[actuary77]

JRutledege and BillyMac... we did have some pregame. That's how I found out that I was the "experienced" one. So I made sure I went over the important things... switching on all fouls, calling handchecks, etc. But in pre-game, he seemed to know everything. He was even bringing up things that I didn't think of initially. He even was upfront that he had a few things he wanted to focus on and improve. Like I said, he was pretty confident, having been a football official for 10+ years.

It was just a case of knowing the stuff in his head but couldn't translate it in his actions. Obviously, I didn't anticipate that he would have problems with basic mechanics. Like I said, I mentioned the foul signal and told him (politely) not to watch on-ball when it's not in his area. He did acknowledge that, but he still kept doing it.

I thought I was respectful enough not to scream at him and tell him "DO NOT WATCH BALL!" or something like that. Or during the game, motion with my hands where he should go. That would not be good as the coaches and fans would see. The coaches already know as they have whispered to me that he was quite inexperienced. The game was quite physical already and the coaches were already questioning many of our calls, so his inexperience just exacerbated the problem.

But point well taken... I must admit, I was pretty tired since these were my 3rd and 4th games of the day after a long week. I should have tried harder to concentrate more on my job and not get too distracted by his.