I have always been harder on my alma mater. I always expected more from them than the other team. if I get back into officiating I would scratch them as well.

 

:fight:

I care less about my old high school. I don't care if they win or lose. In fact Ihave called for them many times and believe me the fact that I went to school there had nothing to do with what I called. What some people that have never called a game don't understand is that when you are calling a game and you see something that needs to be called, you don't stand out there and think that " this is where I went to school so lets call or not call the play.

As an official, I always scratch my alma mater. Just too much of a conflict of interest.

No brainer IMO.

I care less about my old high school. I don't care if they win or lose. In fact Ihave called for them many times and believe me the fact that I went to school there had nothing to do with what I called. What some people that have never called a game don't understand is that when you are calling a game and you see something that needs to be called, you don't stand out there and think that " this is where I went to school so lets call or not call the play.

 

I totally agree with what you are saying, but I've refereed some scrimmages for my alma mater and it is kind of bad in my opinion when people are waving at you and calling you out by name. To me, that's weird and kind of uncomfortable. I just do it as a favor for the coach, who I'm friends with. I would NEVER do regular season or tournament game for them.

I care less about my old high school. I don't care if they win or lose. In fact Ihave called for them many times and believe me the fact that I went to school there had nothing to do with what I called. What some people that have never called a game don't understand is that when you are calling a game and you see something that needs to be called, you don't stand out there and think that " this is where I went to school so lets call or not call the play.

 

 

This is great that you can do this but not true in other people's cases.

If an official has to scratch his alma mater because he thinks he might be tempted to make calls in their favor, he ought to get out of officiating and go back to sitting in the stands. And if an official is concerned with "scrutiny", he's probably already in the wrong business.

 

LSURock and Centuriondawg hit the nail on the head: the alma mater thing was an insignificant footnote to an embarrassing incident. But of course, now it's an issue.

 

I've worked many of my alma mater's games (both home and away). I've also worked many games with former coaches and teammates on either sideline. If my performance was ever less than fair for both teams, these people would NEVER have me back to work for them again. The same can be said about my crewmates and assigner. I couldn't care less what a "fan" might think about my former affiliations; my conduct as an official is always beyond reproach as evidenced by every game tape. (That's not to say that I don't make a bad call occasionally; boo's are okay, accusations are not.)

 

Because "fans" are so wrapped up in a game's outcome (or a particular players performance), I don't think they can fathom the fact that officials do not care who wins or loses. This is why these conspiracy theories are born. I find it especially humorous when I get assigned to a game in a far corner of the state and somebody in the bleachers calls me a "homer" because I made a call that did not benefit his team.

 

So, no, it's not an issue. We have to be bigger than that.

 

offside