[bucky]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I also do not think it is a waste of time. It is a way to set the tone and they can see you up close and as human.

You could have something there. As a player (captain), I was always discouraged by the meeting as it took preparation time from me and the content of what was said we already heard too many times. It was irrelevant. I find that most players today feel, or at least act, similarly. The whole team has to be disrupted to call for captains and have various players try to locate them. Yawn.

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Referee’s Pregame Duties
2-2-4 Be responsible for having each team notified three minutes before each half is to begin.
2-2-5: Verify with the head coach, prior to each contest, that his/her team member’s uniforms and equipment are legal and will be worn properly, and that all participants will exhibit proper sporting behavior throughout the contest.
2-7-1 Notifying the captains when play is about to begin at the start of the game.

These are hilarious. In my entire career I have neither ever notified the teams about 3 minutes remaining in the intermission, nor have I witnessed any other official do that. Funny though, I will never forget one MS game in which my son was playing. Nobody notified the teams at half. One team came out in time but not my son's. The officials gave my son's team a technical foul. internally, I came unglued as I knew that the officials certainly made no attempt to notify the teams and they were adjudicating improperly. How hard would it have been to run to the locker room to get a team that obviously was not notified? And T in MS for this? Get real.

Verifying with a coach about equipment is ridiculous. I am yet to witness a coach say "no" when asked if they were properly equipped. Their answer is irrelevant. And, what would you do if they answered "no"? Not start the game? When in those positions and hearing coaches asked, the standard response is "they should be".

My son, a sociologist, often talks about the importance of rituals and traditions in our culture.

Have him ask the family members of those that were burned at the stake about the importance of rituals and traditions.

Sure, some are important, but just because it is a ritual/tradition, does not make it important by default.