In the spirit of laughing at ourselves, can we all share our most embarrassing moments on the field?

I will start this out. I was working the first of two games (JV before a Varsity game) at a school I had never worked previously. At halftime, I noticed a couple of fans looking in the direction of the crew and laughing at us. I didn’t think much about it. Second half goes pretty well. As we go back to the locker room to prepare for the varsity game, I notice that my zipper is down. I try to zip it up and low and behold my zipper is broken (and on my favorite knickers). When I had packed for the games, I failed to put an extra pair of knickers in the bag (and I usually do). OOPS! Fortunately, one of my crewmates bailed me out of trouble and let me borrow of pair of his, but he is extremely tall and the kickers practically came down to me heals. When I tapered them, the elastic on the foothole came up to about mid-thigh. I never forget to bring an extra pair of knickers to any game I work now.


[Edited by mikesears on Apr 26th, 2005 at 07:49 AM]

This was an 8th grade Middle School game in my small hometown. I would be WH working with two untrained local volunteers. Because it was my Home Town debut a few of my friends would be there to watch. After one team scores I give the ball to Cletus, my LJ, and tell him to set it up on the forty. He goes to the nearest 40 and I walk to the far 20. Both teams are lines up and ready to go. I’m about to blow the ready, when I hear a loud voice yelling out of the stands “YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY”. I’m thinking no ...no way. Again the voice from the stands, which by now I recognize as belonging to my best friend says, “YOU’RE GOING THE WRONG WAY”. Now I’m thinking OMG, he’s right. So I shut it down, switch the two teams, and walk the longest 80 yards of my life. Big laughs all around. But I’ll tell you; I’ve never made that mistake again.

Not mine, but from this year...

One of our most experienced officials rotates between R, U and LM on different games. He is definately built as a U though - with the attitude that another snickers will ALWAYS help.

First game of this year he was LM and on the first big run to his side his belt exploded. The metal disc holding the leather together came off and his belt just split, with the result that in midstride his knickers slipped half way down his legs and impaired his running. He didn't fall, and was wearing decent [always a critic... Spelling has never been a strong point of mine :-) ] shorts underneath, but the way he teetered before stopping his run was great!

James

[Edited by jjrye22 on Apr 28th, 2005 at 10:03 AM]

REPLY: James...please say that you have a video tape of that play!! What a great way to open a meeting.

Glad to hear that his "decend" shorts didn't "descend."

When my wife ran across the field during a dead-ball period to bring me my water bottle.

And the night game on my birthday when my wife went into the public address booth without my previous knowledge (she is not a football fan and rarely made it to my games) and had the announcer tell the crowd to wish me a happy birthday. The players gave me a good ribbing the rest of the game.

Then my wife brought a huge birthday cake to the officials' locker room afterwards and we all had a big piece of cake and several laughs at my expense.

When I first started working, my father was still officiating. I showed up at a sophmore game and when I dressed I found I had packed my father's size 44/46 waist knickers. Of course at the time I wore about a 32 (It was many years and many, many inches ago).

Needless to say, I looked like a clown on the field.

REPLY: Mike...I think we better find your wife some more productive things to do while you officiate!

I didn't know if this is really embarassing but it is odd. I was working a freshman game under the lights one evening and my family and my wife's parents came out to watch daddy work. My daughter was 3 at the time. All of the players were 14 or 15 I would guess. My daughter is up in the stands yelling "Go daddy, go!!!" Probably sounded a little odd to the people around her and they were probably trying to figure out which 14 year old kid had a kid that old already.

Not football, but a similar story...

I was working the plate during a High School baseball game a few years ago, and some of the crowd didn't care for my strike zone (funny...it was fine during the top half of the inning...). I started getting the usual static, which didn't bother me at all. But my wife and kids were in the stands, and my six year old daughter didn't like it at all. She stood up, turned around, pointed at one of the hecklers and said, "Don't you EVER say that to my daddy again!"

It's nice to know that someone has your back. ;)

Indirectly football related. When I first started officiating almost 17 years ago, I would do football in fall and then right into basketball in the winter.

Well football season ended and I started right into my basketball officiating. In one of my first games of that season, fast break down the side of the court and the offensive player steps on the side line. Silly me, thinking the wrong sport, do the football kill the clock signal as I catch myself starting to mark the out of bounds spot. I don't know that anyone noticed except for the other official I was working with (who also officiated football).

Worst on the football field, my crew chief and I are driving to frosh game(first game on this schools new turf field) We get stuck in traffic and end up late. We rush onto field in time for first series, I am LJ. Just get to my position and the ball is snapped, sweep play to my side, I start trailing fast runner up sideline and catch someones foot on the sideline, MAJOR face plant. No slide, just stuck.....stopped dead in my tracks.

I remember laughing at an official who did this in a basketball game in which I was working as the official scorer. It's great to see a b-ball official waving his arms and marking the spot at a basketball game. Next thing you know, you're reaching for a bean bag on a loose ball.

This is going to be my first year officiating. I'll do football this fall and then basketball in the winter. I'm a little bit afraid of getting my signals crossed too.

Var FB game at an old stadium here in KC, MO. Stands and press box are right on top of the field. The field is used by 3 teams so it gets very beat up. They cover the sideline area with a tarp so it doesn’t get muddy. I was walking the sidelines before the game when the band takes the field for the Anthem. I am right in front of the band, which is directly in front of the stands and box. I look around for another member of the crew to try to meet up with him and get out of the way. Our BJ is 15-20 yards away so I start trotting to them. As I am running on the sidelines, I step in this HUGE hole on the sidelines that was covered up by the tarp and roll my ankle. I literally rolled like 2 or 3 times, right in front of the band and the stands. I get up, realize I did a number on my ankle, and sit down on the bench. A trainer was right there and starts taping up my ankle. R comes over and starts giving me a hard time about it all. Next thing I now, a fan comes up to R and says, “Do I need to go to the car and get my stuff?” NFL official (can’t remember his name, he’s on Hochili’s crew) who has a son playing in the game. That was the first time I ever met an NFL official. I bet I made a great first impression.
I work the game, limping the entire time, and my knickers got filthy when I rolled on the tarp. I am LJ so my dirty backside was to the stands the entire game. In the 3rd quarter the head coach finally comes up to me and asks, “What happened to your pants?” I explained the story. I never heard a head coach laugh so hard.

Baseball: Working a 13 year old game. Pitch bounces between catchers legs right up to my crotch (for lack of a better term). I wasn’t wearing a cup so I got it good. :o I stumbled down the third base-line, everyone knew what happened. I sit down for like 30 minutes. People were laughing/cringing in the stands. I ended up going to my car, changing out of my plate stuff, and working the rest of the game from behind the mound. Few days later, I was working a tournament across town (at least 30 minutes away), now wearing my cup of course. I hear a young kid in the stands say, “That’s the ump who got hit in the b*lls!” Turns out he was playing in the game when I got hit and his brother was playing in the tournament.

Regas 14- Hopefully it wasn't me <smile>. Embarrassing at the time, but funny now. Best wishes in all of your officiating endeavors. Best advice I received-remember to have fun out there. This is my 17th season coming up, and I still enjoy it as much as my first.