I've been patiently reading the large amount of posts concerning "the
quality of officiating", "fans vs. fanatics", etc., etc., and I thought
I'd give all you die-hard "official bashers" some hope for a kinder,
better, audience.
 
I seem to recall a certain individual that sat about 5 seats to the left
and one row down from me at RPI hockey games.  Every time a whistle was
blown, and a call went against RPI, this fan (for certain, a fanatic at
that point in time) ALWAYS made loud comments concerning the merit of a
particular official being allowed to officiate (ie.  "Cerbo, you dumb
piece of sh**!  What are you?  Blind?  You must have your head up your
a**! etc., etc.")  And yet, this fan has now seen the light!  Yes, Dan
Orchard-Hayes now understands that those people shouting after *EVERY*
call that goes against their team are an annoyance to the rest of the
crowd.  The audience gets tired of the endless litany of comments, and
sometimes they even wish alcohol was sold at the Fieldhouse, so that they
could at least shower these loud-mouths with a beer to shut them up!
 
But the point of this dissertation is that even the loudest "fanatic" is
capable of objectively looking at what he's yelling about and see that the
officials have little to gain by siding with a certain team.  They're out
there trying there best (albeit some succeed better than others :-)) and
as a fan, when an offical blows a call, you've got to take it in
perspective.
 
As far as RPI is concerned, you'll never hear me complain that a bad call
cost them the game.  The dissallowed goal may have helped RPI get some
momentum if it had been allowed, but if they had played a better game, they
wouldn't have needed the momentum at that point in time.  Sure, others will
argue that every team has its low points, but I remember my freshman year,
watching Juneau and Coles, and I can't help but think their team would
have risen above a bad call.  It's the good teams that can rise above a
call that doesn't go their way and win a game.  And if you win the game,
isn't the blown call mute?
 
--scott raymond
 
No sig, no nothing!