Quote:
Originally posted by SMEngmann
One thing I don't understand is how an official could agree to take a specific game 2,3,4 years in advance, let alone how one can actually be assigned. Personally, I don't know where in my life I will be 2 years from now, what may come up professionally and personally. What if I get injured the day before the game, do I feel an extra obligation to work it injured because I committed to the game 3 years ago?!? From an assignor's perspective, you can't know for a fact who the top officials will be 3 years from now, nor do you even know what type of matchup you'll have and it becomes impossible to match a crew to a game. Do you put an "A" crew on a game between two top teams now, only to find 3 years later they're both rebuilding? What about top officials who move to the area or up and comers? I wonder how many turnbacks there are... This whole system in my opinion is a joke and it does a disservice not just to the officials, but to the teams as well.
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First of all any of us will work whatever system we have to if we want to officiate. So officials take games in this system I am sure no different than any other system. I do not see what that would be difficult to understand. If you love officiating, you will take games within the system you are given. What might happen 3 years from now I would think is a minor issue? I agree that things can change, but if that is how you are going to get a schedule, I will assume most of us will take the games. The part of the equation that should not like the system is the schools if you ask me. The schools are assigning games based on something that might change. They might have a game with an official that is tough and now they are locked into that agreement (with some exceptions of course) for a couple of years.
Now I can tell you I have been given games in this capacity and it is really not that big of a deal. The major difference is not every school was doing this so it did not really matter that much to me as it would an entire state. When I started football officiating this was the process that we had to deal with. It really was not that big of a deal in football because you are only talking about 9 weeks and mostly Fridays. I would see this as a bigger problem in basketball where you have several games in a week and not all games are on the weekend.
Peace