https://www.chron.com/opinion/articl...e-16680409.php
It's just awful out there. We're going to hell in a handbasket.
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They've been sucker-punched, stalked and threatened. On weekends, mobs of adults shriek and bellow at them, questioning their eyesight, intelligence and humanity.
One veteran described "a cauldron of yelling and hysteria." For all the abuse, referees working D.C.-area youth sports net about $50 a game, job listings show. No wonder they're fleeing.
Nearly half of the referees who officiate in my son's hockey league are gone and games are being canceled every weekend. His team has been able to play just two of this season's five scheduled games so far. This is happening across the nation in all youth sports. The Friday night lights of high school football games are now Thursdays and Saturdays, too - to spread the refs out. Instead of the usual three refs on a soccer pitch, some leagues are making due with two, or even one.
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