Quote:
Originally posted by wwcfoa43
[Sorry to switch sports but I do basketball and football.]
I was once asked to work a game in a small town at the same school in which I teach. We have very few officials who could get off work early and our school had no classes when there were sports on so I was available.
At the captains' conference, I asked the two captains if they had any questions and the home team captain turned to me and said: "Do we have a Math test tomorrow?" :-)
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That's pricless.
The smaller your area is, the better the chance, I guess, that you're going to run into situations where you could officiate a game involving people you know or schools you are familiar with. If it's going to be a big PITA, take yourself out of the situation. If you have been around long enough and people know what you're about, it shouldn't be an issue.
On a close call that is unpopular to one side (not that we ever have many of those), someone's going to question you no matter what you do, even if you went to school there 25 years ago. You can either eliminate the possibility altogether or just call your game and know that other people's issues are other people's issues and not yours.
Below a certain age, I think you can officiate your kids' game because below a certain age, there may not be enough people available to do it - and it's mostly for fun at that point anyway. If it's a question of "I have to officiate this game or the kids don't get to play," then you do it (my kids are 11 and almost 10, so we're at the point where that's not an option for me anyway).
I'm just still slightly amazed that the original story actually made the paper. Geez, talk about Small Town News.