it's a it's all about communication and and on the field.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: And we all, if people don't think we do, we do.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: We we talk amongst each other, we smile, we laugh, we we just have an overall good time out there, you know.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: So that's pretty much it.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually another team that you're part of, and it's uh it's cool as a broad.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I didn't really pay attention to what you guys did when I was a player because I was so wrapped up in the game, but then when I got into coaching, and then when I got into broadcasting, I really paid much more attention to what you guys do uh in terms of not only keeping the game going the way it's supposed to be, but um the way you go about things, you know, it you are the officials, but the way you go about it, it's it's always very uh professional and uh not not demeaning or anything like that.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And uh just it's good to watch you guys, and you guys give us a lot of cues up in the booth in terms of like what might be coming and whatnot.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate that.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now that uh we understand a little bit about your background, I would like you guys to give us an overview of each of the five officials that are on the field on uh on any given play and what those responsibilities are for each one of those individuals.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Andy, you want to take that?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, sure.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Are we just as a referee?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, you're sort of like the crew chief, okay?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: You make sure everybody's in the right spot before you start to ready for play.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Are we ready to go as a team?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Because if we're not, we're not starting, okay?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: I sort of in the backfield, I watch for uh some illegal motions by different players.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: I count the players along with the umpire.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Him and I will give a signal back to each other that hey, we have 11 players on the field.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: I look for people in motion to see if uh they go early, if they go on right, or if they go in motion, are they going towards a line of scrimmage?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if it's a pass play, I I covered a passer.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: If it's a kick play, I covered a kicker to make sure they're not roughed and everything happens correctly.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and as a running play, you try to tail a tail a play to make sure not any late hits, any kind of illegal holding and stuff like that.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, that's a general outlook of the uh the referee.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um the head linesman, okay, is uh he's in charge of the chains and he is in charge of the chains.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make any difference what I say, it's what he says that counts because somebody'll go, hey, move it down.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: He says, I'm waiting.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'll let you know when I get the message from the referee, we're gonna do it correctly.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: He looks for offsides, some kind of false start on the offense.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: He covers the running plays.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: He comes in, spots the ball, gives it to the umpire.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes he'll place it himself on pass plays.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: He goes down halfway, he covers the passes.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: The back judge is way downfield covering the rest of the field.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: But if it's a long run to his side, he's got to follow that player down the sideline to make sure he doesn't step out of bounds, etc.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: He also looks for the right formations.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Do we have the ends on the line of scrimmage?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Are they off the line of scrimmage?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: What it is, he's got to make sure that we have you know five guys on the line of scrimmage, and the rest of the other two guys are not in the backfield.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's the key there.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's a rule change that came about last year, and they codified it this year with some additional changes.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: But that's uh initial look at the linesman and the referee.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that and the linesman, he's on the sideline.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's right, he's on the side with the chains, okay?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: He's usually opposite the home field.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, good.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll take the other three.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: The the umpire position is it's it's kind of can be a dangerous position because you're right in the middle of it all, and these kids are getting younger and they they bounce around, and they're they're their immediate um what they have to look for is uh holding inside, false starts.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, pretty much the interior line is what they have to do.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: If there's a pass play, they look down the line to see if the quarterback goes over the line of scrimmage, but they pretty much control the interior line of the game.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: They're there they we have a lot of good umpires who talk to the kids to make sure, hey, watch yourself for holding, you know, because the last things we want to do is throw a lot of flags out there.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: So, what the umpire does is he he pretty much controls the interior line and make sure he talks to the kids and make sure they keep their hands in and uh you know what and watch for any kind of blocks, illegal blocks or anything like that.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's his interior line area that he has.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: Andy already mentioned the um linesman on the opposite side is the line judge, and the line judge is pretty much the same thing as the linesman.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: He's got forward progress and he helps out on the pass plays.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: He watches for the motion, he he's got the pretty much the the line.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: And what he does is like Andy said, he he goes downfield with the linesman and works with the back judge, who I'll get into as far as on the pass plays.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: So they're both those gentlemen also have control of the sidelines and make sure they they report back to the coaches of any kind of fouls or any kind of situations.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: Again, that's part of the communication then that we have with our with on the field.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: So going to the back judge, he's probably pretty good uh role back there because last year they instituted the 40 second clock, and his responsibilities are the 40 second clock as well as any kind of delays.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: So his responsibilities are to watch obviously pass plays, take care of the clock before the snap.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: And if it goes into the side zone, like like Andy is the referee, he cleans up for any plays that are might go out of bounds.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: But his full responsibility is back there on the passes, and he works with the other two gentlemen who go down and uh make sure the pass is complete or incomplete.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: On punts, he's down there also.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: He's got a full responsibility of making sure the gentleman either fair catches or not, and or if he, you know, any kind of blind side or uh blocking the backs.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: So that's pretty much the five of them.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: If I miss anything, let me know.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: But I think that's good overall, yes.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: I think we're good at that.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Can you take us through just through your placement on a kickoff and the things you're looking for on a kickoff formation?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm usually down around the goal line, I'm between uh the goal post and the uh and midline, okay, on the sideline rather.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm looking for that we have the right number of uh receivers on the field.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: I check with all the officials.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Are you ready for the kickoff?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'll point to them.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: They usually have their hand held up.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: If it's a line judge, you have a bean bag in his hand.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: The back judge should give me the signal, the headline's may give me a signal, and the umpire says, I'm ready to go.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Once I see that, I'll blow the whistle and then we'll have the kickoff.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's how the kickoff starts.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: And during the kickoff, okay, it's a responsibility of the upman who happens to be the line judge and the headlines to watch for short kicks in the air in case we have an onside kick, etc.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, look for first touching in there in case we have if it doesn't go 10 yards, does the kickers touch the ball?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because then we have a spot of first touching which the receivers can take the ball at that spot.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: And if it's kicked deep, all the officials look in front of them, they don't look behind them.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, if it's behind you, don't worry about the kick.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, look for blocking, stuff like that.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: And the person behind you will start the clock when it's legally touched.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, then it's a matter of just moving upfield.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: If it's a long run back, the back judge always has the goal line at the other end of the field.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's his responsibility.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: So that's basically it there for me.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, go ahead.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead, John.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: Anything else to add?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: I was just gonna say, obviously, Andy, we always talk about those blind side blocks as well as as the block in the backs that uh are pretty predominant on not all the time, but on the kickoffs.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: We just those are some of the things that are more emphasized over the last couple of years.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: Good point.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think one of the way I used to look at it, and I and I used to think that all the officials had to know everything and and see everything, but the way you have your team of five, and you're you've got definite roles and responsibilities lined up, so it makes it uh something that uh is really not easy to do, but you've got certain things you look for, you're not trying to look for everything.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I think some people think that uh all officials have to see everything, but you have certain responsibilities, and your eyes are in different places based on your role and responsibility.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that was a great breakdown of that.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think our listeners will really appreciate that.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in addition to your roles as game day officials, Andy, you're in what we call the rules interpreter, and Joe is the assigner.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Can you start, Joe, and let us know what the role of the assigner is?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well, at sometimes, Tim, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you know what, because of the number of games and there might be a weather factor, but of course, our chapter, like all chapters throughout New York State, and you can hear those commercials now, everybody needs officials.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: So, my role is to pretty much get a plan, make sure the weekend games are covered by all officials that we have, and andor any pee-wee games that we also have.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I pretty much, you know, assign the gentlemen to the certain positions in certain games, and for nine to ten weeks, it's pretty hairy at times, you know.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: So trying to plug everybody in and with games being moved around, not too much with our sport because they they can play in some pretty bad weather, as you know, Tim.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that's pretty much it.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, just work with the athletic directors as well as the coaches on any concerns or anything that comes across.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because this year or this season, I should say the spring, when you talk spring football, you're thinking collegiate, but it's it's kind of a strange times that we're in now.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: But this the shortened six-game season and then the new county scheduling alignment, has that impacted your ability to assign officials?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's put a little more um um little more difficulty on it because we've got to try and keep everybody within, like you said, the county.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: We don't want to have too much travel because the guys are gonna be coming individually to the games and then leaving immediately afterwards.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: So um we've had some gentlemen that have opted out, and that's no problem because of the COVID situation.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: And but the schools are pretty much gonna be playing locally, so I think we've got everything covered, so it shouldn't be a problem.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: So um we'll know in the next couple of months, see what happens.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: From a scheduling standpoint, there's going to be some um some unique games that uh for in terms of teams playing teams that they don't normally play, you know, maybe a a double A is playing a C or a D or a B or something like that.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's kind of interesting when you go through the schedule, some of the teams that are ending up playing other teams that may have never played before, or maybe it's uh renewing an old rivalry that took place, you know, in the past.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it's going to be interesting.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: So much more.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: No, I was just gonna say so much more because of uh Bingleton now playing Susanna Valley, just just those type of games, those are interesting to look at.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: And and that and I think some of the lower classifications, this is a chance for them to step up and really get a barometer of where they are in their program.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Andy, you are also a rules interpreter.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I I'm gonna confess that when I was coaching at the high school level, the semi-pro level, once I got your number and your email, I was bugging you quite a bit, and still up till recently I've been contacting you.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I really appreciate all the uh explanations you were giving me on and sometimes what I think are complicated, but you seem to always simplify that.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, what is your role as a rules interpreter?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, my assignment as the rules interpreter is to uh review the current updates every year.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: We have new rule changes, stuff like that.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure all the members understand what the rule changes are.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes these changes are they change one year, but the next year they may change the same rule to a different way, okay?
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: They make corrections to the rule, but the uh the main purpose of the rule changes initially was to protect the protect the players, okay.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: There was a lot of kind of contact, the injuries based on kickoffs and punts.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: So they tried to eliminate replay of those type of plays, okay.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: So uh that's why we have a foul called the PSK, even though the receivers foul, they can they get to keep the ball, okay, and they get to uh reinforce the penalty against them instead of going back and re-kicking, where you have multiple players running at full speed up and down the field where you have real problems, okay.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Every year we probably have you know, probably four or five rule changes, some affect uh the clothing aspects of the game, but some of that safety too, like helmets, okay, the equipment the players must wear.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's something we need to know, okay, because we can't have an injury on the field because a player didn't have the right helmet, okay.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: For example, didn't have the mouthpiece in or whatever, didn't have a mouthpiece, etc.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: And the rest of the rules that uh we we cover are some of our mechanical type things too.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you where do you position the players, where position the officials on different plays, understanding where you should be.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: But um, it's a lot of times it's difficult because we have a rule change like three years in a row for a certain rule, and all of a sudden the fishers are saying, Now, what was that rule?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: What was the what was that rule?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Is it two years ago?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: This year was it what the rule change?
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we try to enforce what the current rule is and go over that many times during our meetings to make sure we get that in drained in uh our our officials.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: But it's important, it's important that all the rules are officiated correctly, and it's important that the rules that the officials know are the ones that they should be enforcing.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's not one from two years ago or three years ago, it's the current rule, and that's what we try to do is make sure the officials have the current list of rules, the changes, and where to be on the field.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I've seen more than once, Andy.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've been doing a lot of games and coaching a lot of games here, and I see your teams, whatever game it is, if there's a questionable call or there's something that they're not sure about, they come together and probably 99.9% of the time it's right.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're human, you're not gonna get everything right, but it's good to see you guys come together.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have the uh benefit of replay.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you guys have got to pay attention really and recall it in your mind what happened.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it's good to see you guys come together and get those things right because sometimes sometimes the fans don't realize they're they're they want something always instantaneously, and sometimes you got to talk about it because there's uh there's some real confusing things that happen out there, and things happen so fast.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Joe, you alluded to the the student athletes are getting younger.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm glad I like that perspective, but uh yeah, things happen fast along that line.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, a lot of times officials we try to get in the right place to make the right call, okay?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes an official sees something that it's behind the other official, he may call it one way and he may come in and say, Hey, the guy dropped the ball or didn't have it.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: We need to work as a crew out there, and that's what we are a crew.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: We want to get it right no matter what happens, okay.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really important to us.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: And and obviously important to the uh student athletes and the teams as well.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Andy, I want you since you're the the seasoned guy on the call today by at least five years, can you take us through what a typical game day looks like for you?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning when you start your day, are there routines, uh superstitions that maybe you don't want to share with us, but things that you do to prepare yourself to go into uh a game for that day or maybe multiple games for that day?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, my week starts when I get the assignments from Joe, okay.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: And at that point in time, I contact the rest of my crew, tell them what time I want to be there at the game site.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, usually it's an hour and a half before game time we arrived, okay.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: But this year with the COVID, we're gonna come dressed to these games, okay.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Before we used to get dressed, we have a pregame session, and we'll hold the pregame session this year, probably in the parking lot or someplace else the school provides.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when we get there, before I get there, okay, I go through my bag twice, okay.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes three times.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Did I did I put my shoes in there?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, do I have all my shirts in there?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, some guys say, Well, today looks like a long sleeve shirt day.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll say, I hope we brought you a short sleeve shirt too.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, because uh we but we all dress the same too.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's a key thing.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: So when you when you package up your bag, okay, you package it for every type of fish or every type of day it could be there, okay?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because it could be sunny, it could be rainy, it could be cold, it could be anything, okay.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: But uh I go my through my bag several times um uh to make sure I have the right stuff there.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: Once we get there, okay, we have a pregame, we talk about each position, what the coverage should be, where you should be.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: We talk about uh going out into the field, we have the back judge go up and visit the uh clock operator and make sure they understand the 40-second clock, the 25-second clock, the signals to start the clock, start the play clock, when to stop it, etc.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh usually the uh line judge and myself will go around the field to do a survey of the field to make sure the cones are right and everything else seems appropriate on the field.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um then we'll talk a little about the coin toss, okay?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: We'll get the captains, make sure you understand who the captains are.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: When we get ready, we'll bring the captains out.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that's sort of like that's the pre-game that I do, okay.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: Joe, how about anything to add there?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: No, I think you pretty much got it, Andy.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: Just some one thing that the uh fans may not realize we we don't come dressed, we come right like Andy said, about an hour and a half before the games, and we get dressed in the locker rooms to go over everything.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: So we're a professional organization, and that's how we present ourselves.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: But uh pretty much that's it.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: You've covered it all, Andy.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: One thing uh gotta get you guys' input on Dave Barnard's crew, regardless.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Regardless of the weather, he's a short sleeve guy, and I've seen him in many a game where I'm freezing and I'm up in the booth with a heater, and Dave's down there in short sleeves, and his crew is too.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: And they're they're calling the game, and it doesn't look like it bothers him.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Dave's a hardened guy, okay.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he loves the short sleeves um mentality, if one of me supposed to put it that way, okay.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so we sort of instant a rule a couple years ago that there's a vote of the of the crew what we should wear, okay.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: And Dave's pretty good at convincing the rest of the crew to wear a short sleeve shirt, okay.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: So uh when uh I'd like to feel comfortable out there.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be freezing, I don't want to worry about is it raining on me, is that cold, I'm gonna freeze my hands cold or whatever.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a I'm a warm weather official, okay.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: If the weather's cold, I'm gonna have on long sleeve shirts, maybe gloves, etc.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, I want to feel comfortable out there and uh to each his own is what I say, I guess that's the way it goes.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and if you're uh not comfortable that you're gonna be slightly distracted thinking about trying to get warm or get dry, and it doesn't allow you to focus 100% on what you're doing.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I can I can understand that.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Is there actually a proper way to throw a flag?
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, there is.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, go ahead, go ahead, Joe.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: You were you know all I was gonna say, Andy, is there is a proper way, make sure and it's certain fouls or spot fouls, so that flag has to go into where the uh foul happened.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: So, but other than that, if it's just a general flag, right, Andy, it's supposed to go straight up in the air and hopefully doesn't hit anybody on the way down, you know.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: So right.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly right.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, if it's uh if it's a line of scrimmage and they have uh too many guys, it's straight up in the air.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: If it's a hold someplace, okay, or block below the waist or something like that, we try to get the flag at the point of foul, okay?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's what that's our procedure.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: When I was uh coaching at Vestal, we had a scrimmage, you know, your your traditional scrimmage like the weekend before the game start.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: We were over at Shenango Forks, and I forget what the official's name was, but he's usually uh he's the big guy that spots the ball, real, really big guy, athletic big guy.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: But he was there and he was going to officiate our scrimmage.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I went over to him and I because he had the same uh like coaching shoes on that I did, and we're talking about that.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: I said to myself, can I actually throw your flag and just see what that feels like?
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Sure, he took it.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I took it and I threw it up, threw it up in the air, and I said, Man, that really feels cool.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, Would you like to join?
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: We're always recruiting, yeah.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: I said, let me let me think about that.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: I I used to work with uh a good friend of mine now who was an official and he's since passed away as Jim Russell.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: And when I got I used to work with him at IBM, and when I um got done playing with the Jets, the first thing he said, I was like the the next week when I came in to work, he says, Hey, would you would you think about being an official?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I says, You know, I really enjoy the coaching aspect of it.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: I want to stay with that, and I appreciate what you guys do.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I've had some opportunities to do it, and I really appreciate what it is you guys do.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, is there any particular rule or rules or that are misunderstood often or uh a situation it's misunderstood that you can share with us to kind of clear that up for us?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh most of the complications I see a lot of times are are in punts, okay?
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: For example, uh, let's say that there's a as you start, you punt from the 20-yard line, it goes 30 yards downfield, okay.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then the the kicking kicking team touches the ball, okay.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a spot of first touching.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then thereafter in the play, okay, there's a foul that's committed.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now you go to the the offended team and say if it's the receivers, okay, they cannot take the ball at the spot of first touching once there's a foul that's on the play.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: So they can either take the result, a PSK type of foul if it's against the uh receiving team, or if it's against the defense team, they want to go back and have them re-kick it all.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: So most people don't understand that.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, it's very difficult uh on kicks.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: What to understand?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Annie, what is PSK?
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's post scrimmage post scrimmage kick, okay.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Scrimmage kick, okay.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: That was a clarification of official talk.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh okay, now um what advice would you guys give to someone who's considering becoming a football official?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, there's a couple of different avenues they can do.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, someone, if they are from the area, they can always contact their uh coaches or high schools that they've paid played for in the past because we we try and recruit that way.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we do have a Facebook page, Southern Tier Football Officials.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they can go on there and post and get some information from there.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they can also go to the Section 4 website where we have gotten some officials from, where they send in information to section four, and then section four passes along to us, and we contact as individuals.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um any of us have a phone number.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: My phone, if you want me to give me my phone number, I can give you that.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to do that, that's fine.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my phone number is 607-761-5806, and then we contact you back and let you let you know when our meetings start, and we go from there.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: So um, a lot of different avenues that a person can do it.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's just you gotta just come and see what it's all about.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: Now I think you have a have to have a love for the game too.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yes, that's not something you're gonna get rich on.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: You're not getting rich on it, yeah.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: So exactly.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Can you share what officials make, or is that not something that you do?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just I'm just assuming not not going to be a good one.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, sure.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: I understand that.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, now I want to go into the next segment here.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this each of you, with the the number of years that of experience that you have officiating, you you gotta have one or more stories that are funny.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this could be any level of football, and it's could be a situation you yourself experienced, or you actually witnessed it, or maybe you're an instigator, maybe it was something you initiated.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Can you guys share some funny stories with us?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: You want to go first, Andy?
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'll go first, okay.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've been officiating in like four or five years, okay.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I was assigned a pee-wee game down in Glendale Park, young kids, and it was like the the middle of the second quarter or so, and all of a sudden there was a hold on the play.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I throw my flag and the coach says, What number was it?
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I said to myself, I don't know what the number was, I don't remember it.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Did look, I says, I made a mistake there.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: And he says, You can't you can't throw a flag if you don't have the number like that, okay.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: And he's going right up, he's he's going right after me, you know.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: After and after, after all of a sudden, this kid comes running up.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: I know it was 50 something.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, he says, Coach, that was me.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: Coach, that was me.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that was one of the things I never forgot that.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it taught me two things, okay.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: That life always has an answer, plus, you gotta remember the number, okay?
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: That that's funny, that's good stuff.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Joe, you got any?
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I got I got one that's gonna tie into another.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, my first game ever was uh a modified game down in Binghamton.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: It was UE versus Binghamton modified game, and I'll tell you, it was almost like the Super Bowl.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: And the way the coaches were screaming yellow at me, I'm going, What am I doing here?
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: Why should I be here?
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: So, with that, I obviously stuck it out for 30-some years later, but I had a game.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: One of the more funny things was I had a game in a Uego one year back in the early 90s, and it was okay, it was main animal play in Ouego, and it was a pretty pretty playoff implication game.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_02: So there was a call at the end, it was right in front of me, and they all wanted to pass interference, and I didn't call it.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: Just like no call, one of those no calls.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_02: So coming off the field, there was an older lady who met me at the gate and kind of gave me an indication of how good I was as an official, if we can all go from there.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_02: This is a family-friendly um broadcast.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but the funny thing is we went into the locker room afterwards, and we're after our games, because it's so hot, we shower.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the shower stall had the missing handle from the shower, and it's like, oh, okay.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: So we had this play, and all of a sudden our shower handle's missing.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_02: So uh the gentleman that was coaching Weigo at the time was Mark Decker, and who's a great individual, known Mark for many years, and still keep in touch with him.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: He's retired down to Florida, and I always bring it up.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: I say, Mark, you know what?
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: Where was that shower handle?
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_02: And he goes, I don't know what you're talking about, Joe.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: So those are just some of the one of the couple funny stories that we have.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's interesting you mentioned that because my first opportunity to coach at the varsity level was with Coach Decker at Owego.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was the the night I just finished up coaching uh the in the U was the Owigo Appalachian Junior Football League, I believe it was called.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: I had coached there for three or four years while I was still playing with the Jets.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: But uh Mark gave me my first opportunity with him there and Coach Gray and with Coach Bryant.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I could see how stuff like that might happen.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: Back then it was a little different than it is today.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's a funny situation.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, there was a good friend of mine, Herb Williams was an official um out of a weego and down in that particular area.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, God rest his soul.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: But he was a he was a pretty good guy, and he'd been uh an official for quite a while as well.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I I I got a thing about Herbie then.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you about the story.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: We went uh down to a past Hancock to this school to do a football game, all right.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: And uh as we're down there, okay, there's a play.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there was Roscoe's where it was, okay.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: And uh uh Herbie comes out in the field, okay.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: We're going through the game, and and all of a sudden there's a play that happens, okay.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: And the the coach came out and he didn't agree with the call, okay.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then they got into a little he said, she said it was a he said, he said, and then all of a sudden Herbie says to the coach, he says, You think I would drive a hundred miles down here to pork you?
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not mad, okay.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: He says, You're crazy.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: I love the kids and I love the game.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: I would never let that happen to me.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I always remember those words, okay.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, exactly.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, I can I can understand that.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, listen, this has been a great uh conversation.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: We appreciate it and sharing all your knowledge and of the game and the insights and things like that.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully uh people will listen to this and say, hey, I'd I'd like to give that a try.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: That sounded like a lot of fun.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you guys really help put it in perspective.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you you guys aren't the bad guys out there, you guys are the third team on the field for a reason, and we really appreciate that.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to thank you, Andy and Joe, and the best to both of you, your families, and all the officials.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Tim.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Tim, for the time.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to click the subscribe button.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, tell your friends, Coach Smith says visit cover4.com and get involved.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: In football and life, it's not where we line up, it's where we wind up.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.