Cooling off

[GoodwillRef]

Originally Posted by Old School

I do not understand why people get so frustrated about working HS playoff games. The majority of the ball simply is not that good for the amount of bull you have to go thru to get a chance to do it. You are lucky, you are among the chosen few. However, you are too young to understand the problem. In all businesses, not just this one, there are people that will feel like this when you move up, especially when they think they are just as deserving. I'm going to give you some excellent advice for your young career. Do not look back, nothing can be of benefit to you by going in that direction. Keep your eyes and career moving forward in the positive direction that you are now going. You have just as much work to do now, then you had to get here. Don't screw it up by focusing on the wrong thing. Hell no, do you say anything to him about it.

Now, to the problem. More often than not, selection to HS playoffs is more political then it is how good you are. If you think you got there on your merits, you are fooling yourself. You're 25 years old and you're working state playoffs over someone who has been wanting to do it for 15 years or longer. That's BS in my opinion. That's age discrimination. Of course you are younger, faster, more energetic, bah, bah, bah. However, as good as you think you are, you do not have the experience of a 15 year veteran. This is a dog eat dog business. Enjoy it, you are truly lucky and you don't even know it.

Just because you have been doing a job for 15 years doesn't meen that you are better than the guy who has only been working for 7 years.

[David B]

Originally Posted by GoodwillRef

Just because you have been doing a job for 15 years doesn't meen that you are better than the guy who has only been working for 7 years.

More often than not, I see many officials with 15+ years of "experience" who are simply not good officials.

15 years of doing what? That doesn't equate with being a good official.
Now if there is 15 years of being a good official that's different, but that is simply not always the case.

I know many veteran officials that I haved worked with who have the years, but are not qualified (or rather should not be qualified) for playoffs.

But here it is state tournament time and I run into them every year ...

Thanks
David

[tmp44]

Originally Posted by Old School

I do not understand why people get so frustrated about working HS playoff games. The majority of the ball simply is not that good for the amount of bull you have to go thru to get a chance to do it. You are lucky, you are among the chosen few. However, you are too young to understand the problem. In all businesses, not just this one, there are people that will feel like this when you move up, especially when they think they are just as deserving. I'm going to give you some excellent advice for your young career. Do not look back, nothing can be of benefit to you by going in that direction. Keep your eyes and career moving forward in the positive direction that you are now going. You have just as much work to do now, then you had to get here. Don't screw it up by focusing on the wrong thing. Hell no, do you say anything to him about it.

Now, to the problem. More often than not, selection to HS playoffs is more political then it is how good you are. If you think you got there on your merits, you are fooling yourself. You're 25 years old and you're working state playoffs over someone who has been wanting to do it for 15 years or longer. That's BS in my opinion. That's age discrimination. Of course you are younger, faster, more energetic, bah, bah, bah. However, as good as you think you are, you do not have the experience of a 15 year veteran. This is a dog eat dog business. Enjoy it, you are truly lucky and you don't even know it.

Just because you want to work states means you get to and then at the same time bi&ch at those who get the games?? I want to work states to, never have, maybe never will, but I will not only support my fellow referees in my association who get the games, I'll go watch them. And my fellow younger officials...good for them. I hope they go as far as possible!

I'm just wondering if you ever have anything good to say at all. Or are you just plainly an a$$hole?? I'm 23 and just got assigned a district semi-final, despite you thinking I don't even deserve a first round game from a different thread...go ahead and blast me too....I'll go work my a$$ off tomorrow night and out-referee you in my sleep.

It's the guys like you, the guys who have worked 15 years and thus think that they deserve the playoff games over the ones who get it on merit that screw up the same games. And, an FYI, in my district, every playoff game is evaluated by an observer, reviewed by the district, and then the assignments go out the night before the next round starts. No one knows who, what, or when they are working unless they get a phone call from the district the night before.

So, again I ask, do you ever have anything good to say?

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by tmp44

So, again I ask, do you ever have anything good to say?

Never. He has never posted one thing of value, as far as I have seen. His account should've been pulled months ago.

[Mark Padgett]

Have your attorney send this clown a "lawyer's letter" telling him that if his comments cost you the opportunity to earn money, you will sue him for slander and ask for treble damages in court.

If you think that's too intense, then just ambush the guy one night and stuff him in a wood chipper.

[GoodwillRef]

It is not just Old School there are a lot of officials out there like him. A friend of mine just got selected to work the NCAA Women's Div III Final Four this season and an "older" official told me that she is good enough to work but she hasn't paid her dues yet. There are a lot of guys that have been working for 15-18 years that deserve a shot. If that was the case then the supervisor would have nominated the older official instead of her, he was right with his first comments, "she is good enough to work it."

[socalreff]

Originally Posted by GoodwillRef

It is not just Old School there are a lot of officials out there like him. A friend of mine just got selected to work the NCAA Women's Div III Final Four this season and an "older" official told me that she is good enough to work but she hasn't paid her dues yet. There are a lot of guys that have been working for 15-18 years that deserve a shot. If that was the case then the supervisor would have nominated the older official instead of her, he was right with his first comments, "she is good enough to work it."

I am wondering if you know the process behind being selected for the NCAA Women's Div III Final Four?
I think it goes both ways regarding who gets certain assignments. I've seen inexperienced officials get post-season assignments over more experienced officials before they were ready and completely tank and hurt their careers for a while. I've also seen them do quite well and back up the assignor's decision.
I've also seen tons of assignments go to very veteran officials who might not be as skilled as their younger counterparts because assignors are reluctant to give them a chance. Both situations have frustrated me at times. As you move up and do higher levels, you represent both scenarios depending on the level. You could be the experienced HS official who gets looked over for the young hotshot and at the same time be the young hotshot at the college level.
I just try to work as hard as I can in every game so that if someone with power is watching they will always see my best...... Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.
Sometimes it's extremely difficult to do (preaching to the choir here), but I try to remind myself when things don't work out: Control what I can control, and if I'm not, then get better at it.

[REFVA]

congrats. that is a major accomplishment.

Show him the code of ethics that is written in the NFHS book and explain to him what you have done to make yourself better and see if he has put in as much work as you have to improve.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by tmp44

I'm 23 and just got assigned a district semi-final,

It's the guys like you, the guys who have worked 15 years and thus think that they deserve the playoff games over the ones who get it on merit that screw up the same games.

First, congratulations on your district semi-final. Good luck in the future too, bearing in mind that hard work combined with ability and experience hopefully should make "luck" irrelevant.

Second, there's no use getting upset at RecLeague Ronnie. He's never officiated at the high school level in his life. He simply knows not what he speaks.

[tmp44]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

First, congratulations on your district semi-final. Good luck in the future too, bearing in mind that hard work combined with ability and experience hopefully should make "luck" irrelevant.

Second, there's no use getting upset at RecLeague Ronnie. He's never officiated at the high school level in his life. He simply knows not what he speaks.

JR,

Thank you. I'll let you know how it goes!

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Old School

I do not understand why people get so frustrated about working HS playoff games. The majority of the ball simply is not that good for the amount of bull you have to go thru to get a chance to do it. You are lucky, you are among the chosen few. However, you are too young to understand the problem. In all businesses, not just this one, there are people that will feel like this when you move up, especially when they think they are just as deserving. I'm going to give you some excellent advice for your young career. Do not look back, nothing can be of benefit to you by going in that direction. Keep your eyes and career moving forward in the positive direction that you are now going. You have just as much work to do now, then you had to get here. Don't screw it up by focusing on the wrong thing. Hell no, do you say anything to him about it.

Now, to the problem. More often than not, selection to HS playoffs is more political then it is how good you are. If you think you got there on your merits, you are fooling yourself. You're 25 years old and you're working state playoffs over someone who has been wanting to do it for 15 years or longer. That's BS in my opinion. That's age discrimination. Of course you are younger, faster, more energetic, bah, bah, bah. However, as good as you think you are, you do not have the experience of a 15 year veteran. This is a dog eat dog business. Enjoy it, you are truly lucky and you don't even know it.

This is a direct personal attack without provokation. It ought to be struck from the record.

[blindzebra]

Originally Posted by Old School

I thought this was a discussion forum. Not everybody views the world the same. If you want me to sugar coat and always say what everyone wants to hear. Then you are the ones that are fooling yourselves. I'm just being real and speaking my mind, even if you don't agree. You wonder why those guys are saying the things they are saying behind the scenes about you making the playoff's. Why did the official tell the guy you shouldn't even be here? There is a group of officials in every state that doesn't like how decisions are being made when it comes to the state HS playoffs. Remember the incident in Kentucky last year. These things are real, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, whether you want to blame me for all these problems or not. They are still real and they are not going away. If you want to pretend these issues don't exist and live in your make believe world, then I really feel sorry for you.

Don't shoot the messenger....

This is laughable.

Sure there are officials in every state complaining about how the playoffs get assigned...they are the ones who aren't working. Big freaking shocker there. I think you should inform CNN, that's a huge news story.

Here's the real scoop.

The ones talking, saying others shouldn't be there, are the same ones who:

Never go to camps.

Don't follow the policies of rule meetings, scrimmages, mentoring, etc.

Are usually out of shape.

Think that their "experience" means that they know what they need so a rule book doesn't really need to be read.

Think the "young guys" who keep up and are in position in the boys games don't deserve it, while they get beat back all the time in the girls game.

Say it's all who you know...well, they must be pretty dumb if they've been around 15 years and don't meet the right people, when someone who's been around a few years seems to always find them.

[fonzzy07]

Originally Posted by Old School

I do not understand why people get so frustrated about working HS playoff games. The majority of the ball simply is not that good for the amount of bull you have to go thru to get a chance to do it. You are lucky, you are among the chosen few. However, you are too young to understand the problem. In all businesses, not just this one, there are people that will feel like this when you move up, especially when they think they are just as deserving. I'm going to give you some excellent advice for your young career. Do not look back, nothing can be of benefit to you by going in that direction. Keep your eyes and career moving forward in the positive direction that you are now going. You have just as much work to do now, then you had to get here. Don't screw it up by focusing on the wrong thing. Hell no, do you say anything to him about it.

Now, to the problem. More often than not, selection to HS playoffs is more political then it is how good you are. If you think you got there on your merits, you are fooling yourself. You're 25 years old and you're working state playoffs over someone who has been wanting to do it for 15 years or longer. That's BS in my opinion. That's age discrimination. Of course you are younger, faster, more energetic, bah, bah, bah. However, as good as you think you are, you do not have the experience of a 15 year veteran. This is a dog eat dog business. Enjoy it, you are truly lucky and you don't even know it.

It does not suprise me OS would say this, he is they guy who claims anyone can work D1 games.

[K-Bach]

Oh, this is too much fun...

"And some of these people are simply bad officials. Some are getting too old." I guess the inherent hypocrisy shouldn't surprise me. Too many aged officials assigned and too many youngsters replacing them.

"I do hear a lot of officials complaining, maybe it's because there are just way more who don't get selected than there are people who do." You're serious, right? Being selective about who officiates the most important (not necessarily the most entertaining) games is a bad thing to do? Your logic escapes me, aside from the suggestion that selecting more officials would make more people happy.

"One more thing, their voices are all saying the same thing. That's where you're going to run into problems. If they where to all get together and file a class action lawsuit against the state HS school organizations selection process." Yes, they're all saying they got screwed and doing very little about it. A class action lawsuit may indeed lead to change, but it may also verify the selection process. This lawsuit would, however, produce a lot of testimony. All of it, I'm sure, from officials who feel they were screwed and none from officials who learned from being "snubbed" and worked hard to improve their game.


"The funny little thing about our government, they don't like to see companies come up with criteria for hiring that only a young man can pass, or that unfairly punishes one group (older Americans) over another." Oh, that's rich. I suspect there are a few people in America who would disagree with you. However, this is not a government policy discussion, nor should it become political. Fabulous non-sequitor by the way.

"Only the most qualified guy be the president. Our president would never change, and some committee would be in control of who gets to run this country, and every year, it would be the same guy over and over and over." Playoff officials are responsible for playoff games (many games, many officials) in their part of the world. Their decisions do not have global ramifications and they do not need term limits to prevent them from becoming dictators for life. Do you discuss anything but non-sequitors and moot points?

Okay, you don't waste your time on HS playoffs, yet you insist on comparing the officiating of said games to the office of the president or corporate hiring practices. To badly paraphrase Hamlet-- the hypocrite doth protest too much, methinks.

[iref4him]

Originally Posted by PIAA REF

Sorry about this post but I need to vent. I am 25 yrs old, have been officiating for 7 yrs. I now do only varsity boys and girls, some small college and I will help out with junior high when needed. I have been doing everything in my power to get better as an official, camps, taping games, ect. Last year I got my first playoff game. This year I got another along with a letter from the state saying I am able to work state playoff games (not just district) I was pumped, it doesn't mean I will get one but still I was excited. Soon guys found out, most were excited and happy for me. However, one official who I thought to be a decent friend has been bad mouthing me about this deal, He is ticked because he has reffed longer, and I am young. He has talked to other people in our chapter (who told me) and even the playoff assignor. I truely feel that I have earned this honor but I am really getting upset about all this BS going on.
My question is should I just have the who cares attitude or should I confront him about this.

Success by one person is seen as a threat to another. There will always be someone not happy with someone else's success. Are there people who have earned it and deserved it? YES. Are there those who don't? YES. Success is what you have defined it.

There is politics in everything. But don't prostitute yourself. Playing the political game and be cordial is apart of life. Love your enemies and do good to them, it will put heaping coals on their head. Be cordial. So respect. But don't lower yourself to his level or prostitute yourself to get ahead. Selling yourself out and your integrity to get ahead is prostiution.

Count your blessings that you do have. It apears you have been blessed. Let him own his problems. For they are his.