conflict of interest?

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by waltjp

Alf, sometimes I think you just write crap to get a reaction. You can't be serious. Have you ever heard the term, "appearance of impropriety."

Once again, Walt, you and the usual chorus of echos filter everything through your own prisms and wind up with your own foggy picture. My above comment has nothing to do with the "appearance of impropriety" as beheld by someone who has absolutely no credibility whatsoever in making such a judgment.

This bozo pontificates his opinions and denegrates the intentions and conduct of a fellow official, based entirely on his personal standards, which don't seem anywahere near the standards of the profession he has chosen to denigrate. If you are going to question someone's integrity, you should have absolute, conclusive proof of what you are suggesting, of shut your face until you do.

Your usual mastery of the obvious adds nothing. The "appearance of impropriety" is sadly an occupational reality. It has been developed, ingrained and populated by people who lack any credibility to do so, and in my humble opinion should be criticized whenever it rears it's ugly head.

We all respond to it in different ways, but none of US should ever defend it's relevance. Sure we have to deal with it, most accept it begrudgingly but only the truly weak minded among us are stupid enough to agree with it.

You shouldn't worry all that much about people who don't matter concluding things that don't count. It goes with the territory.

[MNBlue]

Originally Posted by ajmc

This bozo pontificates his opinions and denegrates the intentions and conduct of a fellow official, based entirely on his personal standards, which don't seem anywahere near the standards of the profession he has chosen to denigrate. If you are going to question someone's integrity, you should have absolute, conclusive proof of what you are suggesting, of shut your face until you do.

Kind of like the same thing you did when you didn't read enough of the link to discover that author is a woman.

[cmathews]

I think the author goes out of her way to say that she doesn't believe that officials at this level would cheat....but that it isn't fair to them or the universities involved to have that point brought up when mistakes are made...I whole heartedly agree that perception is reality, and in the case of potential conflicts of interest, why even put yourself in that situation....

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by MNBlue

Kind of like the same thing you did when you didn't read enough of the link to discover that Paolo Boivth author is a woman.

or even got to this part of the article, about half way down.


"Frankly, I believe most Pac-10 officials are making on-field calls based on fact, not emotions. They are trained, hard-working and have the game's best interests at heart.
However . . .
The conference can't ignore perception, and putting an official at a game involving a school he attended is setting everyone up for failure.
Look at Fogltance. He might have done nothing wrong but his allegiances have caused this firestorm.
The truth is, officials make errors. Everybody makes errors. Don't put them in a position to have those mistakes blamed on bias."

Slander? Really?

[bkdow]

I've done this twice. One time while refereeing Soccer, I officiated a game for my now-defunct alma mater. I had to call a penalty shot with time expired in a tie ball game. I hold that it was clearly the correct call, but I was totally shreded the next day in the local newspaper. I vowed that I would never do it again.

My first varsity football game was hosted by the school that my son was a freshman. I was the umpire and didn't do anything to impact the 51-7 outcome but afterwards realized that I probably should not have allowed myself in that position.

I have been officiating sports since I was 12 (now 41) and believe that I can be completely objective without regard to who the opponents are, however, as one D1 official said in our summer conference said, "do not put yourself in a position where there can be even an appearance of a conflict of interest."

I recited my vow again to never allow it to happen again. It's not whether we can do the job correctly, it's completely how the team will perceive a close call. The same reason that we do not treat one coach like an old friend and the opposing coach stoaiclly.

[JRutledge]

If you expect to only have officials that have never attended any schools in a major conference, then you will not get many qualified people to work. People attend schools in their region of the country. So unless someone lived in a completely different area, they likely had the possibility to attend one of the schools. And people that officiate are often are close to sports and either played or knew someone they are working with like the coaches. These conflict issues are mostly fan boy based and not based on reality. Heck, why not worry about if someone lives in a state and eliminate them too?

Peace

[Durham]

Seems to me that this is that officials fault for making a donation to his school and being on the donor list. I don't even use the awesome liscense plate frame my wife bought me because the last thing I want is for someone to know where I went to school. I tell the NCAA and the conferences because they ask, but I don't need to put my self out there for someone to find.

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by MNBlue

Kind of like the same thing you did when you didn't read enough of the link to discover that author is a woman.

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.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by ajmc

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.

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by Mike L

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.

[waltjp]

Originally Posted by ajmc

Once again, Walt, you and the usual chorus of echos

By this you, of course, mean everyone but you.