These ‘pros’ should have been taught this basic rule in Jr High, if not Pee-Wee football.
It irks me to no end to see team members, including coaches, strutting in the white border called ‘The Sideline’. It’s way past time for officials to start throwing flags for these infractions.
Start penalizing the entire team and the team will start to police itself.
“Start penalizing the entire team and the team will start to police itself.”
That may or may not happen. First, you have to consider the teams and followers to be honest with the rules and wish to participate in the game displaying the sights they seem to think they can go beyond...because of who they are. And the owners, who actually make the rules, should expect their employees to work within the same rules for everyone. But stretching the rules is the way they make money so it leads to a feeling of invulnerability and the middle finger to the rules they seem to think they are above. Unfortunately that happens at all levels of sports that lead to the pros.
If you want to police it, you use the backup officials to police the sidelines and if someone breaks the rule, you flag the team. That goes on record. If that player does it again, suspend them for two games. That ought to get their attention. If the players are going to be coddled by the owners, then make the owners pay for the players sitting in at their personal living room watching with a beer. The average NFL player earns approximately $118,000 per game. And the big guys are far more expensive.
As an ex-official for NCAA and National Federation with contacts with NFL officials I worked with at my level, I talk to them about the changes being made annually, and it’s all about money.
wy69