This is a dual best story. 1) Youth season has started, I've done 11 games (enough to qualify me for selection to regionals) and I've had 3 coaches tell me "I can sub when they sub on their throw-in if the other coach agrees." I'm going to ask the next coach that tells me that where he heard it because I can quote the sub rules for the USYS games here in South Texas because I read them before every set of games. 2) I gave a red card in a HS game to a player for stepping on an opponent. "In the 62nd minute, [white #3] fouled an opponent just outside his defensive penalty area. After play had stopped, [white #3] looked down at the opponent on the ground and stepped on the opponent's leg just below the knee. I showed [white #3] a red card disqualifying him for violent conduct." The foul he committed, he was beat and tackled the yellow attacker pointy ball style, two arms around the waist from behind and drag down. It would have been his second yellow. Just to top it all off, one of his teammates passes by and says, "I suppose that's not your fault either." He had been upset that the card count was 4-1 against his team up until that point.
Did you have a prior conversation with this player? Perhaps this is a case of YHTBT but for me that comment probably would have changed the count to 5-1. "If you guys keep earning them I'll keep giving them. Here's yours."
Absolutely, 100%, that is a red card, without question! Any comment that calls into question my integrity is going to get a red card. Call me a "cheat", a "homer", anything like that, and your match is finished. If we tolerate things like this, they will continue, and get even worse. However, if you punish this type of action, then it sends a message to others that those types of comments are unacceptable.
It would have been his second and I didn't see getting anything out of it. I believe I've said here that I don't really like dissent cards and if the player is going to be leaving permanently for it, it had better be in the area of foul and abusive.
Ah yeah I wouldn't really want that to result in a send off either. I would be temped to give him some rope though. "Excuse me? You trying to earn a one way ticket out of this game?" while reaching into my pocket. It is dissent and I don't like the idea of ignoring it completely.
He didn't commit anymore reckless challenges, he just decided to run his mouth more than was strictly necessary. The problem with most of the team was they were smart enough to know when they were beat, but not smart enough to pull out of the challenges after they were beat. 3 of the 5 cautions were for SPA with the talker getting a yellow that was both reckless and SPA and the final one going to the only defender who wouldn't commit the late challenge, for FRD when he took 3 big steps forward on a free kick. Long story short, they were typical HS players who were undisciplined, weren't used to having the rules enforced properly, didn't learn from their teammates mistakes, and barely learned from their own mistakes.
OK, my best story is tonight for the first time in my career I succeeded in actually clearing -- and I mean clearing -- a field for a lightning delay. Four teams and coaches and maybe 100 or so spectators, off the field, off the track, outside the fence and back in the buses and cars. I whistled and hollered and hollered and whistled at 'em until not a creature was stirring. And then we sat, and I reset my 30-minute delay timer, and reset it again, and again, and again, and again. And again. And finally everybody went home.
Not sure if this should go in best story or things we hear but... We were doing the coin toss for a HS girls game and the center referee was about to launch into a speech when he's interrupted by one of the captains who points at me and asks, "Are you on TV? Like, a news anchor or something?" And I, ever ready with the witty repartee, said, "Whut?" She continued by saying, "Because you look like you could be a TV guy." I said, "Uh.. no, I'm not. But I have had a lot of people tell me I look like Kurt Russell." That got me a blank stare from everyone so I added, "Well I get Patrick Swayze more from the younger crowd." and all the captains were like, "Oh!" Then awkward silence from all of us. The best part is it derailed the stupid speech that the CR was going to give. But my partners called me Patrick or Newsman the rest of the night.
Huh ... widespread misuse of "peruse" had not previously come to my attention in my perusing. Is that happening too? I have to say the current trend of inappropriately substituting "comprise" for "compose" is driving me nuts ... it's almost as bad as the way people are using "myself." And "and I." Something happened along the way to make them terrified of the word "me." Don't get myself started.
The one that came to my mind was presently - as in a short time in the future. "The doctor will be with you presently. At present he is treating another patient."
Not in my neighborhood. I hear "me and xxxx" used as the subject of a sentence on a daily basis. And xxxx is hard to pronounce too.
Ah, the five-minute pregame speech. Especially wonderful when the schedule on that field is already a few minutes behind. But now you know who'll play you when Marvel makes a film about ARs.
It is not all that surprising that a referee would be a prescriptivist, but you should just relax and become a descriptivist. For the record, I still make mental judgments about people who misuse "comprise".
He’s pretty cool live. Hope you got to catch him. Got to see him away from his Vegas residency a couple years ago. And of course took my mum to see him on his farewell yellow brick road!
I just got assigned a U19 rec game for this Saturday, which is somewhat surprising because last year an email was sent out that said that you had to be 20 or older to do a middle on these games. There were numerous issues in this specific age group last year, and the police were called more than once. I had a middle last year and it went fine with no issues. I’m just wondering what approaches all of you take when you go into a game knowing that the players will disrespect you off the bat (whether it be because of size, weight, or age)?