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Originally Posted by rainmaker
Mike, Tom is one of our resident curmudgeons. He's a very good ref, good on rules but tends to get a little grouchy. He'll rattle his saber a little, but he's also good at encouraging new refs, and refs who need to develop. You can learn a lot from him,even his crusty outbursts.
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a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person
I don't know about all that.
If I wanted to wax poetic I would say that officiating is an art. Do you tell a seasoned artist how to prepare his brushes? I wouldn't, but that is just me. Can I learn something new from an official? I sure can, but it will more than likely NOT be from statements like you posted. More than likely, we can observe and copy what we see - note, the observe is in silence.
If you know the point I'm tryin to make I think it would be good to accept the point without being sensitive about the way it was delivered.
You said something about your theory applying to life. That is a problem I see with officials all the time. It is often hard to get an adult to realize all the success they've had in other areas of their life don't prepare them for what can occur on a basketball court. There is no credit for success in other areas - a rookie official can crash and burn when they talk more than they listen. There are parts of this game that you are light years away from understanding. Some of us older officials used to go to the bar and sit quietly to learn how to officiate. Now we have the Internet and (some) people think they can use this as a fast forward. These are kindler, gentler days, but you come on!
Would you like to put our theories to the test?