What makes football different?

[OK2LA]

In basketball, you (a player/coach) can look at a ref wrong - literally - and get a technical foul called on you.

In baseball, you (a player/coach) gets thrown out of a game for "saying the wrong thing" - sometimes it's calling the ump a name, or something like that - other times, it's that the ump really doesn't like the manager, and he tosses him for something pretty petty.

BUT IN FOOTBALL . . .


How many times have you caught "a little" bit of what a coach is YELLING at an official? I mean 99% of the coaches curse, and I'd say that the same % of them say "bullchit" and worse, and say "that call was b.s." and the like. The officials give players penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct, and kick them out of games when they "cross the line", but man - I know that these guys get dressed down BIGTIME.

How come the umps in baseball & especially the officials in basketball are so power hungry, or pusses?!? Does anyone have an answer?

[GrapevineSooner]

Dunno.

But I do like the fact the officials in football, for the most part, allow coaches and players to vent about a particular call without going on a power trip like refs in basketball and umps in baseball do.

[Rogue]

I have a theory based on my observations:

There's a huge difference between saying "that call was bull****" and "you are an asshat." A big culture difference in football is based on 2 things.

One, the field is just big and there is a built-in buffer between the coach and officials even on the sideline during gameplay. So, not being so close means that it is not quite as "personal" when a call is made.

Second, the fact that there is a flag on the field which serves to symbolically remove the call/penalty from the official in football. You can rant and rave about the flag all day long without personally attacking the official because you are yelling about the flag, not his momma or the size of his johnson.

Baseball and basketball are closer in proximity, more "intimate" if you will, and there is a greater tendency to personalize an attack about an officiating call because we are all packed in so much closer to one another. "But Rogue, baseball has a big field and the officials aren't any closer to coaches and players than they are in football." Correct, but how many times do you see a football coach literally kicking dirt on an official? You don't. It may appear that Coach Stoops is climbing all over the official and cursing but he is not attacking the official personally most of the time and the official knows that after a very short time, coach will have to go back behind the line and let him do his job. Not so in baseball. And in basketball everyone is packed into very close quarters which changes the dynamic altogether.

Finally, to state this overtly, the officials in basketball and baseball figuratively "own" the penalty because the only ways they have to communicate it are the whistle and hand-signals. In football, they have a spokesperson (referee), a symbol to identify the penalty that is separate from their body (the flag), and greater defined distance between themselves and the players/coaches on a very large and open field of play.

Soccer uses those funny little cards, but they always remain in the officials hand so s/he still "owns" them. Large field of play, coaches off the field, bat-**** *** crazy fans.

Maybe baseball officials should throw more flags.

[Rogue]

One way to illustrate the importance of the flag creating distance between the official and the infraction is to think about how it can go down when a coach/player crosses the line of being sportsmanlike and unsportsmanlike in their interaction with an official.

Baseball or basketball: the coach calls the official a name and it's a technical foul/ejection thing. The official and coach are still nose-to-nose physically and the official communicates this dramatically in an "in-your-face" manner unless he physically moves/walks away to signal this.

In football, the official would throw a flag up in the air and several feet/yards from himself usually. If he loses his objectivity entirely and gets "mad" then he may casually drop the flag between himself and the coach/player or right next to them. This would look like a personal retaliation more like baseball or basketball. The flag separates the infraction from the official. It is more about the game.

This is partly why football officials are supposed to conceal the flag when it is not being used to signal a penalty. So it doesn't look like a part of them.