What possible difference does the writer's gender have to do with anything? If there was no intent to raise a question about the the integrity of the officials, why write this piece? Regarding the BYU incident mentioned, was there a mistake made, or was there an effort to cheat. Leaving the reader to ponder that choice without further clarification is a cheap, back-door attempt to side step criticism for taking a veiled cheap shot.

I wouldn't question any official for avoiding being involved in the spectacle of a perceived conflict of interest, that doesn't mean I have to accept some "journalist" raising the question that an official should not be placed in a position of absolute trust, because of what some fan or gambler assumes, based on their own character weakness.

My apologies to male sportswriters for assuming Paola was a male name. For the record Jim Sterk, San Diego State AD should be ashamed of himself for making such a flagrant public comment related to officiating. If he had a problem, and even a modicom of class, he would have taken the issue up with his League.

and yet you have no problem questioning the integrity of the SDSU AD without bothering to find out the sequence of events that led up to the resolution of the entire replay booth for the SDSU-BYU game getting suspended and where in that sequence of event said quote was made.

None whatsoever, there's no excuse for throwing someone under the bus publicly, so flagrantly. Classless. "I was shocked that they were connected that closely to the university in the replay booth," San Diego State Athletic Director Jim Sterk told reporters.", that's almost as shocking as Inspector Reneau's reaction to the fact there was gambling at Rick's.

What's funny to me is the difference between two countries.

A friend works college ball with me in Canada's largest conference. He has 3 alma matters: undergrad, grad, and an MBA.

We don't give a rat's *** where you graduated from. We're evaluated on every play of every game. 'Nuff said.

I don't think that it matters, depending on how long ago they graduated.

If the journalist did any fact checking they would have found:

In most cases the visiting teams bring thier own for inter-conference games (i.e. Big East vs. Big 10). Isn't that a conflict of interest?

NFL guys eventually work their home teams. Isn't that a conflict of interest?

To me, the guy being a booster is the bigger issue.

I think a lot of you are very much missing the point.

I went to XXX High School. I will not work games for that high school. Why???

For some, working their high school game, an official won't be able to get rid of that little bitty hope in the back of their head that they are rooting for their school. They may not think it alters their call, but it might.

For others, an official will be aware of that possibility - and might tend to make just that one close call the other way, to assure himself that he's not biased.

For still others, an official will not have an issue, but might tend to make just that on close call the other way, to assure any potential witnesses to the game that he's not biased.

All of those are bad.

For MOST of us, we likely would be able to officiate the game without any bias in either direction whatsoever.

HOWEVER - in any non-blowout, there are a few close calls where whichever way you rule, 50% hate you, 50% love you. It comes with the territory. Half of the time, that close call (however rightly) goes in favor of "your" school. ANY person with a rooting interest on the other side will immediately come to the conclusion that you made the call (however rightly) in that direction because of your bias. Even if that is 100% wrong, the perception is there.

THAT is why I will not do games for my high school.

I dunno, call me professional then, because I don't care who wins: including any of my alma matters.

This happen because I don't have some hope that my alma matter secretly wins. Instead, I prefer to know that the game was called according to the rules and most current interpretations (ARs, IRs, etc...). It's called being professional.

That may all be true, but it doesn't alter what others are thinking of you.

I'm good...the high school I graduated from 39 years ago doesn't exist anymore.

I don't work the varsity games at my alma mater because too many people know where I live and I don't want the windows busted out of my house.

I do however work the sub-varsity games and get accused of homering the home team.

i'm good too if I stay out of the school my kids attend. My College, High School, Middle School, and Elementary schools are all closed. The only one that is left is that elementary school where I spent my first 3 months of kindergarten. I think they were going to call me once but I would have turned them down for that 5 yr old flag football contest during PE.

I don't answer to others. I answer to my conference. And they have no problem with it.

Like I said, don't tell them where you went to school and it will be a non issue.

When I worked college baseball, I was assigned to a school where I was a CURRENT (MBA) student. I told the assignor and he told me to go work the games anyway, that nobody would know or care. I thought (and still do) that moving 2 officials would've been a better choice.

I do not advertise where I live. I don't cheer at local sports events (I don't have time to attend them since I'm already working elsewhere). I did work 2 GV basketball games at the local school cause I was contracted before I moved and, quite frankly, I know *nobody* in town. Now that my daughter's in the district, I'm doing nothing more than working a paid scrimmage and maybe a subvarsity game from time to time.

I see officials wear their alma maters on their sleeves and go to local games and cheer as if they were still in high school. I guess that works for them, but I'm paranoid enough to recognize that the conference where I live has 11 other teams and that being seen as a homer for one conference team (and I know at least one guy with that reputation locally) taints the perception of the official when he works any games in the conference. And I'm not willing to throw away 11 teams to root for one -- and it doesn't matter to me because I didn't grow up here.

Maybe I'll feel different when my daughter is playing basketball (if she does).

How far do we take this. How about we move the Stanford replay guy from the booth at Stanford over to the Oregon game. Now, Stanford is 2nd in the PAC 10. The replay official makes a call against Oregon who loses. Now Stanford shares the PAC 10 title. Where does it end. The point is that there is no way to get away from ties to the schools we officiate.

I have officiated my high school 3 times (all losses by them). Who cares. If you have a crew of five guys from your area good luck finding games that don't involve one of your schools.

I have stopped singing the alma mater before the games though.

Lastly, I bet this all came about because the PAC 10 is too cheap to pay for mileage and hotels for its replay officials.