Look at this guy’s left hand. Notice the black wristband, and the black cord that extends from the wristband, up his hand, and between two of his fingers.
What is that called, and what is it used for?
They’re down indicators. Refs use them to remember what down the game is in: http://www.ump-attire.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=DOWN_INDICATORS
wow…this is news to me. The ref gets confused about which down he is supervising? How hard it is to count to 4?
(disclaimer :I’m only a casual fan of football, and the closest I’ve ever been to the action is 50 rows up in the stands. I’m sure that up close on the field it’s more complicated and stressful.The refs have to pay close attention to a million small details—but knowing which down is being played doesn’t strike me as being a small detail…)
Exactly. That’s why they use a device so they don’t forget. Don’t tell me you’ve never forgotten what down it was and never had to check the scoreboard.
Without a little help, mistakes like this could potentially happen (again).
It’s hard when you are thinking about 10 different things at once. An official is a busy guy, which you don’t really appreciate just watching a game.
Baseball umpires use counters to keep track of outs/balls/strikes. There is a lot of shit going on and it’s easy to have a lapse of attention on something like that if you get distracted by the action. You don’t appreciate how much there is to keep track of in the simple game of baseball until you try to keep a scorecard.
I’ve kept a baseball scorecard, and, trust me, I don’t appreciate it! :smack:
Don’t volleyball officials use something similar?
I’d no idea Ed Hochuli knew the Macarena.
“How hard it is to count to 4?”
Sometimes it’s to 4. Sometimes it’s to 2, then back to 1, then to 3 and back to 1, then to 4 and back, then to 2 and so on up to 8 or 9 times in a drive and for every drive in the game.
Lots to keep track of and this “gizmo” is pretty easy and relatively failsafe. Just move it across the fist as the downs progress.