The Snake Oil Salesman Is At It Again

[ajmc]

Excuse me BasketBallRef, archangel & WaltJP, but if you're going to quote me, at least put the quote in context, as it was initially stated. What I said was, "I'm going to take a wild guess and assume I've been doing this a lot longer than you, and I've never been impressed with arguments that try and make their point, just by shouting or by personally attacking those they disagree with."

Presuming, if I may, that most football officials have, over time, been exposed to any number of arguments, both on and off the field, that have been presented to them by people who have chosen to rely on shouting and personal attacks as the primary means to make a point, my best guess is this strategy is not usually considered very effective.

It has nothing to do with "the experience of age", although sometimes that can be enlightening and beneficial, anti-authority (a somewhat foreign concept to apply to an officiating environment) or arrogance, as much as it might be simple advice on how to avoid minimizing the value of your own argument by needlessly lowering your standards.