[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

No, I am saying that college refs aren't the best refs for the high school game.

What is your basis for this statement? In my experience, every time I have moved up a level it's because a) I've gained a certain level of mastery of the level I'm at, which has "qualified" me to move up and b) After working at the higher level for a while and coming back, the lower level is easier to work. Having become used to the speed and strength of the play at the higher level, the lower level appears slower, and becomes easier to call. I come back with greater confidence, having had some success at a higher level. I come back with some added perspective too. Being exposed to multiple levels of play has broadened my horizons. You see things you might not otherwise see, experience philosophies you wouldn't otherwise consider. It tends to make you a more well-rounded official than working just a single level. While not every college official is better than every HS official, working higher levels would definitely tend to qualify you MORE to work lower levels.

Originally Posted by Eastshire

No, what grinds my gears are the ones who think they deserve the plum assignments just because they work college ball and have put in the minimum effort to be eligible.

News flash: Many of them DO deserve the plum assignments. The work and effort they have put in over the years has made them some of the best officials for the job. It is almost certainly what propelled them into the ranks of the college officials. They may have only worked 10 HS games this year, but that has little to do with whether they are the best qualified officials to work the playoffs.

The kids who play in the playoffs deserve the best refs that can be provided. The game is about them; we just get to be a part of it. Both for the kids, and to cover their own butts, the assigners who assign playoff games want to put officials on the floor who have a proven track record of successfully handling big games. Put yourself in the assigner's shoes: who do you assign the big game to? The guy who has never worked a big game? Obviously not. The guy who has successfully worked slightly smaller big games? Not a bad option. The guy who has successfully (and regularly) worked bigger games? Best option. And where do you find guys like that? Well, there are quite a few of them working college ball.

Originally Posted by Eastshire

The biggest problem is the mindset that I see that a person who works college is automatically better than a person who works high school and it simple is not (always) true.

It seems to me that your biggest problem is that you covet the big game and don't want to have to compete with college officials to get it. You seem to have a mindset of us v. them, which is absurd because, as has already been pointed out, who exactly are us and who exactly are them? In many places it's one large pool of officials and the college assigner gets first shot while the HS assigner gets the left-overs.