The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 3, January 16, 2005, Article 24

NFL TOSSING COIN

Chris Faulkner writes: "A slow Saturday evening up here in
the Great White North and I was watching the end of the
Steelers-Jets NFL playoff game. As E-Sylum subscribers
who watch this stuff will know, the game went into overtime.
There is a coin toss, and one team calls the toss to decide
who will have the privilege of receiving the ball on kickoff.
(It is better to receive than give because the first one to score
points wins the game). The referee flipped the coin and let it
land on the field. The camera zoomed in far enough so that
one could clearly see that the coin had landed tails up. I
admit to seeing this only out of the corner of my eye, but I
thought I saw a Morgan dollar reverse with distinct evidence
of wear (all that flipping maybe). This was a surprise. Why
weren't they using a current dollar coin? Whose dollar was
used in the toss? The referee's personal coin? One supplied
by the league? Now, there was another game going on after
this one, and there are two more tomorrow. The NFL is
certainly not flying this coin all around the country for coin
tosses, so every referee for every game has to show up with
a suitable coin in his pocket. Do they all have Morgan dollars?
Does the NFL have a policy on coins and denominations to
be used for game tosses? I may have been mistaken about
the Morgan dollar reverse, but the coin was certainly not a
current issue. Does anyone know anything about this? Does
anyone care? Help, I'm trapped up here in the Great White
North with nothing to do but amuse myself with trivia."

[I was watching the game, and also saw what looked like
the reverse of a worn Morgan dollar. Interesting question -
can any of our readers answer?

The Steelers managed to eke out a win in the game, so
those of us here in the Pittsburgh area were pleased to
see the hometown team win. Go Steelers! -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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