Officiating

[southpaw24]

cleandog...i think you're right concerning holding refs to too high of a standard, but i think you make an unfair comparison between the roles of players and refs...players will make turnovers and bad shots because there is an opposing force (defense)...all the refs have to do is call what they see no one's holding a hand in their face or shoving them out of position (unless the refs you have are like the guys in professional wrestling)...will they be perfect, no...should we expect them to be, no...where i lose my patience with a ref is when he shows up and is more interested in seeing the time run off the clock and going home than earning his check by calling the game as the players deserve to have it called...

[swamp]

I can't believe it has taken this long for someone to come up with this take. Good job, cleandog.

 

Posted by CLEANDOG20:

When coaches can put a team on the floor that never misses a shot, doesn't turn the ball over one time, and never ever makes a mistake then they can gripe about the officials making mistakes. Haven't seen it happen and don't ever think I will. Officials are human and make mistakes just like the players and coaches. Also, there are many coaches out there that don't show any respect to the referees or their own players. I guess referees are suppose to take their verbal abuse and smile.

[gatorade]

I have not read a lot of the post on here but would like to tell you my opinion on the issue. I have played ball and I am still playing. I have been where every call is for you and then ever call is against you. I have watched Refs pick on the star of on team just because they can. I don't think that this is right espically when the player can do nothing about it. We are kids out here playing and Yes I know that we can be cocky. But they need to treat us with respect for us to treat them with respect. We had this one Ref that every time we had him we aould dish out Tech's left and Right on both Teams for no reason at all. I really think something should be done about this coach should get to rate the Refs or something.

[marcvols]

Of the states I've been involved with (Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, and Tennessee), the officals in Tennessee are the quickest to INITIATE a controversy with a coach and/or to call a technical foul (yes, I have officiated too).

 

As I said before, I think it makes a lot of sense to have coaches rate officials (during the regular season) for tournament play. This would foster a better relationship between coaches and officials; controversies are much more likely to end where they started, instead of the current system which fosters grudges being held.

[caylor]

Yes, the officials are supposed to grin and bear it. There is no place in the game for their emotions to become obvious. Some officials learn pretty quick that they can control the outcome of a game with the whistle. If they are unable to keep their feelings for a coach, a player or a team from affecting their whistle, then thy should give up officiating. They must remain emotionally uninvolved during a game, and they have no friends or favorite team.

 

Abuse of the whistle happens more than we care to admit.

[LCborn]

Cobrafan90: by the same logic, shouldn't we require that all officials be former players? That an official calling the game from under the basket be a former post player? That an official calling the game from the perimeter be a former guard? That only former coaches can hire and fire coaches?

 

Your argument that only those who have officiated are qualified to judge officials has no merit. The experience of officiating is not the only qualification, or even necessarily a valid qualification, for judging officiating.

[LCborn]

As a critic, I should add that I just watched a very well-called game between Lenoir City and Alcoa. Easily the best-called game I've seen this year. The officials let the players play. They allowed some banging inside but kept control, they called the fouls on the outside that were necessary, and all-in-all did a very good job. They only called 7 fouls in the second half, but that was about all that needed to be called. The officials were hardly noticed at all, which is as it should be. (It would be interesting for someone from Alcoa to comment because they might disagree: our post players are pretty physical.) Cudos to the officiating team that called tonight's game.

 

Incidentally, Alcoa beat us by 11 and we never really threatened them in the game (dang it).

[cobrafan90]

i never said that it would take another official to judge another official.

 

i simply challenged you to try it. even for the guy who issued the statement of i'm issuing a "token challenge" go try it thats all i said.

 

i have been on both sides. i play and i officiate. there are bad officials, NO DOUBT. but as with anything, you only here the stories of the bad ones. i am just trying to speak up for those who do an honorable job as well as accurate. i am not defending those who do a terrible job.

 

everyone is entitled to their opinion. even in a pro football game(SF vs. Giants, i was going for the giants) Pro Refs blew the call, but hey guess what refs are human and will make mistakes.

 

 

how about this solution. review every game via video recording (the game shall have NO REFS) and make the calls the next day watching the video tape waiving any baskets caused be violations and etc. if a fight happens parents and coaches have to break it up.

 

good day.

[redandblack63]

The evaluations should be done by the coaches. Over the course of the year the better officials will get the best evaluations. Officials should have to pass a fitness test. There is nothing worse than seeing some out of shape, fat slop be out of position to make a call because he can't run the floor.

Good officials should not take up for bad officials they should insist on them to improve or get out.

Now in defense of officials. People need to realize that high school ball is not the N.B.A. and high school officials shouldn't feel compled to call the game the way an N.B.A. official calls the game. Ignoring traveling, physical play, etc...

[LCborn]

If you did not intend to imply that one needs experience as an official to be able to judge officials, I am not sure what the purpose of trying it would be. The only reason I can imagine would be to demonstrate that it is a difficult job, which I have already stipulated. Do you imagine that if I put on a whistle I would cease commenting on bad refs? I think it would work the other way, myself: if I was a ref, I might incline to be harder on other refs because my professional pride would be stronger than my loyalty.

 

Certainly there are good officials, but in the games I've watched the refs in district 4AA perform poorly much more often than they perform well. And I am not talking about missing a tough call here or a tough call there. I am talking about consistent patterns of ignoring a particular violation, being slow to make calls, singling out a particular player or style of play, changing the frequency and type of call as the game situation changes, etc. Calling within a team can be particularly troubling because different refs in a team may call differently. The players need to keep track of the officials' on-court rotation to figure out how to play.

 

In contrast, the referees we had when we played in the Thanksgiving tournament at Jonesboro were excellent. I am not sure what district they came from but they did a consistently good job.

 

Your suggestion that games be called a day later from the videotape is fine as sarcasm but I haven't heard you express an opinion on grading officials. That seems to be the easiest way to provide them with feedback on their performance. And, if you are going to videotape, how about developing a system to have them graded from game tapes? Couldn't be done for every game because of cost, of course, but perhaps they could be spot-checked.

[CLEANDOG20]

lcborn I'm sure most on here would agree that you need to get a whislte and start calling because you obviously have all the answers. Do it, don't just talk about it.

[redandblack63]

Why do officials defend those in the profession that do a sorry. As icborn said is loyality greater than prfesional pride. I certainly wouldn't want to be associated with people who are making my profession look bad because of the incompetence. As I stated earlier I do officiate basketbal and have for 25 + years and I have on several occassions told partners when I felt they were out of line and reported some to my supervisor. I have felt compeled to apologize to coaches when either myself or partner have been unreasonable in dealing with a coach or player. It doesn't pay to have rabbit ears or a combative attitude in officiating. ICborn I think you would be a good official based on your comments. Ignore those who defend bad officials by challenging you to do it better. As you have pointed out several times there are many good officials and many of those officials are sickened by some of the officials who are making the profession look bad.