Chain measuring 1st down?
- Thread starter voltz99
- Start date
Funny someone said the same thing a few weeks ago at a bar I go to watch games and damn if 5 minutes later they didn’t run the chains onto the field to measure for a first down.
I read the USFL is not using chains and just using a chip imbedded in the ball
I would imbed at least one near each end of the ball. You could get the exact positioning of the ball and orientation within a small degree of experimental error.
They still do it just not as often. Perhaps because modern offenses get yards in chunks.
I've worked the chains at our high school for 18 years. The "Box" guy marks the initial spot based on the back foot of the Line Judge. I then hold my stick and the Box while he then marks the clip on the near side of the nearest yard line and changes the setting on the clip to reflect that mark.
When the chains are called out it is the clip that is used as the placesetter and then the chain is pulled towards the first down by the refs. Us Proletariat guys only carry them out.
Is it an exact science? No. Sometimes the Linesman isn't very accurate. Other times the Referee mistakes the ball placement after a play. We technically are game officials and our point of contact is the Linesman who then can effect change.A few times each game there is a mistake. People are human.
Over the course of a 6 home game season we go out for measurements maybe 4-8 times. The key is the initial mark which has about a two inch width variant depending on where the box is set...my partner tries for the middle of the heel. We've had instances where the home team was an inch short and vice versa, so it can be a game of inches.
Most Refs/Linesmen tend to try mark the ball at the front of a yard line regardless of where it actually may have been at the end of the play. That makes measurements less necessary as long as the ball is touching the yard line.
In this day of video review and yellow lines are yard markers obsolete? Maybe. Except for the few times each year when they are the difference between a first down and a punt or turnover.
FWIW I retired from the Chain Gang at the end of this year without ever sustaining an injury. Got knocked over a few times and have seen a grusome broken leg for player right before my eyes. Also saw a guy go into cardiac arrest in the stands and be saved by paramedics. One cheer team dropped a girl and she got ambulances out with neck injuries and head trauma.
It was awesome getting paid to watch the games and being on the field is a neat perspective. I got to know all of the opposing coaches and you can definitely get a read on a school from how their kids behave. Sometimes your most affluent schools have the whiniest kids. Often more Inner City kids are much more polite and disciplined.
We were widely considered the best crew in our League by the Refs. It was a point of pride to do the best we could.
But I'm ready to be a fan and sit with my wife on Friday nights. I got paid to watch mostly bad football over the years in all kinds of weather. Now our program has elevated itself and is fun to watch.
Everything has its limit, and my days are over.Maybe the chains should go with me?
When the chains are called out it is the clip that is used as the placesetter and then the chain is pulled towards the first down by the refs. Us Proletariat guys only carry them out.
Is it an exact science? No. Sometimes the Linesman isn't very accurate. Other times the Referee mistakes the ball placement after a play. We technically are game officials and our point of contact is the Linesman who then can effect change.A few times each game there is a mistake. People are human.
Over the course of a 6 home game season we go out for measurements maybe 4-8 times. The key is the initial mark which has about a two inch width variant depending on where the box is set...my partner tries for the middle of the heel. We've had instances where the home team was an inch short and vice versa, so it can be a game of inches.
Most Refs/Linesmen tend to try mark the ball at the front of a yard line regardless of where it actually may have been at the end of the play. That makes measurements less necessary as long as the ball is touching the yard line.
In this day of video review and yellow lines are yard markers obsolete? Maybe. Except for the few times each year when they are the difference between a first down and a punt or turnover.
FWIW I retired from the Chain Gang at the end of this year without ever sustaining an injury. Got knocked over a few times and have seen a grusome broken leg for player right before my eyes. Also saw a guy go into cardiac arrest in the stands and be saved by paramedics. One cheer team dropped a girl and she got ambulances out with neck injuries and head trauma.
It was awesome getting paid to watch the games and being on the field is a neat perspective. I got to know all of the opposing coaches and you can definitely get a read on a school from how their kids behave. Sometimes your most affluent schools have the whiniest kids. Often more Inner City kids are much more polite and disciplined.
We were widely considered the best crew in our League by the Refs. It was a point of pride to do the best we could.
But I'm ready to be a fan and sit with my wife on Friday nights. I got paid to watch mostly bad football over the years in all kinds of weather. Now our program has elevated itself and is fun to watch.
Everything has its limit, and my days are over.Maybe the chains should go with me?
It would help on out-of-bounds placements and TD calls as well.
Agreed but the players still need a marker on the sidelines to show the line to gain
My son played at a small private high school in Delaware. Parents of the players would work the chains during home games. I averaged about 2 games a year.
Some funny stuff happens on the sidelines. We were always positioned on the visitors sideline. One time we were blowing out the other team 42-0. Late in the game a visiting kid gets tackled and I can see he is just short of a first down by easily half a yard. I think to myself “I wonder if they’ll go for it on 4th.” Head ref walks up to LOS, points forward and shouts “first down.”
Another team was lined up to punt, but they only had 10 on the field. Kids kept yelling at the coach they needed another player. I’m standing next to the coach and he yells “just run the f’ing play.” They snap the ball and my sons friend blocks the kick, scoops it up and scores a TD.”
I really miss my sons high school football games. Great times.
Some funny, some crazy stuff happens on a football field that the fans in the stands have no clue.
Someone like Marshall or Bison probably knows the high school system for assigning officials, but when our team was bad, and we were playing another poor team, we typically got the worst refs. And you can imagine how that combination often played out....veritable shit shows....some of these guys were so old and or out of shape that they kinda straddled midfield. One guy perpetually would mis-spot the ball...because he couldn't see the ground when he looked down. Oh the stories we could tell!
