The blue was navy blue, not baby blue.

MTD, Sr.

Juulie:

It was a very different time in women's college basketball in the 1970's. Every coach (with two exceptions) in the collegiate game in Florida (both 4 year schools and jr. colleges) were also a NAGWS registered women's college basketball official. In all of the games that I officiated I never had an official question me or my partner during a game. After every game both coaches and all of the players would shake hands with the officials and thank them for officiating the game for them. It was not until the NCAA and NJCAA took over women's college basketball and we started wearing black and white did I "whacked" my first college coach. I always asked the AD's if it was alright for to officiate the games, and they always told me that if they thought I would show favoritism they wouldn't ask me to officiate the games. The game my girl friend fouled out was played on a Thursday afternoon, and it snowed in Miami, that weekend.

MTD, Sr.

We started this off as a discussion about protecting starters.

Now we're reminiscing about MTD's college sweatheart.

Maybe she's in his attic, behind the J Dallas Shirley monument?

Sweatheart? Hmmm....maybe tht's the reason she might be in his attic.

Thanks JR for the clarification.

Davidw.

I hope in mulling things over you decide to just call the game without respect to star player, affluency, or any other facet that is not germane to the action that actually happens on the court.

Each call we make should solidify our reputation as being unbiased and fair observers of the game. It gives us the reputation that we are upholding the honor and dignity of the avocation we have chosen but only when we exercise the authority we have been given in an impartial, yet firm and controlled manner.

Officials are already perceived in a negative light just by stepping on the court, ie call homers, blind, etc.

To state publically we do, or even would consider, passing on fouls committed by the star player, or by selectively calling the foul on someone else (even in multiple foul situation) just to keep the star in the game then we do a disservice to not only ourselves but also to our fellow officials...not to mention the other student-athlets, coaches, players, fans hurt by this deliberate act.

Hope you change your philosophy on this one?

Davidw.

Just one other thing to mull over.

In an earlier post you mentioned to apply your same philosophy at both ends of the court.

What about your partners?

What if your call/no-call keeps star player of Team A with 4 fouls in the game and next time down the court your partner calls an OBVIOUS foul which is the 5th foul on the star player for Team B? Even if he shares your same philosophy it is not fair for the latter team to have only their star fouled out of the game.

What if it were YOU that had to make the call?

Mark -- it was a joke. ha, ha, ha. You know?

Maybe she's in his attic, behind J. Dallas Shirley. :eek:

Surely you must be kidding!

Please don't call me Shirley.

I'm working on an MBA at a D-III school around here and I do get scheduled to work baseball games at and including the school. I never even considered turning them back -- I just take classes there and simply do not care whether their sports teams win anything.

I think that davidw believes that it's not so unfair if you apply the same rule to both teams. Similarly, is it unfair to tell an offensive player to get out of the lane? Some say yes, but some would agree that it's okay if you give both teams the same courtesy.

I have been told to treat the star player differently, but it was phrased differently. "If you call a foul on a star player, you better be 100% sure it was a foul. Not 98%, not 99%. Ideally, we should be 100% on every foul call, but this is the real world. If you're going to make a mistake, don't make it on the star player."

CCA book says this is a no-no in its "Officials shall not..." section. Maybe you should've kept your identity a secret.

Juulie:

I take your word for it that you were trying to be silly about it, but I had serious concerns about officiating UM games, but the opposing AD's assured me that it was okay. One has to remember that this was the early and mid 1970's, women's college sports had yet to be corrupted by money.

MTD, Sr.

Why? Should I be nervous or something?

BTW, I just thumbed through the CCA baseball manual. There's nothing in there that says that....just that umpires should not call unless "free from obligation" and other such stuff. Believe me, I am free from such obligation.

But I've decided to email the assignor and disclose the "conflict" and see what he thinks. My baseball schedule is pretty full and if I end up with two fewer dates it won't be all that awful.

[Edited by Rich Fronheiser on Feb 21st, 2005 at 01:36 AM]