Why don't those of you who post on these boards and blister the officials try going through the training and be part of the solution? If you can do a better job than the ones who are out there, you are needed!!
I understand your point, and mostly agree with it.
I never officiated football, but spent twenty years calling basketball, volleyball and softball. There are some very good officials out there in every sport. But, unfortunately, those are diminishing in number. And yes, excessive criticism is part of the reason. There is another major factor and that is the motivation for doing the job. Part of my reason for leaving officiating was the number of people entering the profession almost totally because of the extra income. Unlike the veteran refs, they were less interested in the preparation for and the quality of their craft than getting that paycheck.
I had one basketball official tell me that we needed to “cruise” in the girls game because the boys game would be a track meet and we needed to be “fresh” for it. I told him that I had looked closely at my checks and they weren’t separated into boys’ and girls’ pay. That the girls deserved our best too. He smirked, shook his head and walked off.
Thomasville has had some well officiated games, including the Montgomery Central game that we lost. But sometimes you get a crew that is obviously inept. It usually builds during a game and one bad call leads to ten. That’s apparently what happened last night. They were awful and couldn’t sell a call, even when they made one. Hopefully they’re better than they showed and last night was an aberration. But quite simply, last night they were terrible.
