It is that time of year....I have a question for everyone

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

However, the critical question pertaining to this post / thread is: a disgruntled ref holding the opinion that: "I know that my reffing skills are at least equivalent to Ref B (who got a tourney assignment) because I have reffed with Ref B before or observed Ref B in games". And, all things being equal--save for Ref B being a good ole boy--, Ref B got the assignment, so why did I not get selected?

That person, making the judgement of themselves vs. others, is often simply wrong.

There have been many studies done that consistently show many people over estimate their abilities relative to their peers. In fact, one such study I remember reading some years ago found that 80% thought they were better than average in their group. So, at least 30% of the people overrate themselves. That doesn't account for some small number that thinks they're below average despite actually being above the average. And that doesn't provide any information on those were actually above average but put themselves higher within that half of the group than they should be.

I would venture to guess that the numbers might be even higher for referees.

Sometimes the cold hard truth is that the other person is just better.

So, what can a person do? Realize that there are things that can be improved....keep working and getting better. If a person does that, eventually, the games will come. If they don't come, then the person isn't fixing the right things, or they buried themselves so deep in a hole that they can't escape their reputation.