Being a blogger, it kills me when I can't write about something relevant to my blog. During the soccer season that "something" is very often soccer-related, since as a referee I watch or officiate quite a few matches. Sometimes I want to write about specific teams or individuals, or do an analysis of certain aspects of the season, or talk about Brent Wagner's latest ratings. No such luck.
This morning, however, I got a chuckle out of comments on the Journal Star's website and I just have to share. I am, ladies and gentleman, according to "Omaha Soccer Fan", a proud member of "the twilight zone that is Lincoln officiating". Fortunately "What" came to my defense, calling Omaha refs "unreal" (and not in a good way). I hope a good back-and-forth breaks out in the comment section.
I get a kick out of a lot of things fans do and say. The "your town's refs suck" canard is an oldie but a goodie. Not that it's never true. It's just usually not true, and usually not in the way the spectators think. There certainly are local and regional differences in how officials officiate. That's true in all sports, or at least all sports I've been a part of. Usually the differences are less about quality than about variations in style and expectations. And of course there's selective memory and selective blame. A referee in my town who misses a call made a mistake; a referee in that other town who misses a call is incompetent, a homer, or both, and so are all the other refs from that town.
This topic was already on my mind thanks to a bit of an opposite experience. Following a match earlier this season the visiting coach tracked me down to thank me for not being like the referees from his local area. And coming up in the next couple weeks I will work three games where the referee -- an upper-level ref in each case -- is not from the town of either of the teams; spectator outbursts about referee quality during those matches tend to be particularly amusing.
I wish I could say more. In particular, I have lots to say about the referees who help generate much of the fuss. There is lots to critique there. But I had best keep my lips (fingers?) sealed.
I'm curious what the prevailing stereotypes are these days. What are your impressions of officials from particular regions of the state in various sports? Have you ever seen an honest-to-goodness, indisputable case of homerism?
Comments
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When I played soccer, I always thought the Lincoln-area refs could use a refresher on offsides. It was clear the majority (not you, of course, Mr. Wilson) of them judged whether a player was offsides based on when the ball reached the last defender, not when the ball was played. Other than that, there were no noticeable differences in their officiating.
Basketball officials in Lincoln (City Rec league) are horrendous, to the point where they significantly diminish the fun it’s supposed to be. I’d much rather play ‘call your fouls’ than have referees. Having said that, poor officiating in basketball isn’t unique to Lincoln. It’s horrendous on the collegiate level and awful in the NBA.
Well, its been years since I’ve played and I have never played in Lincoln, but in my experience the “worst” mistakes refs can make is in not being consistent in calling out players for diving. And then erroneously placing blame.
The best refs let idiot players dive in attempts to gain sympathy (when in fact all they do is probably hurt themselves). The worst ones let themselves get played by the players (or their family/friends screaming at you on the sidelines).
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