Pet peeve: arrogant referees...

[Mike Simonds]

Hey guys. I'm in a good mood here but I thought it would be fun to pick the white hats, all in good humor of course...

My main pet peeve is when the referee does not have confidence in his crew and he therefore tries to do too much (i.e. tries to cover other official's assignments) and then he gets himself and the crew in trouble.

Actual situation in a high school all-star game last weekend: Quarterback takes quick snap, one step drop, turns towards sideline and throws a pass to the flanker who was off the line. The head-linesman and line judge punch backwards indicating it was a backwards pass. Mr. Referee, who is lined up at least 10 yards in the offensive backfield, blows his whistle and signals incomplete pass. Coach goes off on the sideline because the pass bounced off the ground but the recovering player made a great one bounce recovery and would have advanced for a first down...

I was the umpire and I stayed out of the discussion because I'm watching the linemen like I'm supposed to. My question is this: primary responsibility for these types of quick passes... HL and LJ right? R should take a quick look at them first?

Thanks guys. Remember: we need to also practice humbleness, trust, and belief in our crewmates... Working together, helping each other, working on individual improvement, being disciplined enough to concentrate on our assignments and allowing other officials to do the same; for me this is the true beauty of being on a good crew... I will approach this referee and discuss how all of us can better handle situations like this... With a spirit of love and concern for each other... We will improve and add benefits to the game we all love...