It's not just hockey. All games are played by people who make
mistakes. If they did not, every game would end in a scoreless tie.
Officials are there to enforce the rules, to the best of their
ability. They also are human.
I had a friend (now deceased) who officiated football, basketball and
baseball on the high school and college level for 40 years and was
one of the most respected officials in the state. He knew the rules
inside and out. He never, ever called a game according to the rules.
He called the game according to the spirit of the rules. There's a
big difference.
As an example, a basketball coach was trying to get a technical to
put a little spark into his players but couldn't find anything to
yell about. My field was the trail official and was standing in the
center circle. The coach yelled at him to get closer to the action.
His reply: "You put something down there for me to look at and I'll
go down and look at it."
Humans make mistakes. Officials make mistakes. No one is perfect. But
people who agree to officiate games never make the correct call - at
least not to half the crowd. They don't make mistakes on purpose.
When people rail against officials, the implied premise is they are
doing some team wrong on purpose. I contend they are attempting to do
an absolutely impossible job. I give them credit for the attempt and
back off.
Another small story. I covered field hockey for a newspaper for 12
years, mainly because none of the other reporters wanted anything to
do with field hockey. I had not had time to read and/or research the
rules before my first game. I wrote notes frantically after the first
goal was scored. Except it wasn't a goal. It was shot from "outside
the circle." I said so what. That's what a goalie is for. I was
standing next to a mother of a player who also had played the game in
high school and college. I got a real irate ear full about the games'
traditions.
But it gave me an idea. I got a rule book and read it. Not a lot of
help. When I covered a game I always stood next to someone who knew
the game. One day I stood with a coach who had won the previous three
state championships in her class before retiring to become an
athletic director at her school. I had basketball mentality. I HAD to
know what EVERY whistle was for. And in field hockey, that will drive
you over the edge. But standing next to this former coach, each time
I didn't understand a whistle, I would ask what it was for. About
every third time, she said "I don't know."
And here came my revelation - if the coach of a three-time state
champion doesn't know what every third call is for, why should I
care? After that, I watched the flow of the game and appreciated the
athleticism of the people playing the game. If there was a call that
affected something that happened during the game, I would ask the
officials about that call and they would explain it. Whether it was
right or wrong didn't matter. What happened was history and couldn't
be changed. If a coach wanted to criticize the call, I would report
that. But when you accept my philosophy of not caring what the call
was for you can enjoy the game so much more.
I understand that ain't gonna happen. But in appreciating what the
official if TRYING to do, you can relax and enjoy both the game for
it's beauty as it's played and the skill of the players playing it.
No body's perfect. No one's kidnapping your kid. It's a game. Relax.
Enjoy it. It's a great game - hockey AND field hockey.
On Jun 8, 2008, at 9:45 PM, Eric Burton wrote:
> Seriously Bob do you like the way the games are called.
> I think the league could do a lot better than they are doing right
> now.
>
>
>
> http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
>
> Quoting Eric Burton <[log in to unmask]>:
>
>> They are going to be hard pressed to find some competent officials.
>>
>> Quoting Bob Woodbury <[log in to unmask]>:
>>
>>> No. Disband the WCHA. There are no competent officials.
>>>
>>> On Jun 8, 2008, at 9:24 PM, Eric Burton wrote:
>>>
>>>> What kind of a question is that? I don't think Nathan said
>>>> anything that is so controversial, the officals in the WCHA
>>>> suck point blank, half of them don't deserve the opportunity
>>>> to screw up games in this league. The WCHA is a world class
>>>> league with HORRIBLE officials. If you think I am wrong go
>>>> back and look at their hit parade on YouTube this past year.
>>>> The worst ones are Randy Schmidt (two huge screw ups that cost
>>>> the Badgers home ice), Don Adam (just down right horrible,
>>>> makes Sh*t up as he goes, Todd Anderson (was reprimanded for
>>>> grabbing a player from Duluth) Greg Shepherd managed to screw
>>>> to affect the NCAA championship game with his blown call. Need
>>>> we continue?
>>>>
>>>> Quoting Bob Woodbury <[log in to unmask]>:
>>>>
>>>>> With your hatred of officials, I'm surprised you watch college
>>>>> hockey
>>>>> at all. Just curious - are there any bad players?
>>>>>
>>>>> On Jun 8, 2008, at 2:19 PM, Hampton, Nathan E. wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> (some old, some fat, some just dumb, and others blind) -
>>>>>> Despite the fact that most referees are not popular, nor
>>>>>> should they be,
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