Exactly one week after doing a Boys Varsity game in clear skies and 93 degrees, I am back at the same location and it’s 55, and blowing a gale, with a steady driving rain for girls varsity game. Some gems: Visiting coach to her right back( who is rubbing her eyes) right before kickoff: will you please forget about your makeup! I’m not, coach. Oh, you totally are. Halftime, visiting ‘keeper tells me that there is standing water in her goal area. “Well, at least you won’t have to stand there the second half”. Lightbulb goes on. (It wasn’t that bad.) And, the home center back keeps asking me every 4 minutes or so how much time is left. I jokingly tell her not to ask anymore and it will go faster! Home team has 2-0 lead, but visitors with the wind score two late goals. We are headed for overtime, but a last minute home goal sends us to our cars to crank up the heat for the short ride home.
Uh....back in '84 that was my go to wake up tune @ 6AM for my 2 son's HS match day. My nearest neighbor was 100+ yards away so I'd crank up the decibels. I did get a call once when Police Chief happened to drive by.
You must have been the inspiration for that Ozzy Osborne commercial where he claims that he's always telling his teenagers at home, with their loud music, "Turn that shit up!!!!"
I hear a few HS teams warming up to Hip Hop songs that barely resemble music (and get off my lawn!), but the most amusing one was the visiting team that brought a big boom box to the stands, cranked up "Wagon Wheel", and proceeded to sing along with the recording as they warmed up. So rock me momma like a wagon wheel Rock me momma any way you feel Hey, momma rock me...
Thanks! That's one song I don't mind having stuck in my head, and happily it knocked over whatever monstrosity it was that got fed in there at the barbershop this morning. ... like a southbound train.
Had AC/DC Back in Black yesterday. Thought it was for the refs. You can always tell, when the coaches choose the music: Oldies Rock. Versus the players: Rap. I am never sure who chooses that Eminem song I hear all the time... It came out in 1999....? Don't really care what it is, just make it low enough that we can have a pre-game. ffs
G16 game, next to a G10 game. Ball goes out onto other field. G10 player ignores her own game and chases our ball to bring it back. My players, from opposing teams, talking to one another. "She's so cute!" "She's so little." "Ahhh, so cute." (no, as you may imagine, my game was not a particularly high level G16 game . . .
Was getting ready to do a HSBV game the other day. Get to the field and sure enough, the tunes are pumping thru the crackly old speaker system at a pretty decent volume. Loud enough to make this defref stuggle with talking to partner and coaches. Head over to visiting team bench to greet coach and get roster and he is messing around with what turned out to be some kind of music player with surprisingly good speakers. I am standing there for at least a full minute waiting for his attention, and then boom, more semi musical noise for our listening pleasure. All this with about 7 minutes remaining until kickoff. His team proceeded to lose easily, but at least they got their tunes......................
The one where his palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti he's nervous but on the surface he looks calm and ready to drop bombs? Never heard it... Try being in WI where they love their football teams professionally so we have to "Jump around" at Every. Single. Match. SERENITY NOW! Anyway, had a great HSBV match last night. Raining the entire ride to the field, and the walk to the tent they had set upby scorers table. As I blow whistle for Captains and coaches, the rain stops. And stayed stopped for the entire match (well, a lite sprinkle around 40th minute). I was CR and heard not once but TWICE compliments from players. One kid was holding back another player and as I blew my whistle players from the fouling team said "Yea, that was a foul". Then later, a tussle for the ball in the box and attacker goes down after a good tackle from the defender, I give a big "safe" signal and continue up as the attacker gets up with his arms raised in the air, his teammate say's "There was nothing there Sam!" home team won easily, both coaches and players came up to us after and thanked us for a great game. I might just do this again....
Not just your games: from a 2015 article (https://observer.com/2015/08/lose-yourself-is-the-most-timeless-song-on-spotify/, data at https://pudding.cool/2017/03/timeless/index.html) the song from the pre-2005 era played in the heaviest rotation on Spotify was Eminem’s Oscar-winning anthem “Lose Yourself,” with over 59 million plays. I also remember reading somewhere that it's the most common song on Spotify running playlists, but I don't know how that would be compiled... (I ran to it this morning!)
Since reading your post, I have plagiarized that line no fewer than six times in both HS and youth matches. It's simple and memorable. Thank you! And, yes, even had *two* coaches say, "Oh. I understand now!"
The fine line we walk. Me: Chirp..."free kick to green." Cantankerous teen: "I had him beat.. I'm better than him. Wait next time. 15 mins passes Me: Chirp..."free kick to green." Cantankerous teen: "You gotta call that earlier!!" Just sayin'.....
Let me guess the earth wind & fire song it was September? to add to this list. I do coed indoor on Mondays sometimes, this past Monday I did a match with a kid (probably 23-24) who had a Piper at the Gates of Dawn shirt (very nice)... he was telling his teammates "it was the only black shirt I had that was clean". Most of them wear black athletic shirts not band tee's. At halftime I ask him if he was a DSotM or The Wall type of guy and we had a 5 min chat why WYWH is better than The Wall and why Dark Side is superior... btw he said he liked The wall better (kids these days smh).
I didn't hear this one directly, but AR2 did. I'm the fourth official for a fall State Cup group game (Iowa does U15-U19 State Cup in the fall because boys and girls play high school in the spring). It's 50 degrees with a strong wind, so I'm wearing tracksuit pants and a USSF referee half-zip over my regular uniform along with a hat and gloves. As any good fourth will do, I'm offering some soft signals to help with possible deflections on out of bounds plays. One parent from the team with an obnoxious assistant coach and mouthy parents (including a guy wearing a referee uniform - we are trying to identify him so we can remind him of the code of ethics regarding criticism of fellow officials) were saying, "How come there's a guy with a clipboard overruling the center?" Needless to say, not a lot of people on that team are overly educated on what a fourth official is.
And Animals is better than them all... But I actually enjoy TFC so maybe my opinion may be moot. And of course an Angst teen thinks The Wall is better, don't you remember riding around the roller skating rink cruising past teachers screaming "We don't need no education!" Anyone?? Anyone?? Bueller?
So this is definitely not 'best story of the week,' and I only heard about it, so this is as fitting a place as any. JV2 dual. One referee makes a mistake about a drop ball restart. His partner corrects him but the head coach just won't let it go. Coach needs a caution for dissent. The referee who made the mistake calls his partner over to tell him that he needs to show the coach a yellow. Turns out, the first referee did not put his cards in his pockets before the game! Unfortunately, things continued to slide from there, with the assistant coach, who is the son of the head coach, getting into it at this point (taking over for dad) and he gets one caution and then another. All cards "given" by the first referee but shown by the second. First referee explains to the assignor "I didn't think I'd need cards in a JV2 game!" And all of this over a drop ball. SMH
Things you don’t want to hear: “you need arthroscopic surgery” I had an MRI back in August and was diagnosed with a meniscus tear in my left knee. I opted for a cortisone shot at the time but the relief only lasted 6 weeks rather than the hoped for 3-4 months. Today I didn’t get that option. So I get a clean out Friday and will be out 2 months. The hope is nothing unexpected comes up during the scope and that rehab goes well and I can start back in late December just in time for HS.
@mathguy ref, sorry to hear that. Have you bought a floppy hat so you can engage in coaching/assessing during you new found down time?
Sorry to hear that. Hope procedure and recover goes smoothly. Had that last December on opposite knee. Only had to remove about 1/3 of the inner pad and clean out all the "sawdust" in the joint. Dr. said I'd likely torn it decades ago given the problems I'd had over the years then ripped it further at the start of the '18 season - a not-so-graceful aerial attempt over an 6 yr old ball boy who'd wandered into my line on a breakaway... Turns out I can fly, but can't land... He said 2-10 weeks recovery & rehab... Yeah, maybe it's 2 weeks for an 18 year old! Mine was at the other end of the estimate...
It has been suggested that he can use crutches to get to the circle of excellence and call a great game from there. The sympathy factor might make his MBB games smoother.
I always used to do the "looking like an I" line with the U10s until one smartalec said "looks more like a D". ... Was I wrong in giving him a red card before the game?