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Officials will eat their own.
About 12 years ago, I was the UIC and assigner for a men's baseball league. I told the umpires that they need to ask for more money -- that they were underpaid and they should be looking for at least $20 more per game.
Quite a few people acted as if they were being given a favor by getting those assignments. Frankly, if only a dozen people sat out, there would've been games uncovered every day.
Then about 6-8 years ago, a local high school basketball conference decided to go back to 2-official crews at the varsity level after working 3 for a few years. When the top officials in the area said they weren't going to work the games, officials who couldn't get those assignments crawled over the backs of fellow officials to get those assignments. That experiment lasted 2 years. They went back to 3 officials and the better officials went back. I would retire before working any game of meaning in a 2-person crew. I did that for enough years.
A lot of officials simply can't stand the idea that they might better the working conditions by not working.
The PIAA must be about the most anti-official state association in the country.
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