[Rich]

Originally Posted by iref4him

This is not the worst call ever made, but my toughest. I am a doctor. Two weeks ago a 31 year old man comes into my office because of a 10' fall. He thought he had broken his ribs. The CT scan showed he did break 4 ribs, but the CT scan showed something else. I had to look into this man's eyes, a husband and a father of 3 young children, and tell him that the CT scan showed he had lung cancer and it has spread to his adrenal glands and kidneys. Not a very good prognosis. It put all my officiating into perspective. Great calls, toughest calls, easy calls, and worse calls. When you tell a man that his life is over, basically, my worst calls in any games did not compare to this call. Moral of the story, keep the game in perspective, work hard, and count your blessings. I counted mine - my faith, family, friends, and health. I am able to officiate still is an added blessing - great calls and worse calls.

I know an official who got run over in a football game a few years back and a scan for broken ribs ended up diagnosing the lung cancer that eventually killed him.

What we do is a passion for us, it's important to us, but in the end it's just a game.