Free Food

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by fullor30

Along these lines, more than once I've had my bag/suitcase in front seat and when stopped by police for speeding I quickly unzip bag to show stripes.......pass everytime!

I was once pulled over in a small town because I was the referee.

Night game. Home team lost, showered, left. Not more than a few hundred yards out of the school, I get pulled over. Apparently I was speeding.

Cop makes the mistake about mentioning that I was a referee. I asked if he was just at the game....he said he wan't. Suspicious, I asked him how he knew I was a referee. He claimed to have recognized me from his kids games....I hadn't been to that town in about 2 years. Hmmmm.

He let me go. Later, I told my partner about it.....he got pulled over too.

We asked around and found that several referees were pulled over just after leaving that same school...none ever with tickets, just warnings (probably so it wouldn't ever show up in any official record).

While nothing was ever proven, the assumption was that the coach, the AD, or someone connected with the school was having a buddy copy harass officials after games where the home team lost or was tough. Our commissioner called the AD on the issue and said it needed to stop....and it did. Hmmm.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

I was once pulled over in a small town because I was the referee.

Night game. Home team lost, showered, left. Not more than a few hundred yards out of the school, I get pulled over. Apparently I was speeding.

Cop makes the mistake about mentioning that I was a referee. I asked if he was just at the game....he said he wan't. Suspicious, I asked him how he knew I was a referee. He claimed to have recognized me from his kids games....I hadn't been to that town in about 2 years. Hmmmm.

He let me go. Later, I told my partner about it.....he got pulled over too.

We asked around and found that several referees were pulled over just after leaving that same school...none ever with tickets, just warnings (probably so it wouldn't ever show up in any official record).

While nothing was ever proven, the assumption was that the coach, the AD, or someone connected with the school was having a buddy copy harass officials after games where the home team lost or was tough. Our commissioner called the AD on the issue and said it needed to stop....and it did. Hmmm.

I would love to see this hit the papers!

[JMUplayer]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

I was once pulled over in a small town because I was the referee.

Night game. Home team lost, showered, left. Not more than a few hundred yards out of the school, I get pulled over. Apparently I was speeding.

Cop makes the mistake about mentioning that I was a referee. I asked if he was just at the game....he said he wan't. Suspicious, I asked him how he knew I was a referee. He claimed to have recognized me from his kids games....I hadn't been to that town in about 2 years. Hmmmm.

He let me go. Later, I told my partner about it.....he got pulled over too.

We asked around and found that several referees were pulled over just after leaving that same school...none ever with tickets, just warnings (probably so it wouldn't ever show up in any official record).

While nothing was ever proven, the assumption was that the coach, the AD, or someone connected with the school was having a buddy copy harass officials after games where the home team lost or was tough. Our commissioner called the AD on the issue and said it needed to stop....and it did. Hmmm.

Video on an IPHONE would have been golden in this situation.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by just another ref

Called games tonight with a partner I have worked with a few times, but this was our first time to ride together. On the way home, we were approaching a couple of fast food places, and he asked if I had a preference. I said he was driving, either one was fine. He said that either one would "take care of us."
To make a long story short, apparently it is a common practice for various eating establishments to provide free food for sports officials, including the Burger King on my way home, where I have stopped probably a hundred times returning from games.

Is this a southern thing, or is it everywhere? For the record, this is not a practice with which I am comfortable.

If it is a "southern thing" then Virginia was skipped over. But if a restaurant is offering me free food then I'm taking it.

Now hospitality rooms? Well, depends on who your boss is. I have one supervisor who has made it perfectly clear that we do not utilize any hospitality rooms when working his games.