All Star Officials

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by BktBallRef
Saw a WNBA game last night, New York & Utah. Guess what? Three guys worked the game!

TH, of course that is going to happen. More men officiate than women. It is just a known fact that in the Women's side of basketball, there is a major effort to get women out on the floor, like I think there is an effort to have more African-American officials on the Men's basketball side.

And whether you like it or not, coaches are the ones that are calling for that. They want individuals that reflect the players on the court. It might not mean that every situation or even most situations that can be accomplished, but it means that you will see all-women crews in Women's Basketball and mostly Black or all-Black in certain situations in Men's and Boy's Basketball.

And TH if you lived in the Chicagoland area, you would see the same thing. I am not talking about the Chicago Public League alone either (for those that understand the area). If you were to see some of the suburban teams that have all-Black teams against all-white teams, the coaches (especially the ones that have Black players on their teams) are calling for African-American officials to do these conferences. And I have been hired more than once because I was Black. Now the same thing happens in Girls Basketball. If a female is decent and can put air in the whistle, she will get the opportunity to move up fast.

One of the best games that I had last year was a game between Mundeline and North Chicago (all-Black team, all-Black coaches). My partners and myself were also Black. Now the game was at Mundeline (I think I am spelling that wrong) High School. The assignor is white and did tell me that he need more Black officials because the coaches were calling for it. And I do this coming year have more games with these other two Black officials in these two conferences that this white assignor assigned us to.

It might not be a everyday situation, but it does happen.

Peace