Steve Smith NFL Practice Ref

Enjoyed that quite a bit. Especially his bit about learning how hard the refereeing is and how much responsibility has to be juggled by an official. That was quite an admission for a player.

It also interestingly highlights that former players from that level may have some attributes in reading the play and understanding the players that non-NFL player refs might have, but also some of the pitfalls that they get into as well and why the pro refs are the pro refs (little things like... stop the clock because he wasn't touched that is easy to overlook as a casual observer/untrained eye, even if you played).

 

I cannot imagine how hard it is the referee in the nfl. For my money by far the most difficult sport on the planet to referee from the physicality speed and number of players. The only thing that may be harder is balls and strikes.

 

Maybe... but I think water polo looks hard. Maybe that's because I don't know what I'm watching, but it looks cool. How to call underwater fouls though...

 

They also have seven officials on each game.
If they tried it with three, I might agree with you.

 

Back in the early '50's, University of San Francisco had an undefeated football season. They were invited to the Cotton Bowl, but they were told to leave their black players behind. The team voted unanimously not to go. Three of the black players on that team are now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, one as a referee. I'm not sure, but he may have been the first black referee in the NFL.

The school dropped football the next year. I believe they have shirts now that say "University of San Francisco football. Undefeated since 1953." (I apologize in advance if I got the year wrong.)

 

This doesn't really say much about how the NFL recruits their referees when we're impressed that a back judge can actually run.

 

The Steve Smith video that is originally posted for this thread, the referee he is working with was a fomer NFL defensive back, so I assume some of them can really run.

 

Yes, I was aware. You would think there would be more guys like this out there.

My point being that we aren't impressed when Chris or Tori Penso are keeping up with fit players in a 90 minute match, because the expectation is that they should be able to when they get to the professional level.

In the NFL, it's going to be guys who are older, slower and farther from the reception on a play like this one. The NFL did not modernize compare to other sports with fitter, younger referees.

 

Football like soccer is going towards having officials be closer to the athletes they are officiating in terms of look and fitness.

Frankly, they want good looking in shape men out there.

Just go to YouTube and pick out any college football bowl game from the 90s. Its a bunch of out of shape fat guys announcing the penalties.

It's really all sports. The days of fat middle aged men being baseball umpires, football officials, basketball referees, and soccer officials are over.

Even baseball which was notorious for having umpires with bellies hanging out is having slim, lean, and even jacked officials.

Some of it is a little ridiculous. You're a baseball umpire, not a weight lifter. Cut back on the protein shakes and gym time.

 

But that is changing slowly. They still have to retire out the current generation, but the newer referees are all slimmer, more in shape and more jacked.

 

The challenge is what they do with a guy who's no longer fit, but this is his job.

 

It was worse than just bellies hanging out needing a wheelbarrow to carry them.

Erig Gregg was obese and died at age 55 of a stroke. Ken Keiser looked like an old-school pro wrestler. I have no idea how he lived to age 72.

 

There was an official that had a heart attack on a Cincinnati Reds game in the 90s that ended up dieing on the way to hospital.

 

In this most recent example its not 'fitness', it was the speed that the guy could keep with an NFL receiver. Not many can do that. Very few referees can be step for step with a fast winger in a top league.

I often tell/joke with the players when I'm doing the adult, college-level, even U-19 game, you guys have me on the sprint, but I'll still be standing at minute 90

 

On April 1, 1996, the opening day of the 1996 Major League Baseball season, McSherry suffered a fatal heart attack while calling a game in Cincinnati.

 

In 2019, I was an AR for a DIII women's game at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY. I had trouble getting on campus because there was a football game right before the soccer game because one of the officials had a heart attack during the game. The road through the college is a one way street that loops around the campus and was blocked while ambulances were getting in. We shared the same locker room as the football officials, and they came in while we were getting ready. They had to consult their rule book to figure out how to officiate with one less personnel on the field!

 

put him in management or in the booth.

 

My uncle had a heart attack taking the state fitness test ~15 years ago. He'd easily passed the NISOA test the week before, but the intervals were too much for 2.5 blocked arteries. There were two doctors running the test at the same time and they saved his life. He got kicked out after his second session of PT because he was too fit. Something about insurance malpractice.

I actually got a PCP a couple of years ago and went specifically to get a referral to get my heart checked because my uncle's father also had some form of heart disease. I was told, nothing that a cardiologist would do would be different from the measurements taken in my OrangeTheory classes and it wouldn't be as difficult. If I see changes at class, come back and see her. Good thing I love data and track my heart rate in classes over time.

 

lol, what happened from 5/20 - 6-10? Memorial Day weekend?

 

That 200+ has to be a misreading.

I think I hit 183 once on my bike this year and usually can hit 178 as my max effort. It makes me sad to see my heart rate data now versus 10 years ago.