Observation: Impediments to Moving Up

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Rich

They matter only cause people (assigners or other officials) tell them they should matter.

I've never once had a coach comment on his own on facial hair, for example. I'm willing to bet it would never happen.

Well that is actually not true in my experiences. Coaches know who the fat guys are and the guys who are not from their area.

I do not disagree that the main thing people should be concerned about are if you get plays right, but that is often not the case. I know that if we have a Chicago team verse a Rural area team, it is not unusual to hear a complaint by one of the participants if none of the officials are either from those areas or have never been seen before. That is not all on the officials, that is the paranoia of the participants. And that can be a problem even if the officials get everything right.

In the case of the assignor I referenced, I never heard the issue was the play calling ability of the officials. Actually he assigned many officials that were playoff guys, but he did not concern himself with the fact he had a rural area for many of his teams and they wanted to see "their guys" on some of their games, whatever that is supposed to mean.

Peace