"Are you blind?"
"Call it both ways!"
"How much are they paying you?"
"Foul!"
"Travel (or pass interference or holding or whatever soccer players do that's wrong)"
"Do your job!"
"Three seconds!"
And on and on and on. I once decided that at games when my husband was reffing (wait - I'm supposed to say "officiating") I would see how many minutes it would take before I heard one of the above comments. It isn't "minutes" believe me. Sometimes it hardly makes it through the first possession of the game before someone in the stands decides to play "bleacher ref". (Kind of like "armchair quarterback" only more annoying.) Sometimes I say things too, not gonna lie. But most often on game nights when hubby is sitting next to me, when I call out something I believe to be true, he turns to me and nicely informs me that I am dead wrong. (He's a brave man, yes he is. Hence why he's a ref.)
Do you know why I am wrong? It's not because I'm dumb. Well, I am rather ignorant when it comes to sports in general. But after watching roughly a couple thousand basketball games you start to think you know something. However, the cold hard truth is - I don't. I don't know jack. Chances are, unless you are an official yourself, you don't know jack either. The rules of basketball are long and complicated. It's this whole big book full of rules that comes from the Minnesota State High School League every single year. And you know what, it changes sometimes. Yeah, who knew?! So even if you think you knew everything when you were a player 30 years ago, there is a good chance the rules have changed since then. Shocking, I know. (Does anyone else remember back when basketball had quarters and not just halves? That's not the only rule that has changed since you strapped on your Air Jordans.) Refs, excuse me - OFFICIALS, have to study those rules every year. They have meetings where they discuss the rule changes. They run through scenerios with old and new rules. They watch game situations and discuss them. They have coaches send them the game film and watch the calls they made (or missed), their mechanics, etc... to improve. And they take tests. Yep, tests to make sure they are able to do their job. When was the last time you took a test to prove you could do your job? Officials work hard at their job, this SECOND job that they have, for the love of the game, the sport and the kids.
You think you know everything about basketball? Check out this article - I bet you learn something. And that isn't the half of it. Article about rules that may be different than you thought. I know I learned something. Who knew that "over the back" wasn't a thing anymore? Or that 3 seconds starts over every time there is a shot? I guarantee some people have missed that rule.
It's not that hard to be a ref you say? Let me tell you how bad it can be. Just this year my husband has been told he officiates a great game by many. But he has also had an angry parent literally go nose to nose with him and demand to "have it out right now" after a 6th grade game. He's had a player HIT him while running by him on the court because they were unhappy with a call he didn't make at a varsity matchup. (Kid wanted a goal tending call and didn't get it.) He has been sworn at. Told he can't make a fan leave (this while actually being a site supervisor, not a ref) for yelling at the officials. He has been called names. He has had a coach refuse to let him ref his next game in tournament play (also a 4-6 tournament) and more. And yes, you read that right - some of these are coaches and parents of kids 12 and under. TWELVE AND UNDER. These kids aren't playing for a state championship or a playoff opportunity. They are literally still learning how to dribble the ball and their coaches and parents are swearing at officials.
As a result of the awesome way we treat our officials, our neighboring state is losing officials at an unprecedented rate. They run the real risk of not being able to hold or make up games due to not having anyone willing to slap on the old stripes and whistle. How will all these coaches and parents feel when their kids can't even play the game? Article about WI officials If things don't change in MN, we may not be far behind. Being a ref is often a thankless job and even more so, downright threatening.
What do we need to do to change this climate in our schools? I don't have all the answers. I'd love to hear some suggestions. First we need to check out own behavior. Before a sports season begins we need to have real discussions about how we will treat our officials at parent meetings and with our coaches. We need to back up those discussions with our site supervisors enforcing sportsmanship at games. Either CHEER for your team or just watch the game. (You know, the golden rule we all learned as little kids?) We need to tell our friends and neighbors to "cool it" or sit down when they get fired up at the games. We need to remind ourselves that there are coaches and refs to help our kids with the game and we are just there to be supportive, not judge, jury and executioner.
I'm probably always going to keep yelling at the official, if it is Tim that is. He's my favorite official to heckle. Especially if it gets him to shake his head or smile at me. I mean, he threatens to kick me out from time to time, but where would he sleep when he got home? Don't worry, I'm never afraid to tell him right back, "you and what army?" I mean, that comeback NEVER gets old....
PS -
I love sitting in the stands and watching Tim ref. I have some great stories from being a casual observer. One of my most recent favorites was over Christmas break. I was watching Tim ref a Lourdes vs ugh, I forget. It's not important. A couple of nice older gentlemen sat down next to me to watch the game, and as usually happens, we got to talking. As the game went on they commented on the officials often stating things like, "Foul", "I would have called that a foul", "He traveled!", "Wow, how did they miss that one?" etc..... With only a few minutes left in the game, one of the gentlemen turned to ask me if I the person I was cheering for was on one team or the other. I really enjoyed getting to see the look on his face when I said, "Neither. You see that tall, bald ref? He's my husband." There was a moment of silence, followed by "Oh. Well, we weren't talking about HIS calls." Ha ha ha ha - right.... right....
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