It is called the playoffs. After several years you get used to it. :D

Seriously, it does not get cold until the post season. Our regular season ends around the third week in October. After you have worked the playoffs a few years, you buy the right stuff and you do not feel too bad. Actually my game on Friday night was probably warmer than my second round game and my third round game and both where in the afternoon. You also have to understand that when you have lived here for years in this kind of weather, unless it is in the "teens" you will be OK. Do not get me wrong, I would like all games be as warm as 72-degrees, but it is not as big of a problem as you would think.

Peace

So, how'd the game go, Jeff?

A lot of running. :D

We had the most combined passing yards than any other game in IHSA Football State Final History. I had several calls of either holding or DPI (no OPI, yeppiee!!!!). I was told that all calls were on tape. I even had a face guarding that did not go over very well by some, but all the officials I talked to said it was about as obvious as you could get.

It was a close game until the last minute or so. It was primetime. The crowd was much louder than I thought it would be (Memorial Stadium holds around 70,000 people and only about 5 thousand or so was outside).

It was the best officiating experience of my life. And to work with a group of guys that care deeply about their jobs as officials and we were on one page all season even when we disagreed. It was really nice to experience this accomplishment with people I care about along with people that helped me get there watching. It still feels like it was a dream.

Peace

...so Illinois has a crew system whereby a crew works together all year, and then in playoffs and the state championship game, the crews stay together...or do they go to an All-Star crew system for the post-season?

Jeff,

Congratulations!

I got to watch a fair amount of the game on the local broadcast.

Nice job.

I think you would have gotten a kick out of the one where the receiver was hit immediately after the pass got to him, it bounced, and came back to his stomach as he was lying on his back. You came in to the camera angle with a very emphatic "incomplete" signal. As the replay came on, clearly showing the ball hit the ground before the receiver gained control, the announcer was blathering on about how he wasn't sure the ball had ever touched the ground.

JM

We choose our crews on our own. We schedule all our games during the regular season as a crew. We have to tell the IHSA who is on our Playoff Crew and they decide what we will do as a group. It is possible under certain circumstances to work as an individual on put together crews. But if you are from the Chicagoland area, you are not likely to go far without declaring who your crew is for the post season. I have in the past worked as a 6th man on other crews (Saturday games for example) and filled in when need be. But when it came to the playoffs you work with your normal crew. I have also early in my career received playoff games as an individual where I worked with an already put together crew and usually this is for earlier rounds when he needs one or two guys to help a crew out because of an injury. There was a crew that had worked a Semi-Final last year and the crew chief (Referee) got hurt, he put a guy on their crew and they worked to the 4th Round together.

There is one common instance where there might be an "All-Star" crew. The Chicago Public League and Chicago Catholic League do not assign their varsity games as a crew. The administrator will sometimes take a group of individuals that are qualified and put them together and take them deep into the playoffs or state finals for a year or so. That is the only example I can think of where that consistently happens.

I hope that answers your question. ;)

Peace