[NU Sports] Nebraska vs. TAMU

[Roy S. Lamberton]

Let me pass along some knowledge that I've learned over all the years of Press Box and Coaching.

Here in Seaford, we had a legend of a head coach in charge of the football program. 

The man built and maintained a winning program for what seems forever - My middle son played for him when they won his 300th game.

But he, and later his kids, had one weakness - he always acted as if the refs only called penalties against his team. He would chirp and whine, sometimes it was justified, but most of the time he was just "working the refs" trying to get a call. To be sure, we had our share of upstate refs, who didn't think that little Sussex County could produce a winner, especially over those northern boys, but with a few exceptions, a lot of whining really didn't accomplish much.

Some of his assistants took on the same characteristics, and they used to get penalized for their sideline antics. All they did was cost their team 15 yards, and gave the refs an excuse to ignore things by the other team.

Even today, our team gets called for things that are ignored when the other team does them.

We now joke about refs from the other towns calling our games - but the truth is that for years this one coaching staff acted like they never did anything wrong and that the refs were less than honest in their enforcement of the rules. The kids on today's team are paying for all that ref jockeying.

On a more personal note, I've essentially become Delaware American Legion Baseball's commissioner, and have to rule on the umpire ejections. While a few people think we should have mandatory penalties for an ejection, I drop back to the actual rules of baseball, and make rulings trying to fit what was said to have happened since I can't be at every game, and we don't have video of anything. 

There is a big difference between "bench jockeying" and out and out unsportsmanlike conduct on the field. Talk to any ref or umpire and they will tell you that they expect the bench to vocally disagree with most of their calls, but there is a line between an eject able offense and anything else. There are refs who use ejections or the yellow flag to appear to change the course of a game and that is a problem for the sponsoring league to deal with off the field.

I'll probably have more on this later, but Fitz seems to have a good relationship with the refs, even though he yells a lot. For every shot of him out on the field pleading his case, you get a shot of him laughing it up with the sideline ref. I think most of them respect Fitz and he doesn't seem to be any more passionate than most of his players.

And - as I tell anyone who starts to complain about the refs - you can always go out, take the classes, buy the striped shirt, and get into the game.

rsl 

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Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate & Unix Guru.
Computer Applications & Support Associates
-------------------- Also ----------------------
"Commissioner" Delaware American Legion Baseball
Director Media Relations - Little League 
  Senior League Softball World Series
Retired Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician [R]
Northwestern University - Speech 1974 - 
Chi Phi: Pi 1974, KD 1968
Publisher Emeritus: Purple Reign (Fox Sports)
==========  Go Cats -  Beat 'em All  ===========

"...Then I get on my knees and pray,
WE DON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN!" -- Pete Townsend

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Finally, I agree that coaches are getting out of hand "working" the
refs.  In return for getting the calls reviewed, I think that the refs
should simply start to penalize coaches for walking on the field and
contesting a call.  They certainly do that in baseball and it seems to
work well. If the refs are going to get their judgment calls reviewed,
coaches should just back off and let the review booth do their job.

Jeff