“Working” the officials…
I have never been a big advocate of it… for a couple of reasons.
I think that when you start complaining about the officiating, it gives the players on your team a built in excuse…. “We weren’t successful (on that play…during that game) because the officials were awful”. I would rather that our coaches, players, and I felt accountable for the outcome of the game.
I have witnessed good officials while coaching Pop Warner football, and bad officials when I was at the collegiate level. While I admit that mistakes can be and are made, (even in the NFL) I think most officials are trying their best to do a good job.
The real reason that I have never spent much energy berating officials is because of an early experience of mine. When I was a player on the Blue Springs High School team, our coach, Fred Merrell, asked us to volunteer to officiate some youth (I believe it was YMCA) league flag football games on a Saturday. I volunteered, thinking it would be fun helping during these youth football contests.
I was wrong… unfortunately the coaches and parents made it a bad experience for me, and pretty much everyone who volunteered to help that Saturday. I never volunteered again.
There were upset coaches and accusations of “favoring one team over the other”… of being prejudiced with my officiating. I distinctly remember thinking that “I don’t care who wins this game… I am just trying to do my best.”
I think most officials are legitimately trying to do their best…
Yes, even the crew who called back 7 touchdowns last year during one of our games… OK, I may have had a few words for that crew.
For a new perspective and appreciation, try officiating a youth league game!
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Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com