Anyone know why they reverse the chains in the second half?
They always have them on one side of the field in the first half and the opposite side in the second. I noticed this years ago but never asked why
The refs with the chains , when in front of the players bench, impedes a little bit on the team because the players and coach have to work around the chains. To make it fair, each team has to put up with it for one half.
That and it's actually very hard to guess on 1st downs from field level if the chains are right in front of you. Of course the CFL has spotters but even then It's actually an advantage to have them across the field.
In Hamilton they’re on the same side all game because both benches are on the same side.
And even with that the chain gang is in the second row.....
There's usually a complete 10 yard chain on one side with the first down marked on the opposite side. At least that's ow they do it in Hamilton.
Do they have the complete chain set up in the NFL on both sides?
Picket in the NFL as well. That picket on the far side, by the way, is always supposed to be ahead of the actual point to gain (they say by 6 inches but I'll leave it to you to imagine how that actually goes). The reason is that it avoids possible confusion for the ball carrier AND it's not an official measure of the point to gain.
The picket in the CFL seems to be always about a half yard ahead of the real sticks - but they do that because if a player goes for and gets the stick on a play, you'd hate for him to still be short because the far side official, who's probably a podiatrist by day, marked the first down a little short.....