The real problem as I see it is that as supervisor of officials,
Shepherd should not have made his comments about the officials'
performance in public - or if they were off the record, they should
not have been printed.  I'm going to step out on a limb and assume
(always a mistake, I know) that the writer had permission from
Shepherd to use his quotes, since only an unprofessional writer would
print something that he was told was off the record.
 
Supervisors absolutely have the right and duty to critique the
performance of their leagues' officiating crews.  If an official is
not doing the job he is being paid to do, the supervisor certainly
should take steps to correct the problem.  However, this should be
done privately between the league and the officials.  If Shepherd
feels the officials made a bad mistake, and he does seem to feel this
way, then he only needs to tell them that they could face punishment
from the league in the future.  He doesn't need to air the league's
dirty laundry in public.
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Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93