Life Punches you in the Gut

[BIG DON]

I am so ready for 2020 to be over with,
one of the shining lights was when we got the go-ahead to play football.
but so far, this football season, it seems to be blah  with all the COVID restrictions; it just seems like we are going thru the motions
In last night's game, it felt like we were getting back in the swing of things and, I would say for my crew I thought it was the best game that we officiated all year. But of course, some of the fans thought we were terrible, but I understand we are going to make 50% of the people mad 100% of the time. As I was traveling home last night,  I replayed the game in my head, trying to picture anything we did majorly wrong.
Saturday Mornings is my time for a review of the game film.

Today I work up and was getting ready for review when I received a text that The AD of one of the schools that my crew had last night had passed away; earlier in the morning. It was a punch in the gut. He always went above and beyond taking care of the game officials.

I am asking everyone to keep the AD's family and the school district in your prayers over the next few days.

[Derek Teigen]

Big Don, I am very sorry for the AD's family and for everybody.  I will say my prayers for his family and everybody impacted by this horrible news.

[AlUpstateNY]

Today I work up and was getting ready for review when I received a text that The AD of one of the schools that my crew had last night had passed away; earlier in the morning. It was a punch in the gut. He always went above and beyond taking care of the game officials.  I am asking everyone to keep the AD's family and the school district in your prayers over the next few days.

Sadly, we seem to be in the midst of a period where the pendulum seems stuck after swinging in the wrong direction.  Rather than choosing to ignore stupid, loud people interested primarily in calling attention to themselves, many seem drawn to ignoring, allowing, even encouraging, dumb, obnoxious behavior, which only serves to promote and encourage more of it.  Inevitably, the pendulum will swing back towards center (hopefully soon).

In the meantime, most of us unfortunately tend to take for granted those who consistently behave properly, until they're gone and the absence of their behavior is sorely missed.  Prayers are appropriate and helpful when such people pass, but recognizing and appreciating their behaviors while they're delivering them seems an even better way to encourage even more similar behavior, and maybe give that pendulum an overdue nudge.

[Curious]

We, here in Michigan, sadly have lost some administrators and coaches  It just proves how insignificant sports/officiating are in the grand scheme of things.  Peace!

[refjeff]

Sports and officiating are two of the reasons I am glad I am alive.  Take away enough of those reasons and just being alive wouldn't be very significant.

Just my opinion.

Football in Ohio is going well, but not without complications and a lot of extra effort.  Our crew has done 9 varsity games and has 3 more on the schedule.  Plenty of people thought we would never get this far.



 

[juxone]

Sports and officiating are two of the reasons I am glad I am alive.  Take away enough of those reasons and just being alive wouldn't be very significant.

This year has been interesting and for the most part uneventful but, and sadly, there is always THAT game. We have done 9 varsity games this year, and all but one were without real incident. Last week it was ONE of those games. It was a game where the coach (visiting team) received 2 sportsman like flags and the spectators for the same side were a rude and hostile as the coach. But what I have noticed over the last 18 years, when there is a coach of like demeanor the team really struggles and usually has more fouls than the opposing team.  Hmmm correlation poor Coach attitude and poor team performance. 

[BIG DON]

This year has been interesting and for the most part uneventful but, and sadly, there is always THAT game. We have done 9 varsity games this year, and all but one were without real incident. Last week it was ONE of those games. It was a game where the coach (visiting team) received 2 sportsman like flags and the spectators for the same side were a rude and hostile as the coach. But what I have noticed over the last 18 years, when there is a coach of like demeanor the team really struggles and usually has more fouls than the opposing team.  Hmmm correlation poor Coach attitude and poor team performance. 

One of the big things that were being griped about was the number of fouls that we called for Ineligible downfield. The talking heads were saying that they have never seen so many fouls like that called; I know we had (7) fouls for lineman downfield, and most were 7 to 10 yards downfield. I finally got to sit down and watched the film from Friday night. All the fouls for ineligible downfield were on the money.  I saw  3 or 4 more that we could have called. 

[juxone]

As I quoted from another, the reason we do what we do-- I think -- is just for the love of the game and enjoyment of seeing young men compete on a level field. Sometimes there are just going to be "those" games. My crew experienced the same sense of frustration in a recent game. Like you, I take the complaints seriously and look forward to reviewing the game film. IMHO, doing so simply helps us get better. In the game I mentioned, there were two legitimate issues of missed calls. Oddly enough none of these seemed to be an issue. This coached raised 11 points where he felt slighted and after reviewing all 11 of the plays ..NONE warranted a complaint, but in fact, boils down to a coach trying to see through 22 players on the field --usually on the opposite side. So all I can say is keeping striving and keep driving. We won't see it all 100% of the time-- but that doesn't mean we quit trying. 

[CalhounLJ]

Sometimes coaches’ complaints come from scout film from previous week. We showed up 2 Fridays ago and the coach informed us the other team held almost every play. Sure enough, from play one through the end, his bench yelled “holding” on every play. One time in particular was quite comical. A false started and when he jumped, we heard “holding!” From the other sideline.  I got the film first thing Saturday morning, and we missed 2 holding calls all night, one on the team who was doing all the yelling. One thing I try to remember is that you cannot gauge the quality of your effort by complaints from the sideline or the lack thereof.