Critical Officiating article from a local news paper.

[JRutledge]

Officiating Article by the Famous Taylor Bell

I just thought I would post this article. It caused such a stir at a meeting I attended this evening. I was wondering what others think even if you do not know all the details. I will comment later after people get a chance to read the article. There are so many things wrong with this article in the first place.

Peace

[dst8ada]

I think it is funny that the age of officials is going up. We have the same problem in Michigan. While abuse can be used as the reason, in northeast Michigan our best export is our young people. In the 34 years since I started officiating the number of kids in the local school system has gone down 50%.

I have also found that people that get in now seem to think after one season you have a full varsity schedule and should be doing tournaments by year three. When I started one did not expect to many varsity games until you did at least three years JV ball, now it is possible to get games in one year.

The hardest thing I have to teach is the three leg stool approach, knowledge of rules-how rules are enforced-mechanics. I get upset when I see the trail in a three man crew two feet past half court.

That being said some of us have changed out traing methods but getting every body in our area to follows or tries to follow. I can remember doing evals on new officials, but few guys will, even if they got the person started.

[grunewar]

Wow, some article! Where to start? Some interesting thoughts for sure.....

Games have no flow.....no finesse anymore. Who's watching these guys? Refs - making up and enforcing/ not enforcing their own rules? Refs told coaches to "sit down and shut?" (Unacceptable) Officials bigger than the game? Uniformity = consistancy (we have talked about that many times). A Ref has a really good game and blows one call, then, it equals a poor game.....

Not surprisingly, most of these statements were given by anonymous sources..... except some of the nicer comments by seasoned coaches.

Where there's smoke, there's usually fire, so there's bound to be some truth to what is said here....but, how much is just belly aching?

Seems like some coaches/admins want their cake and to eat it too, i.e. The coaches want seasoned, experienced refs who know what they're doing, until they don't like what/how they call......then, they want some younger folks to replace these guys.....but, they can't recruit younger refs because it's not worth the abuse..... A vicious circle.

JMO. Gives you a lot to think about doesn't it?
Thanks for sharing!

[bob jenkins]

It's the old "Let Them Play" / "Someone's Going to get Killed" discussion.

IMO, and in general only, the coaches complain / comment more when we call a foul than when we don't. So, the coaches, overall, are asking for the more physical game.

And, 300 HS in the Chicago area (SWAG), playing 25 games each = 3,750 varsity games for each sex. I'm sure that not every game was perfectly called and that some coach was to STFU and that some official decided not to call the rules, etc.

[26 Year Gap]

When I stop hearing coaches and fans yelling '3 seconds' during rebounding action, I will be of the opinion that they possess some rules knowledge. I don't know who determined this guy was 'famous'. I never heard of him. Until coaches realize that they hold the key to containing rough play by substituting offending players, officials will continue to receive blame. Calling games so tightly that the rough play is 'contained' will result in complaints that the games have no 'flow'.

Those are some of my observations.

[Raymond]

This article is a joke...not even worth commenting on.

But where did this come from?

Originally Posted by '... ... John McLendon said:

'Some coaches spend so much time worrying about officials that they are unaware of what their teams are doing.' I try to live by that principle. Some teams travel all the time and it's never called. Officials officiate games based on their character. It isn't a racial thing.''

That sure seems like a quote that was pulled out the middle of a conversation. There is no context for it.

Can we critique this guy's jounalitist style or will that offend fiasco?

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by dst8ada

I have also found that people that get in now seem to think after one season you have a full varsity schedule and should be doing tournaments by year three.

That's only true in southern California, the Magical Land Of College And Above. In SoCal, all officials have a full varsity schedule in their first year and are ready for D1 college games by the end of their third year.

It's true, it's true........

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

That's only true in southern California, the Magical Land Of College And Above. In SoCal, all officials have a full varsity schedule in their first year and are ready for D1 college games by the end of their third year.

It's true, it's true........

That's because they have 98 hours of classroom training every year.

It's just as true.

[IREFU2]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Officiating Article by the Famous Taylor Bell

I just thought I would post this article. It caused such a stir at a meeting I attended this evening. I was wondering what others think even if you do not know all the details. I will comment later after people get a chance to read the article. There are so many things wrong with this article in the first place.

Peace

Same story, different state......coaches say the same thing in this area, but it not printed.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by IREFU2

Same story, different state......coaches say the same thing in this area, but it not printed.

Sounds more like a difference in journalistic standards.

[truerookie]

Ok, this article does touch on some truth in officiating. It may not be totally accurate but there is some truth to it.

Hell, you can identify that by some officials who frequent this very forum.

1). How they don't like a rule!

This problem does not just exist in Ill.

I will go as far to say that it has been said you will call what assignor(s)/supervisor(s) want you to call if you want to progress or work. It's that want the article is touching on.

Waiting for the blast!!

[fullor30]

Originally Posted by truerookie

Ok, this article does touch on some truth in officiating. It may not be totally accurate but there is some truth to it.

Hell, you can identify that by some officials who frequent this very forum.

1). How they don't like a rule!

This problem does not just exist in Ill.

I will go as far to say that it has been said you will call what assignor(s)/supervisor(s) want you to call if you want to progress or work. It's that want the article is touching on.

Waiting for the blast!!

I can only speak for myself, I've never had an assignor tell me what to call other than rules.

[Mark Padgett]

The officials think they are bigger than the game

Change the word "officials" to "coaches" and the story would have much more credibility. What I would like to see on this topic is a chart showing the correlation between coach's complaints and their winning percentage. Gee, I wonder which way that would be skewed?

[truerookie]

Originally Posted by fullor30

I can only speak for myself, I've never had an assignor tell me what to call other than rules.

Ok,I can live with that. In the article, how many of those hoppings, palmings/carryings, displacements are viewed as game interrupters by
official(s).

[BktBallRef]

What the hell is hopping?