First of all, I recognize it is a thankless job, so I appologize in advance to all referees across Bluegrass Prep Land for posts that may follow.

 

Last night, while taking in a High School basketball game, watching three referees swallow their whistles on what I thought should have been an obvious call, I had a revelation. (I won't go into how I stopped short of a total out of body experience).

 

The game is just as physical today as it was 20-30 years ago. Back then only two refs called the games. Now it is the standard that we have three cover the floor. Why?????????? I am and always will be a basketball fan, but it looks to me like these days there is always at least one of the three that is asleep, relying totally on his partners, only to wake up when the game is over and it is time to collect the check. With three refs there is less running involved so maybe that's why there is always one loafer in the bunch. It appears that three refs miss as many calls as two did.

 

The obvious occured to me like being hit smack in the head with a 2 by 4. With three refs we are now paying 33 1/3 % more to officiate our games. Hopefully we are bringing in 33 1/3 % more revenue to cover this increase in cost. The question we must ask ourselves is, are we getting the proportionate increase in the quality of our officiating? I have to be honest with myself and answer, NO.

 

Therefore, I propose that we boycott the third ref, take the increased revenue we are hopefully taking in that covers the 33 1/3% cost increase, and spend it on the kids for uniforms, shoes, equipment, or summer camps etc....

 

The Lord only knows how hard booster parents have to work to make sure our High School Athletic programs are funded appropriately.

 

Join with me Bluegrass Prep Brothers and Sisters, and lets all boycott the third Ref!!!!!!!!

After having 2 officials for a while, you'll be wanting that 3rd one back. There are various reasons why 3 officials are better than 2 and I think the pros outweigh the cons of the 3 official crew. JMO.

There are always 10 players on the court. The more eyes watching them the better IMO.

I watch at least as many games as anyone on this board. And from my experience, games with only two officials as opposed to three tend to be nasty bloodbaths with players getting mugged incessantly inside on both offense and defense. Having the third ref cleans things up immensely — the crew is just able to see more of the extracurricular activity that goes on in every game, and get a handle on it before it turns into a fistfight.

 

FO11th: IMO, you're overreacting. They're human, and can't catch everything every night.

No action can be taken here, needs to go to the KHSAA.