here we go again

[Guest alsoaref]

I watched two games last night in which the officials should have been removed from the gym. All night long they missed calls, called the game differently at one end of the court from the other and pounded one team all night long...in one game for example one girl was trying in inbound the ball. Her teammate grabbed a hold of the ball so that both girls were holding on to it (one inbounds the other out)...clearly a vioation and it should have been a turn over...no call. On another play in a boys' game a player was knocked down on a breakaway lay up..no foul. Charges at one end of the court weren't called at the other end. One team was called for walks the other wasn't. We all see poorly called games, but when an officals' calls go against one team year after year, it isn't just bad officiating. There was a two shot foul called. After the shooter missed the first shot it was rebounded by a player on the other team...no one else moved since it was a two shot foul. After maybe 5 seconds of him standing there holding the ball, he started to dribble...no whistle. When the scorekeeper tried to call the ref on this the ref said it was a correctable mistake, but didn't correct his mistake. Both sides of the gym were angry with the terrible performance by these officials. I could list two pages of terrible calls...against all the teams. We have great teams around here and VERY POOR officiating too much of the time! We try to teach our students character, the adults should set an example. A mistake is a mistake, no ref can be perfect, but what happened last night was shameful.

[BigPoppa]

I watched the Metro Jamboree @ West End last night and saw a lot of the same things. So many officials have moved along to the college level many of those that remain need a great deal of improvement.

In one game in particular there were over 30 fouls called with 4 minutes left in the second quarter and they overlooked some other obvious calls to keep it at that number. I thought I was going to vomit watching this game.

Remember, the jamborees are used to train and evaluate young officials and we must be mindful of this. As fans, coaches, and players, we must keep in mind that there are many officials that are still calling football games too and that the officiating -like many of the teams- will improve as the season continues.