Columnist's tantrum- would you respond?

[Axe Man]

Not because there is a proactive effort to favor one team or another but because high school referees are apparently there just for the check, so they can send their kids to college. Who trains these guys?

As good of a question is who trains the coaches?

First, the game official told the player the captain was the only one who could talk to the game official.

“I AM a captain,” the player said. “And I am asking, sir, if you will please watch the holding and blocking in the back.”

This statement was obviously run through the fan/player/coach translator.

Yellow flag, 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Another time a coach asked an official if he saw the holding on the previous play. “Are you questioning my integrity?” the referee asked. The coach, not wanting a penalty, just walked away.

Someone please call the record book folks. A coach who walked away without wanting to get in the last word?

“Answer my question!” the referee demanded. An assistant coach stepped up and said, “We’re not questioning your integrity, just your eyesight.”

Sorry coach, could you speak up please...my guide dog can't hear you!


If coaches disagree with or question a call, the referee can put a pimple on the school’s sportsmanship rating. No one gets to rate the officials, though. Coaches only get to vote on which officials should work playoff games. There is no system in place to weed out incompetent officials or to reward those who do a good job.

Thank god there is a system to weed out incompetent coaches.

It just sucks to watch a bunch of kids play their hearts out and then have momentum reversed by a bad call. A pass called a reception and fumble Friday should have been ruled an incomplete pass. The call turned the game around psychologically and on the scoreboard.

I guess it doesn't suck for the kids if they play their heart out and have momentum reversed by a fumble or interception that was called correctly!

I am not blaming the officiating for the Bobcat loss to Valley (although an argument could be made).

Had to be the officials. Players and coaches have no impact on the outcome.

The Tigers are big, fast and deep. However, having to overcome non-calls is a decided disadvantage for the underdog.

I always thought you were the underdog because you came into the game with a disadvantage?

It is one thing to let the boys play, it is another to let them play without enforcing the rules.[/QUOTE]