A bit of a mess at an Indiana HS game

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Rich

You may not care, but the second I see an official wearing a belt, my perception of them changes in a negative way. Period. I have never seen a top notch official wearing a belt at the HS or college level. You can keep on bragging about your belt all you like and the fact that they're still OK in CT (where you work zero 3-person, which is another indicator for me on the state of officiating in CT), but all this does is make me think that CT is even further behind the curve than where I live.

I'm not bragging. I'm commenting on how some Forum members are open to the old "When in Rome ..." credo, while others aren't. I'm totally against the "When in Texas" concept of sounding one's whistle before entering the court to warn players to stop dunking. I would view it as silly here in Connecticut. However, I would never question that this is the right thing to do in Texas. I'm pretty certain that very good high school varsity officials, in many parts of the country, don't shower after the game, but simply leave in uniform. That's fine for those other parts of the country, but it would be considered a major faux pas here in Connecticut, enough to slow down one's movement up the officiating ladder.

Belts are allowed here in Connecticut. Period. Belts are neither encouraged, nor are they discouraged. Period. This is how our cadets are trained. Whether one wears beltless slacks, or one wears a belt, has absolutely no bearing on one's rating, ranking, the level games one gets assigned, the number of games one gets assigned, or whether, or not, one "makes" the state tournament list. Period. Are you accusing me of lying?

Originally Posted by Rich

I have never seen a top notch official wearing a belt at the HS level.

Then you certainly haven't seen our top Connecticut officials working games. Most don't wear belts, a few veterans do. I would never discuss the quality of your officials until I have actually seen them work games. If you were to tell me that some of your top officials work games wearing shoes with quite a bit of white on them, I would never prejudge them to be poor officials, until I actually observed them work games. Wearing all black shoes does not necessarily make a great official, especially in regions where shoes with some white on them may be neither encouraged, nor may they be discouraged.

Regarding three person games. The winningest coaches in the state, those that play an up tempo, defensively oriented, man to man defense, full court press, style of basketball, don't want a third official. Period. They believe that it will lead to more fouls, more free throws, more players in foul trouble, and fewer wins for them. These guys are the leaders of the Connecticut Coaches Association, a very strong organization here in the state. They strongly lobby our state interscholastic sports governing body to not move to three person games. Our state interscholastic sports governing body listens to these coaches, and their organization. Officials want to go to three person games. Many coaches want to go to three person games. A minority of vocal coaches, leading a very strong lobbying organization, don't, so we don't.