“The most annoying player”

So says Claus Bo Larsen, FIFA referee since 1996, of Cristiano Ronaldo from a goal.com article here.

Take a look at the article however as it goes on to say that:

“Cristiano Ronaldo is given a clean slate at the start of every game, but when he would lie down after failing to win a free-kick, he would smile at me because he knows I don’t fall for his theatrics.”

Now *THAT* is refereeing at the highest levels. Know what is coming, talk with the players, and react (not prejudge) when an incident occurs.

Another outstanding FIFA refereeing talent retiring this month.

CONCACAF has the news ...

... but where is the US Soccer announcement on Brian's promotion?

NEW YORK - Former World Cup veteran Brian Hall has been appointed to the newly created position of CONCACAF director of referee administration, and will assume his new post at the confederation's New York headquarters on Monday.

The 49-year-old Hall officiated matches at the amateur and professional level for more than 30 years and was a four-time recipient of U.S. Major League Soccer's Referee of the Year award. He will work in conjunction with the CONCACAF Referee Committee and the FIFA Referee Assistance Program on the appointment, scheduling and assessment of referees. ...

See the CONCACAF site for the full story.

Brian Hall to Join CONCACAF

Hall Appointed CONCACAF Director Of Referee Administration

Former World Cup veteran Brian Hall has been appointed to the newly created position of CONCACAF director of referee administration, and will assume his new post at the confederation’s New York headquarters on Monday.

The 49-year-old Hall officiated matches at the amateur and professional level for more than 30 years and was a four-time recipient of U.S. Major League Soccer’s Referee of the Year award. He will work in conjunction with the CONCACAF Referee Committee and the FIFA Referee Assistance Program on the appointment, scheduling and assessment of referees.

See the fill story here, courtesy of PaddockTalk.

Kicking Back comments:

Well ... for those of us affected or who follow US Soccer there are (2) burning questions in my head now.

1. Who is going to lead the US Soccer referee program? As I have stated before there seems to be a real lack of administration at the US Soccer level for referees. I can think of one name (and will reserve it for now ... but he would be perfect) but short of that it would seem the USS US Soccer referee program is going adrift. I hope that come January 1, 2011 there are some announcements to shore up this lack of direction.

2. Can Brian make a dent in FIFA's thinking to get a referee to the World Cup? While there have been others from the US in positions at CONCACAF and FIFA, I would opine their efforts in the past have been marginal getting the exposure to only some of the referees who are able to compete on the world stage. Recently (as in WC 2010) these efforts have been poor and while I exclude performance of individual referees in this analysis (which is a factor) word on the street is while the US had some folks who were considered for the tournament, there was little or no backing from our countrymen in FIFA that killed any chance entirely.   

Overall this is a great appointment not only for Brian, but also for US Soccer referees. While the US has been a part of FIFA and CONCACAF for some time, it is my hope Brian's mesh of refereeing talent and empathy, as well as his management savvy and business acumen serve US referees well in the future.

By the way ... not a peep yet from the US Soccer web site. I would have thought something this good for US referees, they would want to get out straight away.

Strike One?

Thanks to Ken for bringing this issue forward.

Scottish referee strike forces 15 weekend games to be cancelled as decisions row threatens to drag on

A bitter strike by referees has forced the cancellation of almost three-quarters of all football matches in Scotland’s professional leagues this weekend.

The six fixtures scheduled in the Scottish Premier League – the country’s top flight – will go ahead following the last-minute arrival of officials from Israel, Malta and Luxembourg.

But all 15 games in Scottish Football League – the three divisions below – have been axed after more than 30 referees downed whistles. ...

Full story here, courtesy of Mail Online.

Law 18 "strikes" again

This title will make more sense after you read the post from Soccer America titled "Mom slaps ref." In what may be an example of a parent gone wild, which frankly it is, there is also a more subtle message in there for those who are looking.

This story (and those like it) go something like this:

1. Experienced referee is officiating a local youth game, usually U-14 or below.
2. Match is going fine.
3. Referee applies the laws in a way that the youth players are not accustom to.
4. Players take exception.
5. Adults take exception.
6. Players and/or adults emote their concerns (constructively or not).
7. Referee does not notice or does not adjust accordingly.
8. Players and/or adults act out.

Now from the onset let me say that this is a pretty general pattern in youth sports and can be applied to just about anything that participants don't like. In this case there is some "magic" in steps 3 and 7 where a referee is doing something players at an age, or really better stated, playing level, are not ready for, and the referee does not recognize and adjust to the level.

I say "playing level" and not "age" as there are some very young players that are sophisticated and coached well that are more prepared than most youth referees in some settings (e.g. Regional Play or some international tournaments such as Dallas Cup). This scenario is not intend to reflect that case. As it turns out, it is the referee who may "act out" in those cases. I will cover that in a future post.

Here, we have the case of a referee who has not adjusted properly, did not recognize, and resulted in upset parents ... to the point of assault and battery.

The "magic" incident was captured in the SA story (interestingly not others that reported it however):

"... playing in a U-10 game in the Atlanta area ... the referee ... didn't stop play after the girl was hit in the chest by the ball and fell down."

The result:

"The mother ... entered the field and slapped the referee because he didn't stop play. The mother left by the time Forsyth County Sheriff deputies arrived. The victim of the slap from the 39-year-old woman was a 30-year-old male referee, whose face was reddened and his lip bloodied." 

The reason the referee gave for not stopping play for 9 year olds:

"According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the ref didn't stop play because the other team was in possession – and waited until the ball went out of bounds."

So ask yourself as referees, are you applying the laws in a way the players recognize and understand? In this case, there may even be a more basic question that needs to be asked ...

Did the players feel safe with the decisions the referee was making?

For me, was the referee technically correct in waiting to stop play?
Yes.

Did they get themselves into trouble by waiting to stop play?
Yes.

So what is a referee to do then, apply the laws as written or modify them for the game at hand?
Both.

Sounds like "double speak" but the referee must apply the LOTG while keeping the interpretations at the level of the players. If not, they will react negatively and put the match in jeopardy.

In this particular case, there is even a simpler message. For a local U-10 match, is a player goes down, stop the play regardless of what else is going on. It is the safest course for these young players.

Finally, while I understand the mom's concern for her daughter. This referee should file the criminal charges, and follow up with a civil suit. Overly litigious? Maybe, but this parent needs to understand the damage she did by committing assault and battery on a match official to herself, and THE game. This would not be about "revenge" (there is no big pay day here folks), but it is about protecting THE game, and ALL of its participants, even the folks in the funny colored shirts.

It ain't the love bug

Special thanks to Ken for pointing this one out.

Man jailed for driving car at referee

LONDON -- The harshest punishment soccer players can usually expect for berating a referee is a suspension or fine -- not 24 weeks in jail.

But then most players don't respond to the threat of a red card by driving a car on the field and at the official.

Amateur player Joseph Rimmer became incensed by a referee's refusal to award a free kick during a February game between Lonsdale and Harrington in northwest England. Rimmer thought he was about to be penalized by referee David Harkness, so he told him: "If you book me or send me off, you know what will happen." ...

Story continues here, courtesy of ESPN.

Welcome Aboard!

When I was a young(er) National Referee, it was a regular occurrence that we had a tremendous guest speaker opine about aspects of the modern game. One such guest speaker was George Cumming who is an incredible wealth of knowledge, and one I took a tremendous amout away from.

His credentials include (from his blog):

George Cumming was the first FIFA Head of Refereeing and was in charge of refereeing at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korean/Japan. Previously he was Development Director for Referees and Education with the Scottish Football Association from 1988 until 2000. He is presently a Senior Consultant with the Asian Football Confederation.

I have included a link to the blog (George Cumming's Football Blog) in the sidebar. As with the other blog's of note, I would recommend taking the time and reading some of the entries as they are very insightful.

Two recent posts from his blog, FIFA must face up to the corruption charges, and World Cup voting must be public, are clear demonstrations about just how wide spread and vitriolic these charges of corruption are, and how badly FIFA needs to get a good hold of what is happening, and expel any found to have committed any wrong doing.

One of my fears however, is in the process that FIFA "throws the baby out with the bathwater," and punish a party (such as the UK) for being in proximity to the corruption, without being a participant in it.

Integrity Strikes Again

Fabulous article on some history of the refereeing in the US and how FIFA may be finally coming around to suggestions made, a long time ago.

You heard it here first (from Ed)

For several years we have been stressing certain concepts and techniques relating to soccer referee officiating and its instruction, training and evaluation. Some of these have been reasonably well accepted within the refeeeing community, but others, such as our recommendations for movement and positioning, not so. Some others have met with outright rejection in certain quarters, notably in the refeeeing hierachy of the MLS. So it was satisfying to read an article written recently by Héctor Vergara. (The article can be seen here) ...

Full article continues here, courtesy of For the Integrity of Soccer.

NFL to take a play out of the MLS playbook

I am shocked ... and this is not sarcastic play.
I am genuinely shocked.

The NFL just now is deciding to have a weekly conference call with its officials to discuss points of emphasis, as reported here by ESPN.

My very first reaction was, "you mean these guys were not doing this already?"

My very next though was how reactive this was given the several incidents that occurred in the last couple of weeks on the grid iron. My thoughts went then to the above though that I was surprised it has not been done before.

Wash - rinse - repeat.

Since MLS was around, referees, and in some cases ARs, have a weekly call to discuss the previous week, and to hear any additional points of emphasis for the following week.

It was not uncommon for an individual referee to have to explain an incident to the whole of the call as to what happened and the "behind the scenes" and why.

These were excellent calls, and I can speak from experience they were very humbling when it was my turn (yes I was indeed called on the carpet once) to stand up and explain how I screwed up and how it could be done better for the next referee.

Let me repeat, I am shocked the NFL is not doing this.

While I am at times critical of US Soccer, this is an area in which they shine ... and outshine the NFL. Instructional material.

For those who have not done so, visit the Week In Review, and poke around. Now THAT is instructional information. Paul, Herb, and the National Staff do an excellent job of preparing this information for general consumption.

So what compares for the NFL?

A simple recitation of the rules, no interpretation, no outreach, no nothing that I can see.

With the tens of billions of dollars that the NFL is worth, I am glad to see they putting some of that money to good use, and holding a weekly conference call for their referees ... now. Something the much less funded US Soccer and MLS has done over ten years ago, and continue to do today.

Better late the never I guess. I do wonder however what else the NFL can learn from MLS?

Just throw the flag

Simple is better.

I have felt that way most of my life about just about everything. In fact when I find myself trying to over-complicate things, my approach is to break it down into smaller, more manageable chunks to deal with.

During the day on Sunday I was watching week 7 of NFL games in earnest to wait for the first big helmet to helmet hit to see what the referees were going to do. I saw no such hit.

I did see a bunch of good legal hits, and even ones that I would have considered "on the edge." There was one trend I did notice however, the celebration of the defensive player who made such a hit, regardless of the gain that had just occurred.

This was odd to me, celebrating just tackling someone. Now I can see a sack being celebrated (tackling the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage when they are in possession of the ball), or a play that results in a turnover or similar possession change. But just a run of the mill tackle with such celebration?

It got weirder ...

After watching a few games I noticed that more than a few touchdown celebrations were very muted. A team that just scored, really did not celebrate.

Why?

I wonder if it is the NFL's current policy on "excessive celebration" that has something to do with it? Now I agree, there was a point in time when things were a bit out of control. Take TO's "sharpie gate" for one. It is tough to argue that end zone celebrations were going a bit too far, but has the NFL gone too far in instructing referees to decry ANY such activity?

Compare with today's game and the hits that are leveled on players, and the accompanying celebration. Is THAT going too far in the wrong direction? My answer is yes.

Today NFL referees are being asked to decide metaphysical questions regarding helmet to helmet hits. Did he mean it? What was the intent? All of this at warp speed.

My solution is simple to put a little sanity back in the game. If a player excessively celebrates after tackling another, penalize them for excessive celebration.

Still bust them for the helmet to helmet stuff, but also take some time to prevent the seeds of those types of hits from growing, by getting everyone to calm down, just a little.

Throw the flag.

Know before you go & the Law 7 fandango

I was first introduced to this particular phrase when I started flying small planes (yet another soccer story unto itself as I was introduced by current Massachusetts SRA, Andy Weiss). It refers to the fact that a pilot needs to know about the destination, and the route in between, before you even set foot on the tarmac. To do otherwise invites disaster. Over this last weekend I experienced such a scenario that illustrates this point, and how it was affected by the Laws Of The Game (LOTG). While it was not a disaster by any means, in another match, at another level, it would have been.

As we have discussed before, the LOTG allow for variation of the Laws themselves only in certain situations, they include:

• Size of the field of play
• Size, weight and material of the ball
• Size of the goal
• Duration of the periods of play
• Substitutions

Further modifications are only allowed with the consent of the International Football Association Board.

In this particular match (U-10), the referee played a 25 minute first half. The modified LOTG call for a 30 minute half. Here's when the interesting stuff happened.

To this referee's great credit, they thought they had made a mistake, and asked how long we typically played. While this had the effect of demonstrating to everyone that the referee was not sure about how much time was to be played, it also had the effect of a referee who genuinely wanted to do the right thing.

At this point the referee after playing 25 minutes, informed us that we were going to play a 30 minute second half.

I had to bite my lip a little.

Why? Because Law 7 requires "two equal periods". An excellent explanation is here at Ask A Soccer Referee.

So what could have the referee done, when they learned about the correct timing of the match to keep with the laws?

Play the rest of the first half.

This may sound weird, but to adhere to the laws and the rules of the competition, you have to march the teams back out from halftime and play the remainder of the first half. Then, and only then, can you begin the second half.

If you just begin the second half, and play equal periods (in this case another 25 minute half), then you breach the rules of competition by not playing the correct length match. This may give rise to a merited protest as well at it has nothing to do with the discretion of the referee. Not good.

If you extend the second half to the right duration (in this case a 30 minute half), then you breach Law 7 regarding "equal periods." As before, this may give rise to a merited protest as well at it has nothing to do with the discretion of the referee. Not good - again.

From this there are (2) things to keep in mind:

1. Know the rules of the competition BEFORE you take the field for a match.
2. Understand that Law 7 requires "equal periods", (this does exclude any extra time of course). Half, means half.

When in doubt, do what this referee did ... just ask. Be sure to do so BEFORE the first whistle though.

From the mouth of babes

Jr. and I were on our way to some event the other day and we were talking about his upcoming matches at the local indoor soccer facility near our town. He was generally excited, but stopped for a second, mid-description, and said something that make me think.

Jr.: You know what I really like about playing indoor?
PK: Because its fast paced?

Jr.: Nope. It's because of the referee. The one with the glasses.
PK: Really? What about him?

Jr.: He's very nice and takes time to help us when we have a question.
PK: Don't other referees do that?

Jr.: No. Only him so far.

Now I sat back and thought about all those youth matches I did, and wondered how those players perceived me. It was again a reminder that those little sponges out there are picking up on everything going on, and are taking notes along the way. Jr. has not seen this particular referee (who is really a nice guy) for almost a year, yet described him clear as a bell. Amazing.

It was also clear that the youth referee holds a particular responsibility in this regard as well, not only as ambassador of the game, but also teacher, as those little minds are looking to us as referees for how we treat the game, and its participants, in our position of authority.

I urge us all to teach them well. After all, they are the future of the game we all hold dear.

Then and Now

From an earlier post I opined that the route the modern referee takes is very different from the way a previous generation referee was trained.

[Editor note: I dare not say "older referee" as (1) I am turning into one before my very eyes, and (2) there are some of these legendary referees who read this blog and would not hesitate to take me out to the woodshed should I use that term =)]

While referees in how they are brought up through the ranks has changed, what about the game?

Well here is a very interesting article that opines that some older legendary players, would not have made it in todays game as to some the game in turning into a non-contact sport.

Harris: Moore would incur modern refs' wrath

LONDON - Even England's 1966 World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore, who turned tackling into an art form, would fall foul of modern referees, former Chelsea defender Ron Harris said on Tuesday.

"Bobby was the greatest tackler there was but if he had been playing today he would have been getting cards all over the place, week in week out," Harris, whose uncompromising approach in the 1970s earned him the nickname "Chopper", told Reuters in an interview. ...

The full article is here, and provides an interesting opinion about where the game may be going, courtesy of fourfourtwo.com.

Is it worth it?

I am very lucky. I was one of the generation of referees who was given the glorious opportunity to traverse the entire spectrum of matches in the United States from local youth matches, to professional (MLS) and international matches.

Those referees who came before this generation were not given the opportunity to experience the youth game in the US but largely came from the ranks of ethnic league matches, which in their own right served as excellent preparation for the professional (NASL) and international game.

Both routes have their merits and have produced exceptional referees such as David Socha, Angelo Bratsis, Jen Bennett, and Tom Supple. Currently however, there is a particular purgatory that every youth referee making their way through the ranks must endure. It is the often surreal dealings with the youth fan(atic).

This single topic alone would take up chapters of books I will write some day about my experience and those of my peers who had to struggle as a youth, and a youth referee, to find their way through the fog of youth sports.

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe soccer is unique in this respect as adults in all youth sports seem to loose their marbles at times. Nor do I believe that all adult participants are responsible for such behavior as I have had so many more positive experiences than very negative ones. The issue of course is that the very negative ones leave a much stronger and lasting impression.

Recently I was reintroduced to a long time friend of THE game, Paul Levy, who in his blog, Running A Hospital (now linked at right also), wrote an excellent article, entitled "Dear Coach", about just how wide an effect such conduct can have on the participants of a match, not just the referee. From the article:

Dear Coach,

I was refereeing your team's game yesterday afternoon in the Natick Columbus Day soccer tournament. (This was eleven-year-old boys.) You didn't like one of the calls I made, the one awarding a penalty kick to the other team. You demonstrated this, first, by throwing your clipboard energetically on the ground and yelling. Even after the kick was taken -- and missed -- you loudly yelled out to me across the field in complaint. ...

I implore you all to read this as it eloquently details the plight of the youth referee today and what they must endure for the sake of a group of children trying to have fun playing a game. The blog itself is excellent also, and provides a wealth of information on a variety of topics I am finding fascinating.

So from all of this I have one question to ask and answer for the youths growing up as youth soccer referees across the United States: Is it worth it?

My answer: An unequivocal Yes.

Your question: Why?

Well, that too could take up chapters of books I have yet to write, about how soccer can be transformative to life itself and provides such tremendous opportunities to learn some life lessons that so often are never realized without that spark to do so. THE game provides that spark.

To be sure, these are heady topics, and ones that were furthest from my mind as a teenager trying to do their best at managing a group of children playing a game, while reconciling the truly brutal affronts of some adults who were maligning all the participants for their efforts. I do not believe my teenage situation to be unique, this is happening all over the world.

This is the fog of the youth game today. This is the plight of the youth referee.

It is not the end of the story however. There are ways through the fog. Family, friends, and a host of communities such as the refereeing community itself. There are those out there who have been through the fog and want nothing more to help others do the same. I urge you to take advantage of those people. They can help.

For me I also found solace in a birthday card my dad gave to me. To this very day, it makes me stop and think about how to get through that fog. I offer it here for any in the fog of the youth game today.

If - Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Byron Moreno Follow Up

Kicking back comments:

There are a couple of recent developments about this matter reported on earlier. 

First, is the fact that (shock) FIFA is not going to investigate the matter. Why you may ask? Ted Howard the Secretary General of CONCACAF, who also serves of the FIFA referee committee states that the referee committee is not an investigative body.

Now lets see, it has been stated that this referee was "ordered" to throw the ITA-KOR match and that corruption at the highest levels is going on, implying that FIFA referees are being corrupted, yet they won't investigate? Let's reflect briefly back to the World Cup this year. How many times was there an incident, and how many times was there an investigation? I would opine each, and every. Investigations at times ended a referees career. FIFA sees no issue investigating there.

Now, to be fair Howard may have meant any outside the field incidents such as this could not be investigated. But that too holds little water as FIFA at least sent a letter to North Korea to "investigate" if the North Korean World Cup team was being treated humanely.

Or it just may go under the adage that you can't find what you don't seek.

See a story here, that details some of these facts, courtesy of Goal.com.

Second, is how Mr. Moreno is doing in prison, and what continues to be a difficult road.

Byron Moreno Denies Trying To Commit Suicide & Receives Prison Counselling Following Drugs Arrest
The former referee Byron Moreno is receiving counselling in prison, but did not attempt suicide.

The former referee from Ecuador, infamous for his World Cup 2002 exploits in the match between South Korea and Italy, was arrested at John F. Kennedy airport, New York, for allegedly being in possession of six kilograms of heroin on September 21. ...

See the full story here, courtesy of Goal.com.

Did you hear that Sound(ers)?

AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

Congratulations to the 2010 Open Cup Champion Seattle Sounders who repeated as Open Cup champion with a 2-1 victory in front of about 32,000 fans at Qwest Field in Seattle.

Congratulations also for the refereeing team who did quite an excellent job to see this tournament to a fitting conclusion; Michael Kennedy, Tom Supple, Paul Scott, and Ricardo Salazar.

See one account here, courtesy of ESPN.

Tamberino stepping down from U.S. Soccer

Referee director Tamberino stepping down from U.S. Soccer

Craig Stouffer

It's got to be a bit ironic that a bit of non-D.C. United news that recently landed on my desk given the events of the D.C. United/Houston match earlier this evening. Nevertheless, here goes: U.S. Soccer director of referee development Paul Tamberino informed his colleagues this week via email that he will resign effective Dec. 1. An email to Tamberino seeking comment was not immediately answered. ...

See the blog post here, courtesy of the Washington Examiner.

Kicking Back Comments:
While I have not dipped into this story too much yet, this would qualify as a fairly significant shake up to MLS and US Soccer from a refereeing perspective. While no program is run by one man, Paul has been one of the familiar faces for some time.


More on this one to come as we close out this era. Early signs show caution in many for what is to come in 2011.

Boooooooooooooooooooooo

Photo courtesy markstivers.com

So there I was at the Revolution match the other night when they again seemed to implode near the end. At a point in the match there was a call that went against the Revolution, and a chorus of "Boooooo's" went out. My son who I was with at the match joined in and started to yell "boo" as well.

A brief yet interesting conversation broke out between us at that point.

PK: Why are you booing?
Jr.: Because everyone else is.

PK: Do you know why they are booing?
Jr.: No. Maybe because of the call the referee made.

PK: What was that call?
Jr.: I dunno. Handball?

PK: No. Did you see what happened?
Jr. : Nope.

PK: Then why are you booing?

From there just go to the top and repeat the loop a couple of times and you will get the flavor.

Point is that looking around not many people had much of an idea what had actually happened and how the referee handled it just right, regardless (irregardless in some parts of the country) of the reaction from the fan(atics).

Being a referee take a pretty thick hide, and an ability to filter the right protests to be considered for action. Everything else can be passed off as just noise.

Take heart dear refereeing friends, the next time you hear a chorus of complaints from a large group, it just might be because a group of lemmings just jumped off a cliff together. If you are doing your best, and think you got the call right, keep going. If you follow the lemmings, you take the chance of having your match go off a cliff, just like they did.

They Should Have Sent A Poet

Kicking Back is refraining from comment except to thank the provider of this article.

Soccer referee arrested in traffic incident

METHUEN — A soccer referee on his way to officiate a game at the Tenney School field was arrested after he refused to stop for a police officer and yelled obscenities Wednesday afternoon, police said.

School Resource Officer Michael Farelli was assisting the crossing guard with the lower school dismissal on Pleasant Street about 3:15 p.m. when an SUV driven by a man later identified as Joel Silverman, 55, of Nashua, N.H. pulled next to him and yelled out the window "who the (expletive's) car is this and why is it parked there?" ...

Full story continues here, courtesy of the Eagle Tribune.

NBA: Referee's Don't Count

The NY Times ran a piece the other day here talking about how the NBA intend to reign in players whining and in general carrying on in front of everyone when they may disagree with a decision from the referee.

I whole heartedly agree with the decision to do so as with any game, if it is not attractive to the spectators, there is a problem they need to resolve as it gets in the way of making money.

I can recall a similar problem a few years back in the "D League". There were some players who would get carried away, or even as a normal part of their lexicon would use the word "f*$k", as both an adjective and verb in every possible conjugation they could think of. The best of course when they used it as both parts of speech in the same sentence.

This had the predictable result of insulting the family of (4) who paid $30 of so to see a match on a nice summer evening on the cape ... for example.

This led to the predictable result of the league requiring the referees to be more stern about the language used by players and there was an expectation we would deal with it ... or the league will deal with us.

I have to admit, it did get better for a time, with the occasional slip that rang the top of the rafters. Over time it became more engraved to the players to just not do that ... and they responded well. I have my doubts personally about how the NBA players will react, but I guess we will see this season.

Where I laughed out load is in this part of the article:

League officials decided to crack down based on feedback from owners and market research.

While I agree this is a critical aspect of such a business, how about the abuse to the referees and respecting them as participants? How about respecting the game and not acting like a cry baby on steroids when something does not go your way? It takes market research and owners losing money to move the needle for something like this?

Yipes. I guess gone are the days of doing the right thing for the right reason. Generally it would seem our decisions are based on poll questions, and not a collective compass we have to keep our actions true.

We shall see how this one unfolds and how the NBA responds to the first sign of trouble.

I would opine the NFL has already summarily failed that test with allowing the Jets to allow Braylon Edwards a free pass on his recent DUI incident, as apparently there is no suspension on a first offence, regardless of how drunk a player was at the time of operation. Oh yeah, he's not being allowed to start on Sunday. I guess that counts.