A flag on the play

Charlie and I were watching football the other evening. Right before a play began, the referee blew the whistle. Charlie commented, immediately, "Too many men on the field."

Seriously? He can already do that thing that men do? Identify the penalty before the referee announces it?

Yep, he can.

Soon the referee was announcing the penalty as twelve men on the field. I asked Charlie how he knew. He said that the whistle had blown before the play got off, and that usually means either a false start or too many men on the field. But Charlie didn't see any false start, so it must have been too many men on the field.

A few days later I asked Cort about this logic. Apparently Charlie was exactly correct in his reasoning.

And Cort was very proud.