Sparky Anderson

612 posts makes you an expert? Thanks for reading my post, you can check it out on ESPN too.

I've seen just about all of them in the BBA and KBOA, and worked with most of them in the KBOA.

If officials would call what they are supposed to call, then even a monkey would stop standing in the lane, stop pushing, stop hand checking, stop walking, etc. If officials would do their job, then the game might resemble "Basketball". They get paid so they should be publicly accountable! The KHSAA publicly lists player and coach suspensions and fines, referees should fall under the same guise. Everybody loves to see a referee screw up because most of them are jerks!

Granted that Male should be better than they have been, but to say that they have tremendous potential is an overstatement. See the football thread about this and you will understand why Male girls basketball will not be a power like they once were. Given the two choices, I think Eastern has more potential to be successful than Male.

All the ones that don't break the rules!

Middle schoolers got in free. That doesn't sound like a recruiting violation at all now, does it?

I say "No". Travel out in the state I'm sure is different than it is in Jefferson County, but I don't think it is an issue here. Since we do not have community schools (with the open enrollment policy), I think the fan base is about the same for home and away games. As far as kids being familiar with the "home" surroundings, I find that kids seemed to be more distracted for home games than they do for away games.

They get paid, and there are no repurcussions for their mistakes - no matter how big or small a mistake is made. The majority are shallow and weak. They listen to coaches and fans gripe about something, whether it's legitimate or not, and then they call it because they think it pleases someone. They go into games with a bias about who is supposed to win and lose. They talk about players and what they are going to do before the game is even played. They talk about how they don't like a coach or team before the game even starts. They worry too much about make up calls instead of calling the game fair. They worry about ratings and whether their assigner is at the game to watch them. The reason I know this is because I used to be a high school referee, and all of this stuff made me sick. No, we are not too hard on officials.