Mike,

I realize that recently I have been overly defensive of the bashing that goes on here against officials, but there are a number of reasons why.

1. Most of the talking and bashing has been done on some of the most senior and well respected officials in our state. Now that doesn't speak well for either group in the state ( both spectators and officials ).

Beleive me when I tell you that I don't stand behind some of the calls that are made by officials, as evidenced by my comments regarding the Liberty Nationals tournament that I was at but not involved in that match. What I have found out since I started officating several years ago is I find myself watching other officials on my breaks as opposed to the wrestlers themselfs. I have seen calls that I totally disagreed with. On the other hand I have seen very good calls that the coach totally flipped their lids.

Regarding being the second official in a match. As you may or may not know, the head official of the match is the one that makes a finanl decision to a call. I have conferenced many times regarding some calls, and most of the time they are not overturned. I don't always agree with it but what am I supposed to say? "Hey you are wrong and you are going to change that call right now mister!!!!" It doesn't work like that.

2. What really has been bothering me lately, is all of the complaining is pretty much baseless, people just need a way to vent their frustration and this is the place to do it apprently. I wouldn't mind if people would say things like "I didn't agree with some of the calls that official made" or "I think he may have missed a couple of calls" These are statements I can accept because I know they can happen, I know i've missed calls before. But the only statements I've seen on here are "That ref sucks (horrible, terrible, etc" or " Hes the worst ref I've ever seen"

Case in point, most of the people on here that make stupid blanket statements like that never stop to consider what they are really saying. For example many of the people who saw the Kern-Strawn match now think that official is a terrible official becuase of 1 or 2 calls that he made ( made within the rules, good or bad, doesn't matter ) What these same people haven't stopped to think about is the 140+ good calls he made in those two days, or the 2000+ he made over the course of the season.


I just want people to be a little more considerate of the things they say on here, and make a judgement of an official on the totality of the job they do, not just a few controversial calls, because 99% of the comments made on this board involve those same calls.

One more thing Mike and others, if you don't wish to be ejected from a tournament or otherwise punished just follow that statement that we all know so well. Let the spectators watch, the coaches coach, and the officials officiate.

I will in the future try to cease offering my counter statements to the complaining i know im going to see on here, because it really isn't getting anything accomplished, and those that don't really know probably never will.