[just another ref]

Somebody once said (okay, it was me) that an official is a spectator with the best view in the house who also happens to carry a whistle. In other words, we enjoy watching the games. Recently, on a local sports broadcast,(Louisiana) highlights were shown consecutively from the girls sweet 16 in Hammond, a women's game from ULM, and a women's game from Louisiana Tech. All three showed games being played before almost totally empty arenas. When the sweet 16 was in Monroe, you could arrive 10 minutes before game time, walk right in and get a good seat. I have attended the boys top 28 several times in Lafayette at the Cajundome, a larger facility than any of those mentioned above. Battling the crowd is a huge pain. The lower level is always filled to capacity, and the whole place has been known to sell out. I say that calling a boys game may be more physically demanding than a girls game, (harder to keep up) but overall is easier to call than a girls game because the boys can play through things, so the game needs fewer whistles.

Having said all this, if I enjoy watching a game more because the players run faster and jump higher, does that make me a bad person?