How does your state rank?

[Rich]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I have worked 3 State Finals in sports other than basketball. I can tell you that I was not ready even close after my 5th year. I had no perspective of the games I was involved in before and if I had the same catch/no catch call 5 or 6 years earlier in my football state final, I would not have been able to handle the criticism that came with that call. There is a lot more to working State Finals than just working the game. You also have to handle people wondering why you are where you are and wondering why you did not do the things they would have done if in the same position. That is not an easy thing to handle. Calling the game is easy, but having people be openly critical in this day and age is not something everyone can or has handled well.

Just look at the 2A State Finals for example and how what happen might follow those officials for the rest of their careers. And not all the officials were directly involved in some of the crap that happened. Even we posted plays here of what took place and this place goes to the world, not just Illinois.

Peace

We're singing from the same hymn book.

It's easy to work a game where there's no controversy, no crap, no defining moment where the spotlight is on you when you'd rather it be somewhere else.

Maybe it sounds like I'm just an old guy, but "good" experience counts for something.

That said, it sure does make it hard to break in for some really deserving people. It's not a knock on the guys, though, that have been doing it well for a long time.

What's funny is the most pressure I've felt was umpiring a Little League game. Then again, I'd never worked a plate job on ESPN before, knowing I was going to be criticized by people all over the country if I screwed up.