Saturday, December 22, 2012

Why do NFL officials have to explain the overtime rules?

While watching the Cowboys/Steelers OT game last weekend, I got a little annoyed by the fact that the official was forced to awkwardly attempt to explain the overtime rules to the players and crowd before the coin flip.  I couldn't find a video of it, but here's a clip of a similar circumstance from last year's Giants/49ers playoff game:



Why does this happen?  I sort of get why they did it for the fans when the rule was brand new, but it's not new anymore.  And if the players somehow aren't aware, they don't deserve an explanation.  You don't see this in any other sports.  The umpires at a baseball game don't announce before extra innings that if the home team takes the lead the game is over.  NBA refs don't explain that the extra period only lasts 5 minutes.  And it doesn't happen at other points in NFL games; you don't see referees grabbing the microphone at the two-minute warning to announce that all replays reviews will now happen automatically.  The rules are the rules, everybody knows them.  Announcing them before overtime is just dumb.

 

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