A tale of two games
 

Last night, two 8th grade boys games back to back. First game, worked with a guy that I didn't know. I think he was getting paid by the foul call. Both teams, double bonus, both halves. After Q1, I realized I had called two fouls and he had called 12. I kept track of mine after that so I could check the book after the game to see how many he called. I totaled eight for the game. He totaled 37. No, not a misprint. Five boys fouled out. The worst part was, I called the fifth foul on three of them, so it gave the impression I was the "bad guy" at those times. My partner was calling fouls for virtually any contact. It was a nightmare. Oh yeah - the coaches were a lot of fun, too.

Second game, different partner, thank goodness. Visiting coach complaining about almost every call since he was getting blown out. Q2, my partner finally had to give him a technical after a warning for shooting his mouth off. Two minutes later, my partner calls a travel on one of his kids (extremely obvious) and the clown throws his clipboard down. BUH-BYE, courtesy of me.

This is why I get the big bucks.

You need to write a book about your games...it would be funny as He$$!

Was the guy you reffed the first game too tired from calling too many fouls to do the second game? Lol!
You gotta have the big kahunas to get paid the big bucks!!!
How much paperwork do you get to do for tossing him?

In this league - none. It's just one phone call to the assignor.

Did the clipboard have a play on it that did not work?

Based on that team's performance in that game, it must have had about 20 plays on it that didn't work.

Hey, $37 a game ain't bad! ;)

Actually, for that game, he got $32.50, so he threw in a couple of free ones.

I told both coaches they should have bought foul insurance. :o

* denotes 'bonus'

Mark:

$32.50 per game for JrHS games??

Where do I sign up. The most we get in Ohio is $55 for a JrHS doubleheader.

MTD. Sr.

Hasn't heard of advantage/disadvantage. Many will not do this because it forces you to use judgment (isn't that what all officiating is about), whereas calling all contact does not involve the use of judgment.

As I've mentioned before, why not just line up everyone at the free throw line and shoot 10 free throws and whoever hits the most wins the game? Should take 1/2 hour at most for your $32.50. Good luck.

Junior high games here (And all games with 6-minute quarters) are $35 per game plus mileage for one driver. I usually make $80-$100 for a JH doubleheader depending on where I drive to.

So do you call yourself? :D

And if so, do you answer? :eek:

I just moved from an area where MS games paid $12.50 each, usually for three games totalling $37.50. I did one season.

Wow, hardly worth the drive! We get $38.70/MS or F/JV game* (no mileage).

* sometimes we'll even get a free gatorade or water too! :)

These seem like "Joe the Plumber" rates. :D In our part of Ohio we get anywhere from $33 to $40 per game (no mileage) for MS games. We seldom have to drive more than 10 - 15 miles each way for MS games. Of course, once the AAU/Ohio Youth Basketball Seasons start, the numbers drop to around $22 per game (so many officials, so few games). But then again, these parents are so much easier to deal with than their regular season counterparts. :rolleyes:

That's why I quit doing them after my first season in that association. Getting off of work two hours early to run 3 ms games on a tartan for peanuts? Priceless.

I figured as long as they had officials willing to work at that price, that's all they'd pay.

You'll hate this Mark. I did 3 travel games last weekend for 150.

Average travel/feeder is 35 a game in my area.

FWIW in our area there's ball all year round, and lots of it. I could work 12 months a year. There are guys/gals that do 15-20 games a week all off season. These games pay about $25 an hour. Alot of them are running clockers.

Our local kids rec league, of which I am on the Board, pays $23 for 3-8 grade games (to officials with at least 4 years experience - first year starts at $17 per game, still not bad for a HS kid who needs some extra cash) and $25 for HS level rec games. If you work alone, you get 1 1/2 times the rate. The "competitive" 5-8 league I work pays $32.50 if you work a single game and $30 per game if you work two or more in a row. The "rip-off" is that if you work alone, you get only $35 per game regardless of how many in a row you work. That sucks. Their tournament games pay only $25 per game. The upside is that in that league, you get paid at the game, about half the time in cash, the other half by check. Our local rec league pays by check monthly and you have to submit a "time sheet".

Here in Southern Indiana, we get 50 dollars total for 2 jr high games. Usually 7/8 grade but sometimes 7 A& B or 8 A& B. Numbers seemed to be down at some schools this season so a couple times B games were 2 quarters this year. 25 dollars a game isn't bad but that 30 something a game sounds much better. One school paid 55 for 2 middle school games last season bc of the price of gas but since gas was cheaper this season, so it was back down to 50. Most grade school games in the area are 45 dollars for 2 games. Kind of makes it a no brainer to go work a jv game for 45 or 50 dollars for one game than half to deal with MS coaches for the same pay for two games.

I hope you have unlimited minutes!

No other warranty expressed or implied.
 

Here in the Constitution State, we get $54.75 for every subvarsity game, junior varsity, freshman, and middle school. And, according to our contract with the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, our state high school sports governing body, we get an automatic raise every year equal to the average statewide salary increase negotiated by teachers. So if Connecticut teachers get a 3% salary increase, average from town to town, next year, then so do we. No more yearly negotiating with the CIAC over game fees. This saves a lot of time. I hope that the teachers in every town that are negotiating a new contract for next year get a big fat raise, except, of course, for my town, where I pay my property taxes, and no longer have kids in the local school system, they're all in graduate school. Not in my backyard.