Instead of officiating a basketball game tonight, I am home watching it snow (and at some point trying out our new electric snowblower). But the last few days have brought out some thoughts about officiating that I wanted to put down – and these will be sorta stream of consciousness which I will at least attempt to separate with paragraphs.

(1) Officials are the absolute last things that anyone thinks about.

Today was a snow day in much of the area and a LOT of games were postponed today. This is also the last week of the girls schedule with many schools starting regionals on Tuesday. So I understand that a lot of schools will be tempted to try to play tomorrow.

And…yet…tomorrow is a Friday, which means a full schedule of boys games (I see 203 of them scheduled for tomorrow). Schools reflexively moved tonight’s games to tomorrow and THEN went about trying to find officials. I’ve seen no less than 13 (THIRTEEN!) games needing officials for tomorrow night – that’s 39 officials if you’d like me to multiply 13 by 3 – and this makes me wonder exactly who would be available to work tomorrow night. This brings me to my second point…

(2) Anyone licensed in stripes is perfectly fine, no matter the game. Until they’re not.

Some big games are being played this time of the season, but so many schools and ADs are simply looking for the first 3 people who reply and say “I can help.” Playing the game at the time they want is the only thing that matters.

I fight against this mindset by STRONGLY encouraging schools to use Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays for makeup games, but schools still insist on saying “well, we’re both open on Friday night” ignoring the fact that every last varsity-level official is probably already scheduled. We’ll find someone, they say. Then those officials work and have no idea how to work 3-person mechanics or how to work a varsity contest well. But they got the game in…

(3) Our schools are only 6 miles apart – of course we’re playing in the snowstorm.

The officials are driving 50+ miles in a snowstorm, but who cares about them? It’s not even that – nobody even *thinks* about them.

I remember a game about 15 years ago when I took a game in SW Wisconsin — we drove 80 miles each way — 25 miles white-knuckled on a county road covered with snow and ice — and managed to arrive 10 minutes before game time. The drive (each-way) ended up being longer than the game. Since then, I’ve decided that I will not drive that far in that weather just to officiate. Get someone local to do it or postpone the game. My car and my safety matter more.

(4) Let’s have another survey!

A national officiating organization is running another survey. It’s the first once since 2017. Here are some predicted results:

(a) The average official is 6 years older.

(b) Officiating is still a seriously white- and male-dominated avocation.

(c) Officials are still quitting on average after 2-3 years.

(d) Kids officiating are being abused on the pitch/court/field.

(e) Adults officiating are being abused on the pitch/court/field.

(f) Officials are severely underpaid – they are averaging slightly higher pay which doesn’t come close to keeping up with inflation.

(g) – (206) — Sorry, I’ve gotten bored with it all.

I’m sure that this survey will yield thousands of responses and that it will lead to breathless speaking sessions and pages upon pages in a magazine, but what it will do, without a doubt, is highlight the negatives officials face, which make the average person think…..why the HELL would I want to do that?

We need to replace all this cynicism with some real change and we do that by making meaningful changes at the grassroots level and in the schools. And I’m not talking about signing a card for the officials or providing a bag of food, although those are nice gestures from the kids, who I think in general are sincere and are trying to be helpful.

(5) Let’s support officials in meaningful ways, shall we?

This week alone, I’ve had to deal with situations including a student section at a game harassing players and coaches from the opposing team as well as parents continuing their quest to become the first people to officiate from the stands with no training or knowledge whatsoever.

Instead of showing appreciation by having kids write a card, how about showing appreciation by proactively removing people who engage in unsportsmanlike behavior? Maybe back up that sportsmanship statement with actions so the officials don’t have to keep themselves from rolling their eyes when it’s read?

Some places do this well. Most don’t.

I hope to write more this spring, when I will be doing far less officiating.