Perspective

I'm setting this up as a separate thread, instead of responding in the Week 5 Pick 'Ems Thread, just in case someone wants to continue the conversation after that thread gets locked. If I've got it right, Chaminade and Central square off tonight in what is arguably the Game of the Week for the entire nation. Two teams ranked nationally in the Top 5. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2. Kickoff (or, more likely, coverage is scheduled to begin) at 7:00. Tough game to pick; arguments can be made for both teams. Should be a good one.

That big round of silence was the collective reaction from all the teams in South Florida that have a realistic shot at making the title game.

It would be interesting to see if the FHSAA raised that "defense" in response to a public records request.

On a related note, is MaxPreps formula disclosed? I noticed that in the MaxPreps national rankings, they have Miami Central ranked 4th and Chaminade-Madonna ranked 5th. Yet in the MaxPreps state rankings, they've got C-M 2nd and Central 3rd. Can anyone explain this?

Miami Central STA Cardinal Newman Apopka Niceville Miramar Seminole Osceola St Augustine Ely

Has anyone from the FHSAA every offered up an explanation as to why the formula is secret? Why can't/shouldn't there be transparency?

Assuming they all stay at MNW and don't transfer again/somewhere else. These days, it takes a special coach to keep kids together when they're losing.

Thanks for the effort and the info. That said, if the best team in my county was 0-4, I might wait a few weeks before posting a county rankings.

Was the "5:00" in "have your picks in by 5:00" a deadline or just more of a guideline? Asking for a friend.

Jones Chaminade Columbus Jax Trinity Christian Plantation Hawthorne Mainland Carrollwood Day School West Orange Gadsden Manatee STA Dunnellon Hudson Cardinal Newman

What does that even mean . . . that the kids currently on the roster grew up and/or live somewhere between Fort Lauderdale and Homestead? Or that the kids on the roster first attended C-M in 9th grade? Does that make them "home grown?" In my mind, "home grown" really only applies to public schools and the kids who grew up in a particular area that is zoned for a particular school. Kids who attend a middle school that feeds into a high school. Kids who follow this path are home grown. C-M is a private school. How big is it's "home?" I'm not trying to pick a fight; but I'm just trying to understand what you mean by "home grown." Does C-M get a large number of transfers every year? Or do they do what I believe Tampa Jesuit does: identifies the talented kids at the time they are in middle school so that they can make sure that when those kids first start 9th grade, they're starting out there. If they do that, does that make them "home grown?"

So, a handful of questions/observations for those who know (or think they know) the answers: 1. Based on my time down on the field and up in the pressbox, the clock operator takes his cues/instructions from the game officials down on the field. In other words, the clock operator starts the clock when he's told and stops the clock when he's told. It is my understanding that any one of the officials can "stop" the clock (technically, signal to the clock operator to stop the clock) by waving/crossing their arms over their head. Is this correct? 2. Once the clock has been stopped, who signals that the game clock should begin running again? The referee? The official who marks the ball ready to play? I believe the signal is one arm up in the air and then rotating the arm in a circle. When I watched the ten-minute video of the last 2 minutes of the game, I'm not sure I ever saw any of the officials do this. I'm not defending the clock operator, but if he's never instructed to start the clock, perhaps it's not his fault that the clock didn't start when it should have? 3. On/after the second down kneel down play, a flag is thrown. Apparently, the flag was against STA (presumably, a dead ball personal foul), but I never saw the white hat signal the penalty. Did I just miss that? In any event, my understanding is that penalty does not result in an automatic first down. 4. After the officials mark off the penalty against STA, you can see one of the Cocoa coaches say something to the guy holding the down marker (I'm guessing he said something to the effect of "hey, that's an automatic first down"), so the guy holding the down marker switched the down from "3" to "1." But, just before the play is run, the side judge turns her (I think it is a 'she') head and tells the guy holding the down marker to change it back to third down, which he does just before the ball is snapped. 5. After the second down play, and after the penalty was assessed against STA, shouldn't the clock have been running? Yeah, I know this is one of Cocoa's main complaints. Simple question: after a running play (when the clock would normally continue to run) and after a dead ball penalty against the defense, the clock should stop to enforce the penalty, right? But, once, the ball is marked ready to play, shouldn't the clock start running again? Or to be more precise, shouldn't one of the officials on the field signal that the clock should start running again? If there was confusion on this issue, the officials should have gotten together and discussed it. The clock was already stopped, so neither team would have been disadvantaged by a quick conference and then re-spotting the ball for play. 6. General observation: you can never rely on the scoreboard to reflect the correct number of timeouts that a team has left. I have seen too many people misinterpret a mandatory water break for a timeout and erroneously make the change on the scoreboard. That said, as a coach, you should absolutely be able to rely upon what an official tells you. The fact that the scoreboard shows one or more timeouts left is irrelevant, but if a ref tells you that your team or the other team has a certain number of timeouts remaining, you should be able to take that to the bank.

Apparently, someone had one of those TV satellite dish microphones on the sidelines and picked up this conversation between the referee, the side judge and the back judge immediately after the Cocoa punt: Ref (looking at the Back Judge): "OK, whatcha got?" Back Judge: "I got 12 men on the field against the defense." Side Judge: "Well, I was standing over on the Aquinas sideline and I think Number 16 got off the field just before the snap." Back Judge: "Well, I counted 12 guys in blue even if Number 16 got off in time." Side Judge: "I just don't know about that. Are you sure?" Back Judge: "Um, yeah, I can count to 12." Ref: "Who's signing our checks for this game?" ***crickets*** Ref picks up the yellow flag and waves off the penalty. [The previous account is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any persons or events is purely coincidental.]

Nolebull, you make a valid point. The only thing that someone could argue in response is that Cocoa ran the "kneel down" play successfully two more times, so you really don't have to play the "what if" game. We know what happened.

The final sentence of that article tells you why Cocoa is f*cked: "Now their fate will be in the hands of the FHSAA."

Google search "idioms examples" Find: "Pot calling the kettle black." Example: Venice high school football coach complaining about calls favoring the home team after one of their two road games.

Chaminade STA Treasure Coast MNW Bartram Trail Miami Central St Joes Pa CDS Jones Tampa Catholic

Per the Internet: Bishop Verot-Lehigh postponed Friday's contest between the Vikings and Lightning has been postponed, per Bishop Verot athletic director Greg Coleman. "Due to a medical issue, tonight's game against Lehigh has been postponed," Coleman told The News-Press. Verot has requested Monday, Sept. 25 as a makeup for the game. Lehigh is off the week of Sept. 22, giving them a chance to play when it's convenient for both sides. Lehigh football coach Antwan Dixon declined to comment but posted a message on his Facebook account. It in part read: "It was completely my decision. Due to health concerns within the area, there’s no way I could’ve let the kids on both teams possibly be affected. I made a promise to myself that I would do everything in the best interest of these kids and I will continue to do that. My kids wanted to play no matter what but as their leader, I will not do that to them. You guys can say we are scared of the opponent but safety is first for me and my staff. So don’t target the kids, target me. I MADE THIS DECISION TO NOT PLAY. The game will possibly get rescheduled. I wish everyone playing tonight the best of luck!" The families of Lehigh students received an email from the school district explaining the cancellation of tonight's game. It read: "Out of an abundance of caution and for the health of the students involved, Lehigh Senior High School is canceling tonight’s football game against Bishop Verot to prevent the transmission of a skin infection spread through person to person contact. All athletic facilities will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected over the holiday weekend so that normal team activities can continue next week. We thank our Lehigh family and Bishop Verot High School for their understanding."

All these comments got me Remembering the Titans . . .

Edgewater Venice Good Counsel MD Bishop Gorman Treasure Coast Seminole Naples Chaminade CCC AHP Leto Hudson Mosley Pace Hawthorne

For what it's worth, I don't expect to see PinellasFB on site for another couple of hours, as I suspect the celebration from Palm Harbor U's 1-point, double-overtime victory over St. Pete last night ran well into the wee hours of the morning.

Yep. Death, taxes, and folks kayaking and paddle-boarding on Bayshore Blvd. when the bay floods over.

That looks like it works out fine for Vero, as they appear to have a bye next Friday night (9/8). But PBG will play Vero on Wednesday and then turn around and play Dwyer on Friday??? Wow.

I'll add one more aspect to your question: does it matter whether the DB is making the incomplete signal towards his team's bench/fans vs the other team's bench/fans? What if he's directing it right towards the receiver to whom the pass was intended? What if he's directing it towards the closest official? Would/should any of these factors influence the decision to throw the flag? And I know I'm mixing apples and oranges here, but it it really any different than a first base coach (or even the batter/runner) giving the "safe call" on a close play at first base?

Hillsborough County games will be played Saturday night instead of Friday night.