Show I Ii i Football Is Hard to Officiate I By GRANTLAND RICE Lefty James the very able coach at Cornell let out a lusty squawk about football officials and the penalties imposed against his Cornell team inthe In Inthe Pty the Harvard game s Lefty James is a first class coach and a first class J f sportsman He was wasi merely giving pub- pub i 11 Ii c utterance to what so 0 m many a n y yx x other coaches said before in private Grantland Rice conversation What they all overlook in this this football football is not nota a game that lends itself to the operation of officials You Yon have 22 men on the field widely scattered all over the lot lott any anyone anyone one of them quite willing to face the chance of any penalty that might help win the game As up Hurry-up Yost once said to tome me There me There are at least one or two penalties incurred on every play in football There are off oU sides There is holding secret or other other- wise There is always some form of rule breaking All AU the officials can do is watch for penalties that affect the play directly In the course of one season after another I have seen penalties that changed the course of four or five games a year I have seen many penalties that were not called but that directly affected the turn of the game These were shown in motion pictures later Some of them were glaring lr infractions but unseen unseen unseen un un- un- un seen by the officials It so happened that I worked as an official in the south for many years as referee umpire and field Jud judge e. e It was then I Imade Imade Imade made up my mind that football football foot foot- ball hall was not a game that could be handled efficiently on the field I have never changed my mind since No pair of eyes doubled and redoubled redoubled redoubled re re- re- re doubled can follow all that takes place Pass interference alone could drive any set of officials stark raving mad I have shown slow motion pictures of such plays to many officials whose rulings inthe inthe in inthe the game were at variance with the camera portrayal They were of course guessing Backfield in hi motion is another problem that keeps coaches and officials in a frantic state of mind It is a split-second split decision on and the human eye isn't equipped for split seconds The hand hand and and the foot foot foot- are both quicker than the human eye Which is never too fast OtherwIse Otherwise Otherwise Other Other- wise magicians would starve to death Yet the official must work with his eyes which are not capable capable capable capa capa- ble of handling the job Football the Toughest Football is by all odds the toughest tough tough- est of at all games for any set of officials to handle Baseball is a holiday In compari compari- son The umpire today today today-or or four tour of them them knows knows where to be and there can only be two men Involved right under his Ws nose the nose the runner and the fielder But with 22 men scattered all over the field from field from 50 to yards apart apart all all with a little honest honest honest hon hon- est larceny in hi their hearts hearts no no set of officials could cover this ground But the main fault is with the structure of football itself not with the officials No set of officials in any game works harder trains harder hardert or tries harder to handle an impossible job It is an impossible job on many occasions where the human human human hu hu- man eye falls down completely In sitting up in a press box hox above the field you frequently see plays clearly that officials on the field must miss with their visions shut oft off by intervening intervening intervening in in- players The worst place to see a football game is from the bench The level view is impossible That Tha t is why scouts helping to direct the play move to some elevated spot and use their phones phones' from above the field Football officials however work on this level range One official working above the field could see twice as much on many occasions as those working on the ground Coaches should understand the fault isn't with the officials It is with the game itself And the coaches could do a better job in training their men to play the game by the rules which so few coaches do Off Oft side holding starting starting start start- ing too quickly hi m the backfield are rule infractions that right coaching coaching coach coach- ing could reduce S s Jinx in Sports Stan l recently voted the second most valuable player in inthe inthe inthe the National League for 1950 can canhit canhit canhit hit between and in any park in the majors majors except except Forbes Field which Is next door to his home town of Donora Pa Most years the finest batsman in the National National Na Na- League is happy if it he can top at Pittsburgh his absolute three-ring three plated gold-plated jinx The following following following fol fol- fol- fol lowing afternoon at Ebbets Field may be on base every time Harry Breechen has won thirty times in his forty games with the Chicago Cubs All he has to do is throw his glove on the field and the Cubs are down Same was true of Art Nehf NeW the left left-hander who could always beat the Pirates Through four seasons Nehf defeated defeated de de- de Pittsburgh thirteen times ina in ina a row before they broke the spell in 1922 Nehf was the main factor in depriving the Pirates of ot the pen pen- pennant pennant pennant nant in 1921 They had a lead of seven and a half halt games going into New York in mid-August mid but the Giants took then five straight ht |