Officials from all regions do a great job and should be commended for their efforts. Those who question officials should contact your region assigning secretary and give it a shot. I’m sure after trying your mind will change significantly about comments toward officials.

 

As someone who has officiated, I generally agree with your sentiment here.

 

That being said, there are a lot of people that have no business being officials, for many different reasons.

I know a lot of officials and they think they never miss a call.

Officials from all regions do a great job and should be commended for their efforts. Those who question officials should contact your region assigning secretary and give it a shot. I’m sure after trying your mind will change significantly about comments toward officials.

 

Having done my fair share of officiating in the past, I generally agree with your statement. In the last few years, though, I've seen an overwhelmingly disturbing lack of professionalism among high school officials. We see in the news that officials have been attacked and are abused, but they often bring it upon themselves.

 

As of this past Friday night, I've seen 7 high school basketball games in seven days. All of them were contested in the 3rd region. I watched one official look dead at a player's feet as she changed pivot feet four times committing a travel that would have given a team the ball back with a chance to tie with 10-ish seconds left under the own baskets. This official did not miss the travel, he obviously was not willing to risk the chance of having to run the floor for four more minutes of overtime and was too lazy to make the call. The video of this no-call went all over twitter and was retweeted by at least one Division 1 basketball player. It could be considered "viral" for all the wrong reasons.

 

In another game, I saw the same official on multiple occasions blow his whistle, wait until all action and noise in the entire gym stopped to draw attention to himself as he made a cartoon-ish motion to call a travel. He obviously, mistakenly, thinks the crowd paid for tickets to watch him officiate.

 

I saw a different official shaking hands, and high-fiving the coaching staff of a team in the middle of the court as they went into the locker room for half time. This official later made several questionable calls in that team's favor. While this may all be coincidence. His actions at half time set him up for the abuse he received after making those questionable calls.

 

When I officiated, whether it was baseball or basketball, I preferred no one knew my name. I preferred they had no idea I was even at the game. The best officials are the ones who's names you never hear except at the end-of-season officials banquets when they get recognized for their job well done. Too many of these guys are clowns who are trying to relive their glory days by continuing to be out on the court.

Having done my fair share of officiating in the past, I generally agree with your statement. In the last few years, though, I've seen an overwhelmingly disturbing lack of professionalism among high school officials. We see in the news that officials have been attacked and are abused, but they often bring it upon themselves.

 

As of this past Friday night, I've seen 7 high school basketball games in seven days. All of them were contested in the 3rd region. I watched one official look dead at a player's feet as she changed pivot feet four times committing a travel that would have given a team the ball back with a chance to tie with 10-ish seconds left under the own baskets. This official did not miss the travel, he obviously was not willing to risk the chance of having to run the floor for four more minutes of overtime and was too lazy to make the call. The video of this no-call went all over twitter and was retweeted by at least one Division 1 basketball player. It could be considered "viral" for all the wrong reasons.

 

In another game, I saw the same official on multiple occasions blow his whistle, wait until all action and noise in the entire gym stopped to draw attention to himself as he made a cartoon-ish motion to call a travel. He obviously, mistakenly, thinks the crowd paid for tickets to watch him officiate.

 

I saw a different official shaking hands, and high-fiving the coaching staff of a team in the middle of the court as they went into the locker room for half time. This official later made several questionable calls in that team's favor. While this may all be coincidence. His actions at half time set him up for the abuse he received after making those questionable calls.

 

When I officiated, whether it was baseball or basketball, I preferred no one knew my name. I preferred they had no idea I was even at the game. The best officials are the ones who's names you never hear except at the end-of-season officials banquets when they get recognized for their job well done. Too many of these guys are clowns who are trying to relive their glory days by continuing to be out on the court.

I think the blame here goes straight into the jurisdiction of the assigning secretary as they supposed to be doing evaluations on all officials during regular season. I’m sure coaches have complained about this particular official. How does he continue to get games?

I think the blame here goes straight into the jurisdiction of the assigning secretary as they supposed to be doing evaluations on all officials during regular season. I’m sure coaches have complained about this particular official. How does he continue to get games?

 

I cannot answer that. It’s been years for me, and I never worked this region. My instinctive answer is:

 

1) The good ole boy method of decision-making is alive and well in the officiating industry. It always has been.

 

2) Given the option, coaches would rather have these two guys on the court than not play.

 

Both Fridays were district nights where all of the local districts had boy/girl double-headers going. Six officials per building with 4-6 buildings going and sooner or later even the strongest associations run out of true varsity officials.

In my experience, every region just has a certain style of officiating, and any time you step out of region, there are adjustment difficulties. Perhaps there are other biases as well, but my guess is, that's the majority of it.

I cannot answer that. It’s been years for me, and I never worked this region. My instinctive answer is:

 

1) The good ole boy method of decision-making is alive and well in the officiating industry. It always has been.

 

2) Given the option, coaches would rather have these two guys on the court than not play.

 

Both Fridays were district nights where all of the local districts had boy/girl double-headers going. Six officials per building with 4-6 buildings going and sooner or later even the strongest associations run out of true varsity officials.

So I guess the official you were referring to will continue to have lots of games and probably work district and regional games.

So I guess the official you were referring to will continue to have lots of games and probably work district and regional games.

 

I cannot answer that question, but it would not surprise me.

In my experience, every region just has a certain style of officiating, and any time you step out of region, there are adjustment difficulties. Perhaps there are other biases as well, but my guess is, that's the majority of it.

 

I agree completely. It is evident during regional tournament time where out of area officials call games differently and teams have to adjust. Coaches don't have an issue with this as long as it is done fairly to both teams on the court. Players sometimes have a bigger issue adjusting.

I cannot answer that question, but it would not surprise me.

 

A few years ago we had a female official who had never called a single game be assigned to our girls JV game. You could tell she was terrified. Later in the year she called one of our Varsity games. Goes to show how short handed the pool for officials were.

 

To her credit she had another game the following year and was much better. Haven’t seen her since so don’t know if she’s still officiating.