I want to get the collective opinion of officials and coaches on this forum.

As a Referee, one of the things I struggle with early in the season is remembering to cover the items I need to cover in pregame. So to prompt my memory, I have created a cheat sheet made from paper about half the size of a postcard and I glance down at that to make sure I talk to the coaches about everything I need to talk to them about. I don't hold the card up and read directly from it. I glance at it to make sure I have everything covered and I force myself to look the coach in the eyes when I listen for an answer.

I am being told by a fellow crew member that this sends an bad signal to the coaches.

What are your thoughts on working from a cheat sheet of pregame questions?

Mike,

What if you and your umpire came up with a checklist for your pregame conference with your coaches. If you both knew the topics you wanted to cover he could point out anything that you omitted.

I have a little vinyl cover (from The Referee's Call) with slip pockets inside it and I have a card in the left pocket that has a checklist at the top. I lay my game card on the checklist so the check items show right above it. It looks like I'm looking at my card but I can see the list right there. I don't see anything wrong with it especially early in the season when it's still a little foggy after a year off. I also keep an overtime cheat sheet in there just in case.

Mike, if you have to use a sheet, then go ahead and use it. But it does look better if you don't have to. Couldn't you give the sheet to your umpire so that he could discretely check that you covered everything?

I too have a cheat sheet on the vinyl sleeve that my cards are in. This way I just go down the list and quickly cover everything that I need to cover.

I have used a laminated card for the past 10 years and have found it works well. Rather than appearing unprepared, I think it looks as if you have taken the time to make sure you are well prepared and everything is under control.

Our crew goes over the items we want to cover (in the meeting with coaches) in our pregame discussion. One of the crew will speak up if the R happens to miss an item. For example, one of the wings will actually demonstrate to the coach how we'll be communicating with his wide receivers regarding being on or off the line of scrimmage.

Personally, when I coached, I'd rather know that the crew has gone over everything by the R having a list to read off of than to have something go forgotten about and have an issue come up because of it later.

I'm sure no card looks more professional, but my guess is that it'd be up to the individual coaches, etc as to how they perceive it.

Nothing wrong with the card. I WH for the first time this season Friday night and sure as heck I forgot to get the Captains names/numbers in talking with the coaches.
In talking with the clock operator I forgot to mention the 3 min warm up. He had been doing it for a number of years so he had it covered.

I would never have a Cheat Sheet. But I do use a checklist. :)

I use it quite openly.

Instead of being a hindrance, I think it is a benefit in that the coach sees I'm going down a list and <i>seems</i> less likely to interrupt with, "Say, let me ask you about this call I had in a game the other day..."

(I do this in another sport. In football, I'm the umpire and don't have a written checklist.)

I also have a laminated card that I keep in my leather sleeve with my game card.

REPLY: Doesn't the coach use a list of the plays he wants to use in various situations? Does that send a wrong message to you? Absolutely nothing wrong with using a similar device to make sure we cover everything with him before the game.

I am a varsity WH and I don't use such a checklist. I remind my crew that if I miss anything to feel free to catch it when I ask them if they have anything to add.

I think it's OK to have a checklist, but would reflect poorly on you if you read from it, step-by-step.

I have been a referee for over 20 years and during that time I have always had a card that listed everything I wanted to cover with the coach. I have never had a coach negatively comment about the use of the card, actually, some have stated that they wish every referee was as thorough and concise. This year I have moved to umpire so that I can help train a new young referee. I offered him my card and he chose not to use one. During our conference with the coach something will almost always be forgotten to be mentioned. That forces me to bring it up, which in my mind makes the referee look bad. One final observation. How many head coaches have you seen that don't have a sheet with them at the game.+

And I also see a lot of QB's now with printed plays on their wristband.