Question from Fanboy site

[bainsey]

I frequently read our state's fanboy site, typically to answer and clarify rules questions. (Every little bit of understanding helps.) Of course, there's the usual ref-bashing, but there's a recent exception from a fan who abhors idiotic behavior, and yet wonders even if less idiotic behavior can have an effect on our work. His initial question:

My question is does the "feedback" potentially do more harm than good if it's done in a civil way and more often than not is a matter of asking for fairness or equality in calls ???

My initial response was that I couldn't see how civility could do more harm than good. He offered an example from a game where he wasn't an biased fan (not a supporter of either team), and this clarification...

I'm just wondering how much of the poor officiating may be due to conscious or subconscious decisions on the ref's part based on crowd/fan behavior ...

What he considers to be "poor" officiating is certainly speculation. That said, we kick stuff sometimes, and fan critiques of officiating are often done in superlatives -- either great or poor (seldom fair or mediocre). If it isn't the fans (and I think we all agree that it's not), what is it? Bad positioning/mechanics? Being straightlined? Rules misapplications? What else?

[Raymond]

I see no tangible question here to be answered, or even worth pondering.

[Welpe]

Bad mechanics (getting straight lined falls into this) are the root of many poor calls.

The rest of it is a smattering of factors. Some officials just don't have good judgment, some do let the crowd get to them. As long as we keep getting officials from the human population, this will continue to happen.

[Adam]

Morons can be distracting sometimes.

[bainsey]

Originally Posted by Adam

Morons can be distracting sometimes.

Forget about the morons and howler monkeys, though. What about the ones yelling something backed with a little rules knowledge?

[Adam]

Originally Posted by bainsey

Forget about the morons and howler monkeys, though. What about the ones yelling something backed with a little rules knowledge?

My overall thoughts from your OP:
1. Distractions are bad. Most of us, as we progress, develop selective hearing and don't hear the fans 99% of the time. When we hear the fans, it's distracting. Any fan who thinks he's going to be able to impact the officiating in a positive way is dilluding himself. The only effect he will have is as a distraction. It could fluster younger officials, but that's not what this guy is getting at.

2. Fans who spout rule terminology are wasting their time. Either the official already knows the rules and their assistance is not required, or the official doesn't know the rules and their help isn't going to actually, well, help.

3. Anyone who is trying to be nice and civilized in order to have more influence on someone is kind of missing the point, IMO.

[Coach Bill]

Originally Posted by Adam

My overall thoughts from your OP:

2. Fans who spout rule terminology are wasting their time. Either the official already knows the rules and their assistance is not required, or the official doesn't know the rules and their help isn't going to actually, well, help.

I had an impact as a fan one time at a varsity high school game a few years ago. The officials were about to award 1-and-1 to a team on a "loose-ball foul" committed by the team last in possession of the ball.

I spouted that they still had team control. The officials conferred and I got a thumbs-up from one of them. A proud moment for me. lol. Most of the time, my "advice" is ignored.

[jTheUmp]

Originally Posted by Adam

2. Fans who spout rule terminology are wasting their time. Either the official already knows the rules and their assistance is not required, or the official doesn't know the rules and their help isn't going to actually, well, help.

I might be in the minority on this, but when I was a newbie and hadn't yet developed me keen ability to ignore fans, occasionally a "fan spouting rule terminology" would give me a "hey, maybe I have the rule wrong" reaction. I wouldn't let it change my actions in the current game, of course, but it would give me cause to dig into the rule book later in the evening. And occasionally I'd learn something, although usually I'd learn that the fan was an idiot.

An example: in my first year, I had one game where I called 4 or 5 violations for a ball hitting the top of the backboard (not going over, just hitting the top). After the 3rd one, I overheard a fan comment about "that's wrong, it's a dead ball only when it hits a backboard support"... In my sojurn into the rules later that evening, I found out that the fan was partially right, and I was wrong.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by bainsey

Forget about the morons and howler monkeys, though. What about the ones yelling something backed with a little rules knowledge?

Fans yelling things which may be legitimate complaints are not that uncommon. But it still comes down to judgment, and more importantly, it's too easy to criticize the job someone else is doing at anything, when there's no potential fallout if you criticism is wrong.

Bottom line: Officials, make sure nobody in the gym has more rules knowledge than you.

[j51969]

[QUOTE=just another ref;952922]Fans yelling things which may be legitimate complaints are not that uncommon. But it still comes down to judgment, and more importantly, it's too easy to criticize the job someone else is doing at anything, when there's no potential fallout if you criticism is wrong.QUOTE]

Such a true statement that can be applied to many different situations!

[Maineac]

Originally Posted by bainsey

Forget about the morons and howler monkeys, though. What about the ones yelling something backed with a little rules knowledge?

You lost me at "yelling something." I consider them to be not much different than the first two groups you mentioned. It's all "white noise" to me. It's certainly not going to help at all.

[Raymond]

I just tune fans out. I listen when I want to for entertainment purposes.

If I'm spending any extra attention to the fans it's because somebody very good looking is sitting in that area. Seriously.