Blowout Officiating

[Tim Roden]

Handling a blowout is a major part of officiating. Assignors want to know how you handle it. Chances are, they will give you one as your first varsity game. I know that it is common to give an official the 16 vs 1 seed for their first NCAA playoff game. So don't blow it when you have it.

My goals in a blowout is:
1) Don't let anything stupid happen. I.E. star gets injured because of a foul that was never called.
2) Keep the clock running.
3) Call what needs to be called. If you can't ignor it then don't.
4) The benefit of the doubt goes to the losing team. Not in a cheating way but if two kids lundge for the ball and it goes out of bounds, the losing team gets the ball.

Worst blowout I called was my first playoff game. Junior High tourny seeds 15 vs 2. Winning score was made in the first minute. 10-0 at that point. Final score 78-9.