How good/bad is your association involved in politics?

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by Dan_ref

Mark, I noticed you refrained from using the words "best", "officials", "in", "the" and "country" in your post. We all have to attend meetings, we all get formal & informal training, we all take tests, we all get evaluated, we all move up & get dropped. Some of us do this for more than just 1 or even 2 associations. All but one of us can control themselves enough to not use the words in my list.

btw, I too lived in SoCal during the 80's and my experience with their basketball officials was spotty at best - but I wouldn't go so far as to say they are the worst in the country.

Opinions, we all have one. :shrug:

Dan:

In Ohio, officials are not evaluated. The coaches tell the league assigners which officials can officiate varsity games in their league. One coach can black ball an officical from his league. Coaches vote on which officials can officiate in the post season tournament.

MTD, Sr.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by socalreff

Dan,

I apologize for "the best" comment. I should have said that the opportunity to be the best anywhere exists here.
All I'm saying is that it's great to have NCAA Division 1, 2, and 3 -- men's and women's side -- officials on the instructional staff of our association available to officials to glean knowledge from. Also the opportunity to do high quality games throughout the year lends itself to rapid improvement.

Well what you just suggested is not unique to where you live. I belong to multiple organizations that have D1 officials working with officials and running camps. And we do not have an "instructional staff" to accomplish a high level of training. So what you are describing is not something only in one part of the country. I am sure there are many places that have officials that work all those levels.

Peace

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by socalreff

Dan,

I apologize for "the best" comment. I should have said that the opportunity to be the best anywhere exists here.
All I'm saying is that it's great to have NCAA Division 1, 2, and 3 -- men's and women's side -- officials on the instructional staff of our association available to officials to glean knowledge from. Also the opportunity to do high quality games throughout the year lends itself to rapid improvement.

It wasn't about getting an apology out of you, but since you offer it I'll accept it for the rest of the forum. There are a lot of damn good officials in every part of the country and there are also some really bad ones. No one area holds the keys to this game. I think we agree on that.

[Adam]

My, how parochial of you.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by socalreff

I guess that's why we have the best officials in the country right here.

Is that who you had on the Mater Dei game?

Seems that a few of your fellow officials out there kinda disagree with your assessment.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Is that who you had on the Mater Dei game?

Seems that a few of your fellow officials out there kinda disagree with your assessment.

I'm sure those were no-cal referees. socal has already informed us his opinion of the nocal guys.

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by socalreff

Every single year. I guess that's why we have the best officials in the country right here....at least for the 1st 5 years of anyone's career, there's no place you can get better faster with the level of instruction, amount of games, and quality of play.

So while the rest of us are working scrimmages your officials are sitting in a classroom every fall.

Sure, I can see how that would make you think you're the best officials in the country. This stuff is easy in the classroom.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by socalreff

There's no point in working scrimmages without knowing the rules. Scrimmages are an additional requirement. If you don't work a a scrimmage, you don't get games either.

You need 18 hours of instruction every year to know the rules? Long term memory issues?

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

You need 18 hours of instruction every year to know the rules? Long term memory issues?

No, they need the 18 hrs per year to claim they are the best officials in the country.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by socalreff

I guess it depends on the instructor and the instructee. Video breakdown of games, on floor demos, situation discussions, rules tests, scrimmage work, 3 person training, not to mention summer camps, clinics, and leagues.
Anyone that wants to be can be college ready in 3 years with what and who they have available to them here.

So, your summer camps, summer leagues, and scrimmages count towards the 18 hours? If so, it's no different than anywhere else except maybe the formality of the requirement. If not, it's irrelevant to this particular discussion.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by socalreff

Anyone that wants to be can be college ready in 3 years with what and who they have available to them here.

Ah, yes, you too can enter the magical World Of College And Above. All you have to do is go to class for three years. You may be required to do a few scrimmages also, but only if you feel like it. Yup, it takes less time to be a fully qualified and competent college official in Cali than it does to get a college degree. No need to actually go out on the court and officiate any real games either while you're doing so. Nosiree, BillyJoeJimBob, having game experience isn't really needed.

I'm kinda mystified at a few little thing though. If, every year, there is a graduating class of third-year officials that are ready to go out there to do all of those college games, what happens to all of the guys/gals that were doing them the year before? Do the assignors just have wholesale firings to make room for all of these college-ready third year officials coming in? Do they fire by seniority? Do they fire the most experienced officials first to make room for all of those up-and-comers? If so, how come I still see all of those familiar faces on the PAC10 crews? Hasn't anyone bothered to tell 'em yet that they're redundant and no longer needed?

Do the members of your graduating classes have the option to move to other states to claim college jobs there too, seeing that they're so much better trained and competent than the officials in all of those other states?

And at the high school level, does that mean that every year's graduating class just replaces existing high school officials too? You know, to get ready for the inevitable journey to The Land Of College And Above? Or do they just skip the high school varsity level completely in their first 3 years because there really isn't any advantage to working at that lowly level.

Inquiring minds need to know!!!

Oh, one other little question, if you don't mind. What color is the sky in your world out there?