Bad Calls

[I smell bad]

I agree that officiating in this area is horrible. It seems most of the crews are either favoring the home team, apparently so they can get a game there in the future. Or favoring the visting team, apparently so they wont be accused of favoring the home team. Also, when an official gets a good ### ripping from some coaches, they seem to adjust the way they are calling the game to favor that coach. But when other coaches rip them they screw his team even more.

My teams have been on both sides, and I have thanked a few when they appeared to have helped my team, and ripped them when they worked against them. At any rate, there are a lot of bad crews out there, and they seem to have trouble being un-biased. Also, some of them are never wrong, just ask them.

As a whole, the officiating is, again, horrible, and it gets worse the futher you are from home. And it is not just limited to football. Problem is, it doesn't seem like there are ever any new faces officiating. So until someone steps up I guess we are stuck with what we get.

[Joedirt]

Give all the fans a yellow hankie and every time there is a flag that needs tossed,toss it.Most of the fan's know and see it all.No wonder nobody wants to ref.threats,hollered at,cussed at etc.,everyone gets railroaded no matter where it's at.Part of the game,poor excuse,this is a team effort win or lose.Just play.

[4 HORSEMEN]

I said it on a different thread, but I think that officiating in the area is basically just poor........................

I don't think it is an intentional thing, and I don't think that teams are getting "homered" (basically because I often have felt "homered" at HOME)

Some guys are just making bad calls........ All you can do is deal with it, and move on.

Some guys are too fat, too slow, and ill equipped to make the calls necessary in a high school football game.

I really wish that the state would do SOMETHING about bad officials (and reward the good ones) but I'm not holding my breath for that to happen.

[Tigercannon71]

I got an idea for all you guys complaing. Just get an officials liscense and you guys ref the games. Im sure with your expertise you guys can do a much better job than the guys that have been doing it for 20 years.

[smmoty]

It s funny how people yards away can see the call better than the officials. Put your money where your mouth is and be an official. Hey I am in really tight with a very good instructor, pm me and I ll hook you up. They are human. There are good ones and bad ones, but the point is most of these guys love what they r doing and love the kids, otherwise they wouldnt put up with the constant crap. The same goes for coaching. I f you dont like it, apply to coach. Now, lets talk about the fans. The ones who yell at the officials while they are walking off the field with their young children. The big macho guys who run their mouths chasing the refs, that is until they see the deputy walking with them. ( That was priceless, LOL) The ones who know where the officials live and use such colorful language. If you make yourself look stupid in a childs eyes, thats pretty heavy. Leave the comments on the field or on here. After the game it neees to stop. Its a shame when my 6 year old is more mature than some of these fans.

[earp]

Overall I think most of them do a fine job,I brought up the Matewan thing because it was so blatantly cheating.I mean for god sakes the white hat was the head of the booster club!Sorry thats not right!Which is why I said we are fortunate here in Southern Ohio!And the bottom line here is the life lesson those Matewan kids are learning,"How to cheat better"!

[ocho stinko]

Officials are human and will make mistakes. But there are some very poor officials out there. I do not know if they effect the outcome of a game or not, but it is frustrating when players and coaches put in hours and hours to prepare for a game and then you get a poor officiating crew. I just think there should be more accountability for officials. They really are untouchable in the eyes of OHSAA. OHSAA just says don't hire the crew. O.K. then you get the crew on the road! Thats not the answer either!

[zebra77]

There's a rating system in place for officials, the coaches and AD's have a way of rating officials.

But, I've found that the best way to handle an ear chewing coach is to say " I might have missed that 1 coach but, I'll get it the next time."

This assures the coach that you have heard and aknowledged his complaint and usually calms the situation.

[BlindWhiteHat]

Officials miss calls. That is a fact. The problem really comes with those who refuse to accept the fact that their team just isn't that good or their kids or coaches just couldn't be guilty of making mistakes. Therefore, someone has to be blamed and it can't be the team or the coach so blame the officials. I've been officiating for 21 years and see this attitude getting worse and worse.

[91blue14]

coaches want calls 1 for 1. you can call 3 face masks and miss a hold and be called a cheater or a horrible official. there is more expected out of officials than anyone else on the field and they are rated by head coach and ad every week so ask your coach how they rated a crew. i do understand a blown call is made by 1 official in his territory but does that make the whole crew bad cause someone missed a call and threw flags on other plays. i can assure you by the time you get to a game site a couple hours before the game and leave an hour or so after the game you didnt make nothing but love for the game. the one thing that eats me is offiating to the score and time outs just to burn the other guy up. some of these guys i agree should give it up when you cant run instead of hiding these guys being umpires and white hats. just more work for the wing guys.

[sandman]

I have been told by a coach in the past that a good AD hires the officials with the crew's and the opposing team's tendencies in mind. ie: if an opposing team tends to hold then they hire a crew that historically watches holding closely, etc. It would take some good scouting and film review, but it sounds like a reasonable story and practice to me.

I was told this several years ago by a basketball coach and it may not be possible to do any more.

[Neutron Man]

For the most part the zebra tend to get calls right, but the coaches in the stands have to realize that nobody is perfect and bad calls ocassionally happen!
Except when they are taking sips outta crooked creek! They always miss calls! J/K!!

[BlindWhiteHat]

I have been told by a coach in the past that a good AD hires the officials with the crew's and the opposing team's tendencies in mind. ie: if an opposing team tends to hold then they hire a crew that historically watches holding closely, etc. It would take some good scouting and film review, but it sounds like a reasonable story and practice to me.

I was told this several years ago by a basketball coach and it may not be possible to do any more.

I'd consider that a bit unrealistic in football. I don't know that any coaching staff spends time learning officials' tendencies.

[loyaldevilfan]

^^^^^learning refs tendencies would be a waste of time....There are so many that you would not have time for it...It is hard enough to study your opposinig coaches tendencies.....

[Frank Reagan]

I have been told by a coach in the past that a good AD hires the officials with the crew's and the opposing team's tendencies in mind. ie: if an opposing team tends to hold then they hire a crew that historically watches holding closely, etc.

That's about the most far fetched thing I've ever read. Most schools barely have the resources to break down a team's film, let alone the referees and their foul calling tendencies. For that matter, in many leagues the officials are assigned through a neutral party and secondly, the officiating crews are scheduled so far in advance, 2-3 years, that a team which commits a certain foul a great deal will be a completely different bunch of kids with different fouling tendencies by the time a crew has them, both making this post a bunch of bunk.

[sandman]

I never said it was fact, I just said that a coach told me that once. Sorry!!

[Boo-Duh]

I have been told by a coach in the past that a good AD hires the officials with the crew's and the opposing team's tendencies in mind. ie: if an opposing team tends to hold then they hire a crew that historically watches holding closely, etc. It would take some good scouting and film review, but it sounds like a reasonable story and practice to me.

I was told this several years ago by a basketball coach and it may not be possible to do any more.

I can believe that a Basketball Coach may say that..they might hire guys that have a tendency to "let'em play" more then those might call it "tight" or vise versa... I have heard coaches make this comment about officials in Basketball.

I have also heard Baseball Coaches say they like so and so behind the plate because he has more of a "high" strike zone instead of a "low" strike zone.

Can't say I have about football...but who knows..

[sandman]

Thank you and you are right, he was talking about basketball. Wrong forum, my bad.

[EAST 2005-2008]

Hey we have it pretty good here in Southern Ohio!Just ask the East Tartans how bad officiating really is other places compared to here!

Bad officiating is an understatement.But in my entire football life(here I go again)this was the only game I have seen decided solely by anyone other than the players. Had one post pulled so will try to be careful.My statement was East didn't lose they weren't allowed to win.Only one factor could decide this.Not either teams.That only leaves one factor left on the field besides the teams.When an opposing fan apologizes to you about ref's that is bad.This did not happen in Ohio.The other team maybe, would have won anyway,doubt it if you compare stats and watched game.Anyway history now.Beware to anyone travelling to SOME parts of WVA.The next week played another WVA team officiating was great.

[zebra77]

The simple solution for all of the bleacher officials to prevent bad calls as you have stated, is too take an officiating class, get your liscense and come on down to field level and take your shot at officiating a football game.

I'll gladly sit in the stands, and watch the game.

And oh yes most happily evaluate your performance, problem solved.