Attacked at a Game

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by DonInKansas

First up, some paragraph breaks would make this a little easier to read. All the text running together is making my eyes water.

Secondly, did you administer any technicals? I can't believe she was still around at the end of this game.

Thirdly, going with a coach who grabs you by the arm, especially after a game like that, is asking for trouble.

So this "young" official sends in a situation which was obviously quite upsetting to him, and the best you can do is criticize his typing skills??? Get a life there in Kansas, would you.

And Ranchman, self-evaluation is always a good thing. But I can pretty much guarantee you that EVERY official goes through something like this at least once in their career. Whether it escalates to this level or not, there is always a game where the fans are horrible, the coach blames you in the local media, some player or parent files some kind of "complaint" against you, etc., etc. We have all gone through it. Quitting officiating would not be a good idea - the best advice I can give is to learn from this, talk to those other officials who were there and witnessed it, file charges against the guy who punched you, turn back any games you get from this school, and then get on with your officiating career. It's one game - how many good, fun games have you had? Bet it's more than one! Don't let the one bad one ruin all the other good experiences. You have to get back up in that saddle again.

[Rita C]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

So this "young" official sends in a situation which was obviously quite upsetting to him, and the best you can do is criticize his typing skills??? Get a life there in Kansas, would you.

This was important to this young official. I wanted to read his story but it was too difficult on a computer screen without the paragraph breaks.

Proper communication is important. Paragraph breaks are part of that.

Rita

[j2u4now]

You got what you gave.............
It is what it is...................

You let her control your crew and didn't do anything about it.
You gave her the chance and she abused it, and you did nothing about it.
Coaches are to coach, you are to officiate. When coaches officiate, you should have whacked her.

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by Rita C

This was important to this young official. I wanted to read his story but it was too difficult on a computer screen without the paragraph breaks.

Proper communication is important. Paragraph breaks are part of that.

Rita

It wasn't that difficult to read, for crying out loud. Try reading 7th grade research reports for a couple of days - those are hard to read!

[Rita C]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

It wasn't that difficult to read, for crying out loud. Try reading 7th grade research reports for a couple of days - those are hard to read!

He wrote it well. It's just difficult to read on a computer when there aren't paragraphs. I tried "underlining" going line by line to make it easier to follow.

Rita

[greatgamer]

Originally Posted by Rita C

He wrote it well. It's just difficult to read on a computer when there aren't paragraphs. I tried "underlining" going line by line to make it easier to follow.

Rita

I gotta agree. And this is coming from a UCSD graduate, who also tutors kids who have difficulty writing essays. One thing I've learned from my journalism experience, is that readers love paragraphs. This is why when you read newspaper and magazine articles, you will see plenty of paragraph breaks.

The other problem, stems from the structural layout of these forums. I also own a VBulletin forum, but I have a different setup, so that the membership profile and info align to the left (therxforum.com), as a column, as opposed to this place's setup, where it aligns on top of the posts. This can be extremely problematic, as the lines of words end up stretching the entire width of the monitor, and it can cause the reader to lose their place in the paragraph. This layout is a huge no-no in webdesign, which I've also studied extensively.

[greatgamer]

I understand your frustration, but the second you made a racial remark, you lost my sympathy.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by greatgamer

The other problem, stems from the structural layout of these forums. I also own a VBulletin forum, but I have a different setup, so that the membership profile and info align to the left (therxforum.com), as a column, as opposed to this place's setup, where it aligns on top of the posts. This can be extremely problematic, as the lines of words end up stretching the entire width of the monitor, and it can cause the reader to lose their place in the paragraph. This layout is a huge no-no in webdesign, which I've also studied extensively.

I like that layout even less. Unless the post is long, it makes you scroll through lots of empty space between each post....the bio takes up 20-30 lines in many forums and that is paired with posts that are usually 2-5 lines. If the paragraphs are too wide, you can alway change the size of the window and the text will rearrange to fit.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Rita C

He wrote it well. It's just difficult to read on a computer when there aren't paragraphs. I tried "underlining" going line by line to make it easier to follow.

Rita

I'm with Rita...I saw that it was a big 50 line block of text and I moved on. It was not worth my time to read a post composed so poorly. As she said, communication is not just the words but is the format....and this is about as bad a format as can be had short of deliberate malformatting.

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

It was not worth my time to read a post composed so poorly. .

Good grief...

[fiasco]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

It was not worth my time to read a post composed so poorly.

But it was worth your time to post about it? You have strange priorities.

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by fiasco

But it was worth your time to post about it? You have strange priorities.

Nice fiasco!! I like it...

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by fiasco

but it was worth your time to post about it? You have strange priorities.

+1

[swkansasref33]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

So this "young" official sends in a situation which was obviously quite upsetting to him, and the best you can do is criticize his typing skills??? Get a life there in Kansas, would you.

it doesnt appear to me that he was criticizing his typing skills... just that he might edit it to make it easier to read. it was a little hard for me to follow due to the length and the fact that there are no breaks. just my 2 cents

[amusedofficial]

Originally Posted by swkansasref33

it doesnt appear to me that he was criticizing his typing skills... just that he might edit it to make it easier to read. it was a little hard for me to follow due to the length and the fact that there are no breaks. just my 2 cents

Yeah, it was hard to read. But it told a story that is pretty scary, adn that needs to be discussed, irrespective of whether you think the coach should have been whacked early and often or whether you think the official should have walked away when confronted.

Keep in mind that the OP was written while fresh in the official's mind and he no doubt was eager to get feedback from people who could understand what's it's like to be the loneliest person in the gym, even if they disagreed with aspects of how it was handled. So the fact that his words spilled out in a torrent is understandable and reflects the situation.

In this context, complaints about his formatting of the written post are out of line. Whack!