USA Today says referee hit by bottle @GT

This behavior is unacceptable. The "students" that find it "humorous" or "just a part of campus life" should be expelled and prosecuted. Dimwitted, classless & imbecile! To those that sanction this type of crap, may all that's Holy prevent you and I from ever meeting. This has no place.
 
Not condoning it, but when the guy cheats as obviously as he did against Tech, he's sort of asking for it. As for the FSU cheerleaders who came down in front of the end zone to taunt, I only wish people had had better aim. I am sick of the taunting and inept officiating.

I'd suggest USA Today do a balanced article before we get upset over it.
 
GT as well as other schools does not attempt to put any kind of control on alcoholic consumption during the games. I sit in the middle of a bunch of fans who stay drunk the entire game and don’t even try to hide their liquor. It is nothing short of disgusting. It is not a place for my 12 year old to be. It is a shame that I can’t have a family outing because of GT fans that insist on imitating Ugag fans. What I am stating is this activity is not limited just to the students.

I officiate 4 different high school sports and formerly officiated 2 college sports. This type of behavior is totally uncalled for and should be prosecuted to the maximum. The safety of sports officials has reached a point where we are having trouble finding qualified people who are willing to put their lives at risk to officiate a game. We do this out of love for the game, the participants and for the love of officiating. The only way to curtail this activity is to put uniformed police officers patrolling the stands. As the USA Today article stated these are million dollar businesses. They certainly can afford the proper security. I hope GT takes the appropriate actions necessary to put an end to this embarrassing situation.

Originally posted by Father WASP:
Not condoning it, but when the guy cheats as obviously as he did against Tech, he's sort of asking for it. As for the FSU cheerleaders who came down in front of the end zone to taunt, I only wish people had had better aim. I am sick of the taunting and inept officiating.
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<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">Father Wasp, I am shocked and appalled at your comments. To even suggest that an official “cheats, is asking for it, wish people had a better aim,” is nothing short of a terroristic threat which is a felony under Federal law. No professional official ever intentionally cheats. Do they sometimes miss calls? Yes. Did they in the FSU game? I don’t remember any. I did feel that crew (We saw them in an earlier game on the road.) was not one of the stronger crews. While I thought their calls were okay, I did not feel they were mechanically sound. Some fans sitting around me were screaming about a call against GT that happened right in front of our bench. I told them look at the Tech coaches. They aren’t saying a word. That tells you it was a good call. Try this the next time you disagree with a call. Just because the coach is screaming at the official it doesn’t mean it is a bad call. He may just be trying to fire his team up. I have actually ad a coaching tell me I made a good call but he was going to jump up and down and scream just to appease his fans. Also many times fans don’t know or misunderstand the application of the rule. Most radio and TV announcers know even less than the fans. We have to enforce rules that seem unfair but they are the rules and apply equally to both sides.

Father Wasp, I have agreed with you on almost every post you have made. However this time you owe the officials and the fans of GT a huge apology. I can’t believe any class GT fan would wish bodily harm on anyone.
 
Originally posted by OfficiallyBuzz:

I can’t believe any class GT fan would wish bodily harm on anyone.
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<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">No decent person would.
We have some people here who have completely lost perspective on what college football should be. We weren't competing with anyone in brain surgery this year. No lives were on the line out on the gridiron. We were playing games.
 
OfficiallyBuzz - I disagree about the FSU officiating. Replays as well as photgraphs posted indicated the calls were erroneous.

The bad calls were so numerous and of such a nature that I believe that a reasonable person could conclude that they were not an accident.

The bad calls in prior FSU games are also noteworthy.
 
Go back and read my comment. I said I was not condoning it. I asked for a balanced report. I agree with previous poster about drinking during the games, and agree it should be strictly dealt with. My point was year in and year out the officiating is horrible. If you want to go over game by game and review it will be about 10-1 blown calls over those who get it right. Woody Durham tried to interview the head of ACC officials, because this is not just a Tech problem, and got stonewalled and basically blown off by a guy who would not even admit they needed to improve.

My point about cheating I suppose comes from watching not the incompetence of being out of position, blowing calls both ways, etc. but from seeing a guy eyeball what is a clear play and throw is flag. I'd like to think that these guys just came in from another job and are a little rusty, but when I replay in my mind that damn pass interference call that gave Bobo a new set of downs four years ago cheating is the only adjective that describes it. Replays show it wasnt even close.

NO VIOLENCE or LACK OF DECORUM! That being said, good grief guys, let's get some decent officiating some year.
 
The two most obvious bad calls (and they were the most egregious I've ever seen) last week went against UGAg and for us: a false start was not called against us, and our "backward pass" (seems like this used to be called a "lateral"), which Ugag recovered, was ruled an incomplete forward pass.

Winning quiets complaints.
 
Father Wasp I did go back and read your comment. What you said was, “he's sort of asking for it.” There is no way around it. You said he was asking for it. Maybe you didn’t mean that seriously but that is what you said.

As for specific calls I must remind everyone that the angle of view you have on a call determines what you see. You can have ten different angles and see ten different things. An official does not have the advantage of a slow motion or frame by frame replay. Or the luxury of taking the time to think about t. He must make an immediate decision based on the angle he has and make either a judgment call or rule call. He is not always right. Like you at your chosen profession, the coaches, players and everyone else, he has a bad game occasionally. We as fans do not always agree with his call. This is one of the things we love about sports – seconding guessing the coaches, players and officials. It makes for great Monday morning quarterbacking.

As to the level of officiating this year in the ACC. I agree it was not anywhere close to what I have come to expect. I felt their were too many calls missed both ways. I saw crews do things that I personally would not allow happen in youth football. The crew in the FSU game seemed extremely weak. There were way too many extended conferences among the officials on seemly simple calls. In the Duke game we were awarded a touchdown at the front corner of the endzone only after the wing official came from the other side of the field and told the covering official it was good. That call has to be made immediately and without hesitation. It wasn’t even a close call. Early this week I sent a letter to Tommy Hunt and John Swofford at the ACC expressing my opinion. I suggest you do the same.
 
Here's the info to contact John Swofford and Tommy Hunt:

The ACC telephone number is (336) 854-8787. I couldn't find a staff directory nor would the telephone answerer reveal individual numbers. The Website is www.theacc.com.

John Swofford is the Commissioner. His e-mail address is jswofford@theacc.org. His fax number is 336-547-6268.

Tommy Hunt is in charge of football officiating. He lives in Durham and is home on Mondays. His fax number is 336-369-1212. His assistant is Blake Fromen, a female, and her e-mail is bfromen@theacc.org. She said e-mails sent to her would get to Tommy Hunt.
 
I think this issue is very similar to Drunken fans storming the field inevitably leaving a few behind to be hauled off by stretchers.

If you have drunk people then it will be a raucous atmosphere and that is a fact. Just go to any sports bar and take a look around.

It seems our country promotes alcohol and as long as they do this will always be a problem. I suggest you tax it to the point that it would compensate for all the harm it causes.

The second issue is the lack of quality officiating. You have senior citizens out there putting themselves and the players at physical risk.

College officiating should have eyesight, fitness, and awareness requirements. We should pay them more then hold them accountable. If they blow a call lessen there payments.

This is one more are unions have destroyed. Maybe we could get the United Airlines Union people to try to straighten it out.
 
Goldbuzz, thanks for posting the email addresses. I had simply mailed my concerns to the ACC.

I got into officiating because I got tired of what I was believed to be incompetent officials. I discovered a whole new profession that offered rewards beyond my wildest dreams. It takes a lot of hard work, long hours and extreme commitment. The pay is terrible but the satisfaction of accomplishment is beyond measure. I challenge all of the critics to do like me – get off your butts and do something about the perceived poor officiating. Become an official. I will be glad to give you the names of people to contact.

Lawbee, I agree with you about this country’s promotion of alcohol. That will not change. Their lobby is surpassed only by the tobacco lobby.

As to the physical requirements to be an official I believe you would be surprised as to what the requirements are. Most of us could not pass. As to lessening their payments for missed calls that in effect does happen. They have to be reevaluated each year. If they are not capable they aren’t brought back. Also post-season assignments are made based on their abilities during the current season. Think about this. Does your company dock your paycheck every time you make a mistake. No, but it will affect your raises, bonuses and longevity with the company. Same in officiating.
 
My future wife who is a died in the wool Texan could not believe the incompetent officiating in the ACC. She often time remarked about the calls again Tech and the non calls against our opponents(sp). I do not believe an official should no matter how lousy his job on the field should be either physically or verbally abused however, the ACC should step, up review the officals on a weekly basis and take the steps to correct the obvious problems in their job performance.

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My personal opinions:

First, there is absolutely no reason for a person to throw bottles or any object at the referees. Any person found doing this should be presecuted to the limit.

Second, I believe all of the stadiums forbid alcohol beverages at the game. It should be inforced vigorously to protect families with kids, wives, girlfriends, and any fan that wants to watch the game free of beligerent alcohol related actions.

If a person wants to watch and enjoy the game, attend the game without alcohol. If the person wants to enjoy the game and alcohol, go watch it with friends at a bar.

Is there cheating or bias from some of the officials. Officials are like the population in general. I am hoping most have been screened and are honest.

It would be beyond belief to think the occupation is totally free of those connected with the wagering system and, team or conference bias. While the majority as a whole are probably honest, the odds would say there would have to be some falling into the wagering and bias category.

While OfficialBuzz may be one of the good guys, does not mean everyone is above board. However, even if it seemed obvious a given referee was biased or possibly bought out, it is completely wrong to attack the official personally or with objects.

These are the kinds of people who need to be taken from society and placed in jails where they can be with their like kind.

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Ahsoisee, I am going to quit posting and leave it to you. You say it so eloquently.

Been to your town many times to referee football. You guys have good old Southern Hospitality beyond description.
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Gee, OfficialBuzz, I don't quite know what to say, but I appreciate the compliment. My two daughters live in Jackson and my son lives in Spalding County pretty close to the Butts County line.

I am temporarily living behind my youngest daughter, but will probably buy a house in South Henry County close to Butts County.

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OfficialBuzz,

officiating is pretty awful in high school and college because it pays so low...

The refs in the FSU game were horrible. They routinely pushed our receivers out of bounds in the end zone. Never got called. Does that deserve a liquor bottle to the head, no. A dowsing with a full Coke sounds pretty appropriate to me though!!! Hell it cost the fan $4 so its not like he's throwing rotten tomatos...
 
ramblinwise, no wonder people don't want to get into officiating with an attitude like yours. Of course they do make striped shirts in your size and maybe the coke will wash out.
 
In a few more years when I lose my eyesight and ability to reason, I intend to start officiating local high school games...
 
OfficiallyBuzz is right. I referee soccer and it is the same way. Some crews are better than others and evaluation is how it has to be handled. Yes, pay is poor and it is amazing how many people have such a better angle on the play than you do. And we don't have instant replay.
 
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