Southwestern College Collegian

Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: Sports

Ref what game are you watching? Who's paying you? When did they hire Ray Charles to do the officiating? Bashing a referee is an old of practice as any of those tired clichés. It's nothing new to place the blame on the guys in stripes. When the game is over you won't be seeing any of the crowd go up to the officials and tell them what a great game they just officiated. However, you'll hear plenty of people spit out curse words and empty threats to get the attention of a ref they didn't really agree with. So it goes. It's a part of the game. It's human nature to look for some sort of blame, so blame it on the unbalanced management by the officials. For minimal pay those officials put up with a lot, most of the time it doesn't make for glamorous work. Who knows what game you're going to be going from week to week? You'll most likely have to drive a few hours to get to it anyways. When you get there it's up in the air how you're going to be treated. Some colleges may indeed role out the red carpet for you, which in this case means offer you a hot dog and drink from the concession stand. Who wants to eat a hot dog when they have to go run for 40 minutes? If you're not lucky enough to get the hot dog treatment, be prepared for a stone aged boiler room awaiting you. It will be disguised as a dressing room for your tenure at that college. It will come fully equipped with scary looking machinery, the type that looks like it could go at any time, and the school's past five decades or so of old uniforms. The smell of sweat doesn't clear out in the laundry after so many games. It makes for an unwelcoming air freshener to a dim lit dressing facility. If you're a ref at the college level be prepared for outspoken and shirtless 20 year olds who don't know you but know enough about you to not like you. They'll make the game interesting if nothing else, especially when teamed up with a smart mouthed coach. They won't miss a chance to criticize your work when it's out on display either. Calling you names you never knew existed and busting out the four-letter word dictionary all night. Don't look for help from the other bench though. Opposing coaches don't agree on very many things, but they will both believe they are getting the shaft in terms of fair treatment. If you do go out and call a perfect game don't expect a pat on the back. That action is already reserved for the winning coach, who will be busy being interviewed. Reporters don't generally pay much attention to the guys wearing the stripes. As a fan, it's so easy to forget about all of this. We cheer on our team and become cantankerous and loud-mouthed against anybody not cheering as loud for the team as we are. Too many times we think the refs are policing a game when actually all they are doing is insuring it goes along fairly. I've complained a few times in my day. Most of the time I'm sitting in front of the TV yelling for the ref's head, which is pretty sad but that's the investment fans put into the game. Usually a closer inspection will show me that my team actually had fewer whistles blown anyway. You've heard of selective memory? Well sports fans are famous for it. When you're chasing around athletes for an entire game you are bound to make a few mistakes. A missed whistle here and there is going to happen to even the sharpest referee, even if he or she was the only one in the building who missed it. Action happens fast and unfortunately we aren't equipped with instant replay in our heads. Refereeing is one of those things that is a whole lot harder than it looks, you have to have patience, stamina, and a quick eye to be decent at it. Mistakes happen and we try to avoid them but human error happens. Don't call for the ref's head, he's just doing his job the best he can.

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