Drunken Referree

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by asdf

First..... who cares if they asked him. ( I do find it odd that he's got his gear with him)

He should have told them NO !!! The game could have gone on with 4.

Second.....

I hope I am never put in this situation. However, if I am, I guarantee you that I am handling things as previously stated.

FYI.... in case you haven't figured it out by now, I could care less what people think of me. I am who I am.

Straight forward, blunt, honest. You don't like it.... tough.

As much as I'm against working with a detectably "drunk" partner. I disagree with you here. A drink, or even two, a couple of hours before the game (as it seems was the case) will have largely worn off by the game time. I have no problem with this guy working. He even had the wherewithal to bring up the issue and leave it in the hands of those in charge.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

As much as I'm against working with a detectably "drunk" partner. I disagree with you here. A drink, or even two, a couple of hours before the game (as it seems was the case) will have largely worn off by the game time. I have no problem with this guy working. He even had the wherewithal to bring up the issue and leave it in the hands of those in charge.

Drunk is a broad term. For many people, a drink, or even two, would have little or no effect to wear off. They could have two beers on the way to the game and nobody would know the difference.

[ref2coach]

Most humans process ~1/2 ounce of pure alcohol per hour. 1 shot of liquor, 1 beer, 5 oz wine each have ~1/2 ounce of alcohol. So depending on what time the drink(s) were consumed in relation to tip off time there may be absolutely no alcohol remaining in the blood stream.

Source, My Wife a full time Alcohol & Drug Counselor.

[fullor30]

Originally Posted by ref2coach

Most humans process ~1/2 ounce of pure alcohol per hour. 1 shot of liquor, 1 beer, 5 oz wine each have ~1/2 ounce of alcohol. So depending on what time the drink(s) were consumed in relation to tip off time there may be absolutely no alcohol remaining in the blood stream.

Source, My Wife a full time Alcohol & Drug Counselor.

I'm sure that's not going to fly with Mr Carry Nations

[jdw3018]

This whole thread has gotten silly.

Bottom line, don't officiate drunk. And if a partner shows up obviously hammered, I'm guessing most of us are going to agree that a few questions should be asked/suggestions made regarding his/her going ahead with the game. It's doing nobody a favor - not you, not your drunk partner, not the kids - if you just let him/her wander his/her drunk self out there.

So, put me in the camp of saying something/doing something if someone is noticeably impaired...regardless of the reason.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by just another ref

Drunk is a broad term. For many people, a drink, or even two, would have little or no effect to wear off. They could have two beers on the way to the game and nobody would know the difference.

That is why I said "detectably drunk".

If someone else can tell they've been drinking, they've clearly had too much to be working a game.

They may have had too much to be working with a level less than "detectably drunk", but that is a different point.

[grunewar]

Last Friday (VB) I worked with a very senior official. During pre-game/post-game we talked about a great many subjects. He asked me about my year, about my upcoming games/partners, etc.

When I told him about my Sunday, 11th/12th Grade Rec schedule, he told me to let him know if my partner had been drinking as it was "noticed" last time they were together. He said to watch and see if he's chewing a lot of gum.

Sunday roles around, 1230 game, my P is there....and he's chewing gum. The smell of alcohol was "barely noiticeable to me" and, IMO, didn't affect his game. If I wasn't told to be on the lookout for it, I wouldn't have noticed and would have thought the barely detectable odor was mouthwash.

I didn't say anything and don't intend to.

To be quite honest, this official is very senior to me and if there was an issue, I'm not quite sure what I personally would have done.