crowd noise rule?

[hollmt]

I am watching the 1990 OSU-Michigan game on ESPN Classic and I never noticed before but they had a crowd noise rule going on then. First offense, nothing happened, then a warning, then a timeout would be taken from the offending team, then 5 yard penalties. What a bunch of bull...anyway, does anyone know when this rule was abandoned?

GO BUCKEYES!!!!!!!!

WOO TEAM!!!!

[hollmt]

ok, so nobody knows. so i will assume that it was a rule that Michigan made up for one season so when they played OSU at the Horseshoe and couldnt hear the signals...they could whine to the refs. cause heaven forbid the fans cheer and make it hard for the opposing team. Man, I hate Michigan.

Go Bucks!

[Maple Leafs]

I know nothing about college ball, but I'm fairly sure this was a rule in the NFL and may still be today. I can't remember the last time I saw it called, but I think I remember it being mentioned as a possibility during a game a year or two ago.

[bionicgrov03]

i think i remember this happening to the raiders earlier this year, but i'm not sure.

[hollmt]

This is what I have found, but I have never seen it called other than the game i just watched on Classic.

4. When the offensive team believes it is unable to communicate its signals to teammates other than players positioned more than seven yards from the middle lineman of the offensive formation because of crowd noise. Following are administrative procedures for unfair noise (Rule 3-4-2-b-3):
(a) When the signal caller believes he is unable to communicate signals to teammates because of crowd noise, he may raise his hands and look to the referee to request a legal delay.
(b) The referee may deny the request by pointing toward the defensive team’s goal line or may charge himself with a timeout and the offensive team may huddle.
(c) When the offensive team returns to the line of scrimmage, the game clock will start on the snap. The referee shall declare the ball ready for play by sounding his whistle with no hand signal.
The 25-second clock is not in operation (Rule 3-4-2-b-3).
(d) Should the signal caller then, or later in the game, request a second legal delay by raising his hands and looking to the referee, the referee will charge himself with a timeout again if, in his opinion, the crowd noise makes it impossible to hear offensive signals.
(e) The referee then will request the defensive captain to ask the crowd for quiet. This signals the public-address announcer to request cooperation and courtesy to the offensive team. The announcer will state that the defensive team will be charged a timeout, or be penalized five yards if timeouts are exhausted, for the next crowd-noise infraction.
(f) When the offensive team returns to the line of scrimmage, the game clock will start on the snap. The referee shall declare the ball ready for play by sounding his whistle with no hand signal. The 25-second clock is not in operation (Rule 3-4-2-b-3).
(g) If the signal caller again during the game indicates by raising his hands and looking to the referee to request a legal crowd-noise delay and the referee agrees, a team timeout will be charged to the defensive team. If the defensive team has exhausted its allotment of timeouts, a five-yard penalty is assessed.
(h) After this timeout or the penalty, the defensive team will be penalized five yards for each unsuccessful attempt to start a play. VIOLATION—Rules 3-3-6 and 3-4-2-b [S3 or S21].
Summary of crowd-noise procedures:
Step No. 1—Referee’s timeout.
Step No. 2—Referee’s timeout plus captain’s notification and publicaddress announcement.
Step No. 3—Timeout or five-yard penalty if timeouts are exhausted.
Step No. 4—Five-yard penalty for each additional infraction.

[Maple Leafs]

I'm not the first to say it, but: worst rule in football.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally posted by hollmt
ok, so nobody knows. so i will assume that it was a rule that Michigan made up for one season so when they played OSU at the Horseshoe and couldnt hear the signals...they could whine to the refs. cause heaven forbid the fans cheer and make it hard for the opposing team. Man, I hate Michigan.

Go Bucks!


It also happened when Michigan played Penn State that year. Worst rule ever.

[oykib]

It's not a bad rule. It's only a bad rule in open air stadiums.

At least, the refs should realize that it really can't get impossibly loud in an open air stadium. Of course, I've never been to Michigan or Ohio State. I'm basing this assumption on normal stadiums that don't seat 100,000 fans.

I understand home field advantge. But beat the team on the field.

[ice4277]

It is a terrible rule. The whole point of the crowd making noise is to help the home team out. If the other team is struggling to hear, well, thats home field advantage for ya.

[oykib]

Originally posted by ice4277
It is a terrible rule. The whole point of the crowd making noise is to help the home team out. If the other team is struggling to hear, well, thats home field advantage for ya.

I think it's really there for those bullshit domes that artificially elevate the decibel level. Not to mention the fact that lot of team use the sound system to enhance the crowd noise.

I want the game decided on the field. If you've got a good defense, then you don't need that kind of advantage anyway.

[ice4277]

Well, seeing as hollmt saw it called in a Michigan/OSU game, obviously the call is made in outdoor stadiums as well, so the dome reason (which really doesn't cut it for me anyways) is not necessarily true.

[WussGawd]

Originally posted by hollmt
I am watching the 1990 OSU-Michigan game on ESPN Classic and I never noticed before but they had a crowd noise rule going on then. First offense, nothing happened, then a warning, then a timeout would be taken from the offending team, then 5 yard penalties. What a bunch of bull...anyway, does anyone know when this rule was abandoned?

GO BUCKEYES!!!!!!!!

WOO TEAM!!!!

It didn't last more than a year or two in the college game, IIRC.

The pros tried for a bit longer, until the owners realized that it might not be the best idea in the world to tell paying customers to act like they were watching a round of golf.

[WussGawd]

Originally posted by oykib
I think it's really there for those bullshit domes that artificially elevate the decibel level. Not to mention the fact that lot of team use the sound system to enhance the crowd noise.

I want the game decided on the field. If you've got a good defense, then you don't need that kind of advantage anyway.

The rule was called in outdoor stadiums as well. There were noise stoppages in '87 in the Rose Bowl because the Arizona State fans were messing with Jim Harbaugh's feeble mind in the Michigan game.

The first time I ever saw it called outdoors was an Arizona State game against USC, IIRC, in Sun Devil Stadium.

I haven't seen it called anywhere in a decade though.

EDIT: Gotta disagree with you a bit, oykib.

Crowd noise is part of the game. Always has been. While I object strongly to the crap that goes on in places like the MetroDome, where the stadium operators crank the music during stoppages to ear-bleeding levels heard only in jet washes or rock concerts, the stomping and screaming of 70,000 fans are the essence of homefield, something the players should have to deal with.

If you want to deny the domes (or for that matter, outdoor stadiums with good fan support) the right for their fans to cheer, then you may as well ask Green Bay to stop hosting home games after October, or the Cards and Arizona State to stop having day games in September when it's 110 degrees out.

[oykib]

I said earlier, the refs should know better than to cll it in outdoor stadiums. But there's a limit to home field.

If you sit behind the backboards at a bsketball game, you're not allowed to do certain things on a free throw.

You can scream all you want, though.

Those domes and sound systems are what those rules are for.