Womens championship game

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

Exactly what does the racial makeup or gender of a team have to do with who are the best officials? I have yet to see a single real point that supports how that matters. Get the best officials, whoever they are. If the teams have a problem with that, who is really the problem? Yes, there are certain games where having diverse representation can help, but that is really only become necessary when the teams have issues.

If it does matter and you want everything to match, you should also be suggesting that the state restrict the teams that are allowed to participate in the tourney and advance based on the population's demographic breakdown. To do otherwise is counter to representing true fairness for everyone. I don't for one moment believe that should be the case, but that is essentially what you're arguing for. If you're going to pick a reference point for drawing some sort of quota, it should be relative to the overall population.

From recent census data, Illinois is 63% While, 16% Hispanic, 15% Black, 5% Asian, plus a few smaller groups. If a fair and equal world where you accept that all people are created equal and each person gets a fair chance based on their own abilities, of the 12 finals slots you mentioned, you'd expect an average of about 8 Whites, 2 Blacks, 2 Hispanics, and an Asian every other year or so.

Hmmm. Since you're for equality, can I assume out there promoting the idea of ensuring there are 2 Hispanics working the finals every year and 1 less Black than there was???

It has a lot to do with it if you are not used to working a certain kind of ball. The teams that ended up winning the two biggest classes came out of the City of Chicago. You know who works that ball most of the time? You guessed it, African-American officials mostly. Basketball in the city at the top level is often above the rim, very quick and can have an edge to the players you do not see anywhere else.

I also did not say that race should be the only factor. There are white officials from the city that are used to that style of ball as opposed to those that work in rural areas and suburban areas where the teams are never above the rim and not nearly as quick.

And most of all the players act, behave differently in different areas and coaches act and behave differently as well. It is often a "shock" to officials that have never been in the city (even the Catholic schools) in the way they will overreact to situations without having experience to squelch issues.

This is why I pointed to the 2A Finals in this state. Those three officials came from a part of the state where I doubt seriously that they on a regular basis had two teams play each other that were different racially by fans and players. I have had that kind of situation or experience in this season several times. It is no big deal for me and one of the reasons is my race because I am put into those situations by assignors with a racially mixed crew. And that does not mean African-American treat me better. It just means I often will be the guy they come to about stuff, but when I do not do what they want they act up. But that would be a shock to many officials who have never been in those situations.

Race can play as big of a factor as knowing where someone lives, seeing how big someone is and how athletic they are to keep up or what your years of experience is. Some people have fewer years of experience and have dealt with things than someone with more years. And it appears that many supervisors in my experience feel that way. I know coaches have complained that they did not have more diversity in a staff. And no, was not always Black coaches that complained. It was other coaches that felt it mattered when they coached an all-Black team.

Peace