Lodged ball?

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

No, to people who are good and work a lot of high school games. It doesn't help the game to bring in ringers from the college game to call high school. Not all of the good officials work college ball. Not all of the good officials want to work college ball. Plenty of good officials are happier to toil away in the high school ranks.

It's a high school assignment. Give it to a high school official. By all means give it to a good high school official, but don't give it to a college officials. College officials aren't the demi-gods of refereeing they are treated like; they are just the guys that are willing to give up more family time to the game than the high school guys.

Sounds like to me you could not cut it at the college level and you are drawing some serious generalizations about something you have little understanding about.

First of all a HS official is someone who works HS games. A college official is someone who works college games. Neither has anything to do the amount of games or percentage of an entire schedule.

Also you obviously do not know a lot about people who work college games officials. Not all college officials are struggling to fit in family time. Not all official have a wife/husband, 5 kids and a dog. Some people have jobs would not interfere in any way with what their kids are doing or their officiating.

It is just clear you are bitter about something and it is showing with this topic.

Peace

[Back In The Saddle]

Hey, Eastshire...

Are you suggesting that the kids don't deserve the best refs that can be put on the floor for the playoffs? Is this game about us, or about them?

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by Back In The Saddle

Hey, Eastshire...

Are you suggesting that the kids don't deserve the best refs that can be put on the floor for the playoffs? Is this game about us, or about them?

No, I am saying that college refs aren't the best refs for the high school game. There are exceptions (like the example given of an official who is working 2 high school games a week, give that man a playoff assignment). No, what grinds my gears are the ones who think they deserve the plum assignments just because they work college ball and have put in the minimum effort to be eligible.

And for the record, I don't even work varsity HS ball yet. I'm still in the trenches gladly working everything from 7th grade to JV. Even in the sports where I do regularly work varsity I haven't applied to work the postseason because I am early in my career and still learning.

The biggest problem is the mindset that I see that a person who works college is automatically better than a person who works high school and it simple is not (always) true.

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

The biggest problem is the mindset that I see that a person who works college is automatically better than a person who works high school and it simple is not (always) true.

And almost as dangerous is the mindset that someone who works college ball can't adjust to the different rulesets and mechanics and do a good job officiating a HS play-off game...

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

The biggest problem is the mindset that I see that a person who works college is automatically better than a person who works high school

I'm sure there are some who may think that. But I think there are very few who think that ALL college officials are better than ALL high school officials.

Seems to me you're carrying an awfully big axe for an awfully small problem.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

No, I am saying that college refs aren't the best refs for the high school game. There are exceptions (like the example given of an official who is working 2 high school games a week, give that man a playoff assignment). No, what grinds my gears are the ones who think they deserve the plum assignments just because they work college ball and have put in the minimum effort to be eligible.

What is your definition of a college official?

Originally Posted by Eastshire

And for the record, I don't even work varsity HS ball yet. I'm still in the trenches gladly working everything from 7th grade to JV. Even in the sports where I do regularly work varsity I haven't applied to work the postseason because I am early in my career and still learning.

If you did work varsity games, you might get the opportunity to work with officials that have that experience and see the difference between different levels of officials.

Originally Posted by Eastshire

The biggest problem is the mindset that I see that a person who works college is automatically better than a person who works high school and it simple is not (always) true.

I would not at all say they are automatically better, but I would say by officials that work some college have been through a little more training than the average HS official. I do not know what any of this has to do with why people can work a HS playoff game or not?

Peace

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

No, I am saying that college refs aren't the best refs for the high school game.

What is your basis for this statement? In my experience, every time I have moved up a level it's because a) I've gained a certain level of mastery of the level I'm at, which has "qualified" me to move up and b) After working at the higher level for a while and coming back, the lower level is easier to work. Having become used to the speed and strength of the play at the higher level, the lower level appears slower, and becomes easier to call. I come back with greater confidence, having had some success at a higher level. I come back with some added perspective too. Being exposed to multiple levels of play has broadened my horizons. You see things you might not otherwise see, experience philosophies you wouldn't otherwise consider. It tends to make you a more well-rounded official than working just a single level. While not every college official is better than every HS official, working higher levels would definitely tend to qualify you MORE to work lower levels.

Originally Posted by Eastshire

No, what grinds my gears are the ones who think they deserve the plum assignments just because they work college ball and have put in the minimum effort to be eligible.

News flash: Many of them DO deserve the plum assignments. The work and effort they have put in over the years has made them some of the best officials for the job. It is almost certainly what propelled them into the ranks of the college officials. They may have only worked 10 HS games this year, but that has little to do with whether they are the best qualified officials to work the playoffs.

The kids who play in the playoffs deserve the best refs that can be provided. The game is about them; we just get to be a part of it. Both for the kids, and to cover their own butts, the assigners who assign playoff games want to put officials on the floor who have a proven track record of successfully handling big games. Put yourself in the assigner's shoes: who do you assign the big game to? The guy who has never worked a big game? Obviously not. The guy who has successfully worked slightly smaller big games? Not a bad option. The guy who has successfully (and regularly) worked bigger games? Best option. And where do you find guys like that? Well, there are quite a few of them working college ball.

Originally Posted by Eastshire

The biggest problem is the mindset that I see that a person who works college is automatically better than a person who works high school and it simple is not (always) true.

It seems to me that your biggest problem is that you covet the big game and don't want to have to compete with college officials to get it. You seem to have a mindset of us v. them, which is absurd because, as has already been pointed out, who exactly are us and who exactly are them? In many places it's one large pool of officials and the college assigner gets first shot while the HS assigner gets the left-overs.