Art McNally is truly a man who worked his way from the bottom to the top of his profession. He has had an impact on our game of football, especially in the NFL, so much so that the League has named an award for officials in his honor.
Please log in and read about Mr. McNally's accomplishments as we recognize him as one of the Order of "Zebra Legends."
Jerry Markbreit may have been the most common face associated with football officials. You could almost say he was our profession's poster face; almost any fan of football would recognize him even though he retired from wearing the stripes in 1998.
In this article we will see what made this very gifted man so visible and authoritative.
Sit in the stands at a high school football game, and you're likely to hear some interesting rule interpretations from the fans.
Consider these:
"No way that's interference. The pass was uncatchable!"
"Whatta you mean it's a touchback? There was no one within 20 yards of him. Let him run it [the kick] out!"
"That's OK, he can hit the receiver as much as he wants, as long as it's within 5 yards of the line."
Those are just a sampling of comments that reflect some basic misunderstandings about the rules that apply to a Friday night high school game as opposed to the pros on Sunday. Log in for Part I as contibuting writer Kent Holm takes a look at "uncatchable passes" and some "other things" for officials to consider.
Having finished a monumental series ("Disputed Calls," 20 parts), Darin Hayes looked around for another research mountain to scale. He writes:
Human nature seems to require us to look for tangible heroes who have characteristics similar to ourselves. Contrary to some fans' and coaches' beliefs, we officials are human, too, with many of the same desires as the rest of humanity.
This group of articles deals with the best (and most interesting) people ever to don the beloved stripes (the vertical ones, not the horizontal). Here is Part I.
Just when you thought there couldn't be any more "routines" for Kent to talk about, here he comes with some more. Only this time, he's talking about stuff that happens before you hit the field. Log in and see for yourself.
