[drothamel]

I can completely understand the expectation of excellence. I expect it of myself all the time. Sometimes I disappoint myself, but that is easily corrected. It is highly unreasonable, however, to expect it of partners, or of officials when you are coaching. You have no control over these people. You do not hire them, you do not coach them, you see them for an hour or two at a time. Flip it around for a second: as a human being, I have certain expectations of coaches. Generally, that is to follow the rules and act in a sportsmanlike manner. This is all I can require of the coaches. Anything more than that is unreasonable. If my child played on a coach's team, however, my expectations would change due to the fact that my child is invovled, and I have a responsibility to that child.

As an official or as a coach, your responsibilities are different, but they do have one thing in common-- you are responsible for the game itself and its participants. Therefore, it is best to handle your responsibilites to the best of your ability, and let the other person do the same. If I worried about coaches that I thought were not giving full effort, or not living up to their responsibilities, I would suffer an anurism. In the same respect, if I worried to much about officials that do not give the level of effort that a particular game may deserve or require, I would also have an anurism. It is the responsiblity of the assignors and athletic directors to worry about those things.

I think the old saying goes something like this: "God Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference!"