Officiating other sports

[Rich]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

A lot of football officials also try to lean on the Referee to make most of these decisions as well.

This I'll never understand. Of course, as the referee on my crew, I don't have the luxury of letting someone else know the rules and enforcement.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

This I'll never understand. Of course, as the referee on my crew, I don't have the luxury of letting someone else know the rules and enforcement.

I do not understand it either. But many do it and expect the Referee to know everything. And having been a Referee, I realized more how much I need others to know things I cannot answer. A lot of times I was the guy that found out the information last, as I was not looking in certain places. I am sure you know this yourself as a Referee. But often crews get away with it because coaches are clueless to rules and most situations are not realized until much later.

Peace

[jTheUmp]

From the perspective of a thee-year football official, first year basketball official:

I wouldn't say one is necessarily harder then the other, but they are very different experiences.

Football has more complex rules, and a lot more players to watch on a given play (especially in undervarsity play when you only have a 2 person or 3 person crew). On the other hand, you usually get around 15 seconds or so of 'down time' between plays, which can help you mentally reset yourself. And in a regular 4- or 5-person crew, you generally know what you're going to be looking for before a play starts.

Basketball has relatively simple rules, but requires more snap judgements. your keys change much more rapidly then they do in football, and there's very little downtime. Also, the fans are generally much closer to the action, so they can be more of a distraction if you let them... on the other hand, basketball seems to have more of a 'Hot mom' component then football.

I haven't done baseball yet (although I'm starting this spring), so I can't make any comparisons there.

[lmeadski]

I have found lacrosse to be very similar to basketball. Much of the refs role is positioning, body contact, etc. The sticks, helmets and shoulder pads add a ton of fun. Also, parents dont know the rules (at least in my area). Very little banter from the sidelines. I love doing lacrosse and the rules are not complicated, very logical.

The issue with baseball is not calling outs, or even balls and strikes - its the complicated rules on those odd-ball plays like balls thrown into dug outs, interference with the baserunner, etc. To me, many things seemed illogical. Also, you ref a LONG TIME for $60. Softball's game time commitment is less.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by lmeadski

I have found lacrosse to be very similar to basketball.

Right - in both games, players get to hit the other guy with a stick!

Hey - I allow that in my games.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

Players get to hit the other guy with a stick!

Hey? Do officials carry sticks? If the officials get to hit obnoxious coaches and fans over the heads with sticks, then count me in.