An Oklahoma girls basketball team returned its championship after discovering it actually lost the title game - CBS News
That's great they did that, but in these situations I can't help but think that the outcome would have been much different. It's like when someone claims a PK not called in the 10th minute of a game would have been the game winner instead of a 0-0 score line. No, both teams would have played differently from that point on in the game.
The entire referee crew received a "Thank You" card yesterday from the home team after the coin toss for "International Referee Day". All players names were on it with a gift card. Very touching.
I would have been ok with a coupon for Bausch & Lomb since I use contact lenses during matches. In the interests of full disclosure, it was for Starbucks. By this point, I thought I would be reported to the NFHS for some obscure ruling prohibiting referees for accepting "gifts".
The "Future Games with Issues" in my Arbiter group is completely blank. All assignments for the rest of the season are completely accepted. Sure, the season is almost over, and sure, I'll still get a turnback or two or a weather reschedule, but for just one moment, I can relax.
NJCAA double header yesterday. Good story #1: Weather forecast is for ~40 with on-and-off rain. I get an email in the morning from the AD. They've decided to move the games inside, since they have a field in a dome on campus. yay! "Good" story #2 (in quotes): In the second half of the women's game, I'm pretty sure I ran more getting to the far touch and back, as AR2, than I did during the half. Yikes! Good story #3: The mens game involved two ranked teams, and it was for the conference championship. Fast paced, hard fought. The second half look 65 minutes of "real" time, with clock stoppages for goals, cards, injuries. Game ended 2:0, but the second goal came because the losing team was pressing everyone up for the equalizer. Probably the most entertaining game I've had all year.
I can share this now. Last week I had the pleasure and honor of working with Natalie Simon. After the game one of the others asked if she had something else scheduled yet and the answer was yes, she was going to England. Congratulations to her on being appointed to referee the England v Brazil match in Manchester this past weekend! I get nervous when I work with referees in PRO2. It did NOT get better working with someone good enough to wear a white badge.
In a fluke of turn-backs, I ended up on three games in a row last week as the referee. The last time I was a referee was June 1st on a WPSL scrimmage. The last time I did 3 games as referee in a row was U-11/12 single centers after I got my national AR badge in December of 2023. Heck, the last time I had 2 in a row was May of 2024. It was quite nice to be able to runout my legs in a more controlled fashion. They've gotten quite unbalanced during college season because I've been doing so many games without the time to do enough strength training to counter the imbalances in strength and power use during games as an AR.