I too used to complain about the officiating, so I decided to do something about it and become one. I have officiated hs basketball from 2016-2019, stopped because of C 19 I was not going to wear a mask and I thought it was insane to make the players wear one as well. Might get back into at some point. I digress, but the reason you have a shortage of officials at the lower levels is the pay. I made $70 per game. I was not doing it for the money. Surprisingly in my case I very rarely had any issues with the parents. I am 63 years old, and after one game a mom came out of the stands and asked me how old I was (60 at the time). She said "wow, you really move up and down the court pretty fast"
Unless you have actually officiated a game then you should not complain about the officiating. So many things are going on at one time you are bound to miss something. That being said, the holding that USC was getting away with in the game was inexcusable. If there is something consistently going on, either the other officials or the coach will tell the official responsible to look at a player as he is pushing the rules and he needs to be called out on it. The UO interception could have gone either way that was a bang bang play. Did the knee touch before the ball jarred loose? Hard to say, even in slow mo, make that call in real time. The missed down was handled properly. Anything in question you review at the next time out which was done.
It's deeper than what You're saying John...It starts at the "pop warner" or pee wee level, officials get their starts there usually and The "Little league" parents are driving them away from officiating further. I've had several friends officiate from that level and eventually to the high school and small college level and the most common theme as to why they gave it up, were "Parents". Parents are abusive to no end and constantly think their little Johnny is the next "Tom Brady" or Messi, or Aaron Judge, and they will take out their kids failings or short comings on the officials. If Parents were banned or limited in their participation at youth games there would be more officials...More officials at lower levels, means more would stick with it, and more graduating to High school and College and eventually Professional levels. It starts low...and it IS a HUGE problem.
As a 40 year High School Football official and still counting the mistakes on the field by the Pac-12 officials are disturbing.With that being said unless you have been an active official fans should curb there complaints and give the officiating avocation a try...you'll find its not quite as easy as it appears..I always tell my crew b/4 a game " we strive for perfection but we'll accept excellence"...its a terrific goal but I've never seen a perfect game yet..hopefully the Pac 12 with get it right moving forward.
"Oregon State fans are unhappy with what they felt was favorable treatment of USC on Saturday night at Reser Stadium."
I just had to chuckle at this. Have you ever heard once in your life a winning team complain about officiating? And if Beaver fans truly thought the crew was incompetent, did it occur to them that would mean their opponent would suffer the same consequences? No...and no. Bad calls, no calls--welcome to sports.
“The focus should be on the football, not the officiating”
The mantra of the eons.
A tough gig, to be sure, but as the game gets faster and rules get more complicated, the officiating focus gets drawn away from basic stuff, like “what down is it?” Couple that with a shrinking farm system of competence (for many reasons) we have the perfect storm of our present situation. “It’s a game of calls” takes on a whole new meaning…
Here in southern Klamath County we have three 4A high schools in five 1A high schools that require officials not only for football right now, but soccer and volleyball as well. For all the discussed reasons, there simply aren’t enough men and women willing/able to take part, so a lot of times there are people that step up, God bless ‘em, that simply don’t have the knack for the job. When it comes to next level, it’s this group that is drawn upon, with the results we’re now experiencing.
I am blessed to be involved with the radio broadcast and live stream of our Mazama Vikings football team, currently the number one ranked 4A team in Oregon. We have a tremendous officiating crew for football down here, many of whom I’ve known for several years. But when they’re gone, I wonder where their competent replacements will come from.
All that being said, I hate hearing the “bad call cost us the game” rhetoric. It’s a long enough game where there are lots of opportunities for success - a couple of fubar calls shouldn’t end up making the difference.
The pursuit of perfection is a fools errand. I can accept that when errors are made actions are taken to learn from them. Most of this does come down to human error. Even when using all of the available tech, human error occurs. My Dad never liked instant replay of any kind, stating "Football is a human game, humans are prone to error." He had a good point.
That said, so long as officials are out there doing their best, which (outside the NBA of past years) I'm sure they are... I can take a little error it IS part of the game we love.
Since you are in the know, who is in charge of the Pac 12 officials? Is there protocol to review games with bad/missed calls? Oregon got penalized against Washington for roughing the passer; which did happen. However, Washington never was penalized for the same offense and they kept hitting Nix late. Why didn't the review booth choose to review the almost interception by Gonzalez that ended up being a reception? It could have changed the outcome of the game. Another missed called was Irving being hit late out of bounds on the final drive, yet no flag? What about getting better cameras for better angles on reviews? Franklin was ruled to go out of bounds yet we couldn't get a clear shot to see if he was actually still in bounds or not? In closing, Washington was playing dirty and take late/cheap shots on Oregon players and there were no flags. Just wrong. Hopefully the Pac 12 can do something to get things better before bowl season.
Oregon vs USC. Nov 11, 2006. Worst officiating I've ever seen. Was at the game. Hard to look it back up but the refs reviewed a play and overturned the call on the field. Then the coach challenged and the refs reversed the call again!!!!!! It took like 23 minutes.
I agree with the call on the intercepted pass. The receiver was juggling the ball the whole time. Two knees down do not matter because there was no possession of the ball. Washington State did not lose a down the refs gave it back to them when Oregon received the punt. They gave Washington State the ball at the spot where they punted with another third down. So actually they got two third downs and two fourth downs. The only thing that was not given back was the time loss.
Hi John, heard the BFT today and wanted to call in with this but ran out of time. What if there were a way for college players ( who don't go on to the next level,.. probably 95%) who after they leave college can get the bug while still in college to continue their sports career by officiating. And here is a catch after I heard your program last week, where players are already degree'd and taking puff ball classes. How about as a give back it is mandatory that they study officiating as an elective, maybe not even for their main sport as it conflicts but for another sport ie footballers are baseball umps and vise versa baseball players do football. Its a give back and if you had thousands of college students who lost their sport career we might give em a chance to continue it after college maybe a certain % will get the bug and continue
If one does not believe that college football games are not influenced by bribery and corruption from criminals then one is being ignorant. It is corruption from the gambling industry which includes organized crime, the gambling companies and the officials at every level of college football that is responsible for the “stupidity “ or “willfull ignorance” of the referees
I too used to complain about the officiating, so I decided to do something about it and become one. I have officiated hs basketball from 2016-2019, stopped because of C 19 I was not going to wear a mask and I thought it was insane to make the players wear one as well. Might get back into at some point. I digress, but the reason you have a shortage of officials at the lower levels is the pay. I made $70 per game. I was not doing it for the money. Surprisingly in my case I very rarely had any issues with the parents. I am 63 years old, and after one game a mom came out of the stands and asked me how old I was (60 at the time). She said "wow, you really move up and down the court pretty fast"
Unless you have actually officiated a game then you should not complain about the officiating. So many things are going on at one time you are bound to miss something. That being said, the holding that USC was getting away with in the game was inexcusable. If there is something consistently going on, either the other officials or the coach will tell the official responsible to look at a player as he is pushing the rules and he needs to be called out on it. The UO interception could have gone either way that was a bang bang play. Did the knee touch before the ball jarred loose? Hard to say, even in slow mo, make that call in real time. The missed down was handled properly. Anything in question you review at the next time out which was done.
It's deeper than what You're saying John...It starts at the "pop warner" or pee wee level, officials get their starts there usually and The "Little league" parents are driving them away from officiating further. I've had several friends officiate from that level and eventually to the high school and small college level and the most common theme as to why they gave it up, were "Parents". Parents are abusive to no end and constantly think their little Johnny is the next "Tom Brady" or Messi, or Aaron Judge, and they will take out their kids failings or short comings on the officials. If Parents were banned or limited in their participation at youth games there would be more officials...More officials at lower levels, means more would stick with it, and more graduating to High school and College and eventually Professional levels. It starts low...and it IS a HUGE problem.
As a 40 year High School Football official and still counting the mistakes on the field by the Pac-12 officials are disturbing.With that being said unless you have been an active official fans should curb there complaints and give the officiating avocation a try...you'll find its not quite as easy as it appears..I always tell my crew b/4 a game " we strive for perfection but we'll accept excellence"...its a terrific goal but I've never seen a perfect game yet..hopefully the Pac 12 with get it right moving forward.
You are missing a big point. There is a strong buddy system that promotes bad officials. It goes very deep. I officiated in So Cal.
Bob Joswick
"Oregon State fans are unhappy with what they felt was favorable treatment of USC on Saturday night at Reser Stadium."
I just had to chuckle at this. Have you ever heard once in your life a winning team complain about officiating? And if Beaver fans truly thought the crew was incompetent, did it occur to them that would mean their opponent would suffer the same consequences? No...and no. Bad calls, no calls--welcome to sports.
“The focus should be on the football, not the officiating”
The mantra of the eons.
A tough gig, to be sure, but as the game gets faster and rules get more complicated, the officiating focus gets drawn away from basic stuff, like “what down is it?” Couple that with a shrinking farm system of competence (for many reasons) we have the perfect storm of our present situation. “It’s a game of calls” takes on a whole new meaning…
Here in southern Klamath County we have three 4A high schools in five 1A high schools that require officials not only for football right now, but soccer and volleyball as well. For all the discussed reasons, there simply aren’t enough men and women willing/able to take part, so a lot of times there are people that step up, God bless ‘em, that simply don’t have the knack for the job. When it comes to next level, it’s this group that is drawn upon, with the results we’re now experiencing.
I am blessed to be involved with the radio broadcast and live stream of our Mazama Vikings football team, currently the number one ranked 4A team in Oregon. We have a tremendous officiating crew for football down here, many of whom I’ve known for several years. But when they’re gone, I wonder where their competent replacements will come from.
All that being said, I hate hearing the “bad call cost us the game” rhetoric. It’s a long enough game where there are lots of opportunities for success - a couple of fubar calls shouldn’t end up making the difference.
my 2 cent$
GO DAWGS
1. WSU receiver never had control.
2. Ball did not hit the ground.
3. Oregon defender came up with the ball.
Officials got this one right from the get go. Give credit!
The pursuit of perfection is a fools errand. I can accept that when errors are made actions are taken to learn from them. Most of this does come down to human error. Even when using all of the available tech, human error occurs. My Dad never liked instant replay of any kind, stating "Football is a human game, humans are prone to error." He had a good point.
That said, so long as officials are out there doing their best, which (outside the NBA of past years) I'm sure they are... I can take a little error it IS part of the game we love.
Thanks for this column. Thoughtful and insightful.
Since you are in the know, who is in charge of the Pac 12 officials? Is there protocol to review games with bad/missed calls? Oregon got penalized against Washington for roughing the passer; which did happen. However, Washington never was penalized for the same offense and they kept hitting Nix late. Why didn't the review booth choose to review the almost interception by Gonzalez that ended up being a reception? It could have changed the outcome of the game. Another missed called was Irving being hit late out of bounds on the final drive, yet no flag? What about getting better cameras for better angles on reviews? Franklin was ruled to go out of bounds yet we couldn't get a clear shot to see if he was actually still in bounds or not? In closing, Washington was playing dirty and take late/cheap shots on Oregon players and there were no flags. Just wrong. Hopefully the Pac 12 can do something to get things better before bowl season.
Can you get an interview with Brock Huard before The Oregon Ucla game ?
His position on PAC 12 officiating POST Utah-USC; PRE Oregon-UCLA could be both informative
and entertaining.
Oregon vs USC. Nov 11, 2006. Worst officiating I've ever seen. Was at the game. Hard to look it back up but the refs reviewed a play and overturned the call on the field. Then the coach challenged and the refs reversed the call again!!!!!! It took like 23 minutes.
I agree with the call on the intercepted pass. The receiver was juggling the ball the whole time. Two knees down do not matter because there was no possession of the ball. Washington State did not lose a down the refs gave it back to them when Oregon received the punt. They gave Washington State the ball at the spot where they punted with another third down. So actually they got two third downs and two fourth downs. The only thing that was not given back was the time loss.
Good article Canzano! I like the comments too.
Hi John, heard the BFT today and wanted to call in with this but ran out of time. What if there were a way for college players ( who don't go on to the next level,.. probably 95%) who after they leave college can get the bug while still in college to continue their sports career by officiating. And here is a catch after I heard your program last week, where players are already degree'd and taking puff ball classes. How about as a give back it is mandatory that they study officiating as an elective, maybe not even for their main sport as it conflicts but for another sport ie footballers are baseball umps and vise versa baseball players do football. Its a give back and if you had thousands of college students who lost their sport career we might give em a chance to continue it after college maybe a certain % will get the bug and continue
If one does not believe that college football games are not influenced by bribery and corruption from criminals then one is being ignorant. It is corruption from the gambling industry which includes organized crime, the gambling companies and the officials at every level of college football that is responsible for the “stupidity “ or “willfull ignorance” of the referees