Quote:
Originally posted by Ref42
I think the real problem here is "Perception". None of the information about an official's background such as school affilitation is known until a situation in a game occurs which is more then likely controversial. Then the "Media" gets involved and that's when it get's out there. I personally believe if it can be done, meaning you have enough quality officials to put on games, you always avoid any of these types of situations. Because it will always come back to bite you in the ***! Now I'm personally a big Penn State fan as my father graduated from PSU and I follow football very closely. Do I believe those officials from Michigan cheated, HECK NO! But when it gets into the papers it looks bad and if it could have been avoided it should have been. Supervisors/Assignors are put in very tough spots at times and even they make mistakes. So my thought is if you have a high profile game no matter what sport you should always take into account what could happen and what could be perceived! If you don't it gives those media types and the public something else to look at even though you and I know officials don't cheat.
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What do you want to happen? So you are saying that no Official can ever do any game in a state that they live? So we are not going to judge people on merit at all, but where they live? So any official in Illinois cannot do the Nortwestern and Illinois in any game? What about if I was born in Michigan and live in Illinois, does that preclude me from doing either team? The problem is that we are letting stupidity dictate policy. Officials have much more to worry about then trying to "cheat" for a team over another. Everything these guys do at the higher levels is highly scrutinized. If there was cheating if you will, it might be very easy to figure out. Not only that, we have not even talked about the guys that coaches do not like. Joe Pa would have never even tried to claim anything if his stupid team would have won the dumb game. I bet there have been Michigan officials on his other games with Michigan or Michigan State. Better yet, I bet Penn State has had Pennsylvania officials doing their games and they won and lost with them. You are right, maybe none of us should officiate anything because someone has a "perception" of anything. Maybe officials that were born in the same year with coaches should not officiate those games either.
Peace