phipps@fortune.UUCP (Clay Phipps) (12/01/83)
The chain measurement is indeed more accurate than it appears.
Right before the chain is moved out to the field,
watch the "chain gang" (the officials in charge of the measuring chain)
carefully, and you might see one of them reach down to the ground
at one of the 5-yard-increment stripes. He is attaching a small clip
to one of the links of the chain at one side or the other of the stripe.
When the chain reaches the place onfield where the measurement is made,
the chains are stretched and positioned so that the clip, NOT the end poles,
is at the same side of the same stripe. The official must be consistent
in placing the clip on the field, because the stripes are about 4 inches wide
(maybe there is even some rule about that).
This procedure limits the error for conscientious measurement
to the size of a chain link plus whatever error there was in painting
the yardline stripe; this might still be more than an inch,
but is vastly better than trying to "eyeball" the measurement from afar.
-- Clay Phipps
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