In some cases, absolutely, 100% yes.
Not at all, he was certain I was correct.
What he has come to know is that too many referees, from one local association in particular, won't listen, or ever admit they have made a mistake. We had an R and a U in one game enforce a loss of down on DEFENSIVE pass interference. We called time out, and explained that would only be true (at that time) for OFFENSIVE pass interference. They said, nope, we were wrong, and they were charging us a time out. Even the H, working our sideline, agreed with us, but said, "Coach, you're wasting your time. You can't explain anything to him. He knows it all."
So where is the fault in that one? In many ways, the fault lies with the state to still allow someone that deficient in rules knowledge to even be on the field.
Again, wrong, as wrong as the L that told me ALL holding fouls are marked from the spot of the foul, "everyone knows that."
I know many officials that simply made a mistake, and when it's calmly brought to their attention, are willing to admit they were wrong. And there are certainly many coaches that are deficient in their rules knowledge when challenging enforcements or interpretations. But there are some real rules idiots that are allowed to call HS games as well, and unfortunately, we don't get a choice as to which work our games.
Pursuing perfection is a laudable goal, thinking you are somehow entitled to it, is a fool's dream. As it applies to
BOTH Coaches and Officials, some are really good and better than others, while the rest of us are trying our best to keep getting better. Since I'm really not qualified to differentiate between those who have reached their potential and those still working at it, I tend to start, by giving all the benefit of the doubt.
Perhaps if YOU, and your school, keep experiencing extradinary difficulty in questioning or challenging official's rulings during your games, you might consider
HOW YOU ARE CONDUCTING YOURSELVES WHEN QUESTIONING OR CHALLENGING THOSE RULINGS. Just like coaches, officials often learn much more dramatically from mistakes, which have always been and will assuredly continue to be, a valuable part of the overall learning process. Also like coaches, officials will have yet
ANOTHER opportunity to work their FIRST perfect game, the
NEXT time they step on a field, no matter how many fields they've already stepped on.
As an analogy, for those of us married, you might ponder how successful you've been in persuading your significant other, to assess your perspective by screaming, jesturing and demeaning them. Conversely, you might also consider, how receptive you may be to contemplating a different perspective when it's preceeded by constant nagging and nitpicking about all sorts of innocuous matters.
The vast majority of officials dwell on, rehash, contemplate and
LEARN from each of their mistakes far more and far longer than those who seem to relish, harp on and excessively and repeatedly remind us of them. Every so often, game officials encounter sideline personnel, who have yet to learn how to respectfully interact with other adults. It's an unfortunate challenge of our profession to learn to endure such behavior and deal with it in such a way so as
not to detract from our primary responsibilities. How well we actually deal with such individuals is a life long learning exercise, most struggle with, but accept as part of our challenge.
Hopefully your next game will finally be your FIRST perfect one, and
with God's help maybe my next game will even be mine. If not, I'll continue aiming at the one after.
