Comments on: THANKSGIVING DAY LIVE SCORING BLOG — Scores & Playoff News

By: jjs

jjs — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:21:48 +0000

Dear RAYRAY and GHSFAN,

The referees do not care who wins the game. At no time is their a bias toward one team or another. Now do refs have friends that coach teams they ref or do they have friends that root for certain teams? Yes. Most refs have played highschool or college sports before they ever got into officiating and they know how important these games are to everybody involved. I had the opportunity to umpire, referee and officiate many high schools games over the years. i have worked with hundreds of other refs and their only concern is to call the game fairly and stay out of the way of determining who wins or loses.

i know many fans don’t see it that way but that is the truth. Do we make bad calls in a game? Yes. But everytime the whistle blows it is an honest call. If the average fan knew how many clinics and workshops these officials go to and the discussions about certain situations that might come up in a certain game or that did come up is mind boggeling. These officials want to go unnoticed in evey game and they all want the same thing- WE WANT THE players TO DECIDE WHO WINS AND WHO LOSES THE GAME.

By: GHS Fan

GHS Fan — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:43:06 +0000

Ray Brown – thank you for your support.
I agree they all have personal agendas. I think everyone has a personal agenda (myself included). Most people are blind to their personal agendas.

Which is why it makes sense to track and analyze refs call over the course of the seasons, and make those tendencies publicly available.

Say (hypothetically speaking) a certain ref has thrown 6 sportsmanship flags in his career – and 4 of them came in the 4th quarter against teams from “Gold Coast” towns – does that say anything? Should the kids playing know that? Should the coaches know that?

Say a certain ref has recieved “excellent” grades from the majority of coaches for whom he has reffed games? Should the fans know this? Should the coaches know this? Should the fans know this?

Believe it or not, I think most of these guys do a good job, and some of them do a great job. It is the nature of the bell curve. However, by sticking one’s head in the sand, and without cold, hard statistical analysis or record keeping or accountability, by insisting that “these guys are underpaid and therefore we should all just appreciate the hard work they are doing”, or the argument “it is only high school football – what does it matter”, etc., the mean in the bell curve will never increase, and Connecticut football is hurt as a result.

By: ray brown

ray brown — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:00:34 +0000

ghs-obviously the refs irk you–its been going on for years——-at the recent naugatuck-ansonia game there were 4 referees from naugy doing the game—there were some mind boggling calls-but i still insist down deep refs,umpires,and officials are partial to theyre favorite teams on all levels-ever see some of the calls the yankees get?your gonna tell me that most umpires werent yankee fans growing up?officials side with the teams they like—–its very hard to get impartial officials because they all have personal agendas

By: GHS Fan

GHS Fan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:44:19 +0000

I do not know which is dumber – the idea that we are paying $600 a game for terrible refereeing, or the idea that no one actually writes down and analyzes the stuff that these guys call at every game, or the idea that people defend terrible judgement calls because the refs are under pressure like everyone else.

How many high school games are played every year in Connecticut X $600 per game?

Hmmmmm – in the FCIAC alone….

15 games per weekend X 10 weekends per year X $600 = $90,000???? AND NOBODY WRITES THIS STUFF DOWN???

Again – I bet it is a few lousy refs who make the same lousy calls – but we will never know, will we?

By: ray brown

ray brown — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:58:12 +0000

now its basically a coference showdown type thing——turkey day games were good,and lets face it there were a lot of great games this year for what was supposed to be a down year———masuk had its one year of glory,ndwh finally comes up with team,ditto for st.joes,the fciac probably the strongest league this year,hamden,shelton,west haven were who we thought they were——davek and mon78 are still waiting for derby to win 7 games in down nvl
montville,conard will be sleepers in playoffs——and as grandpa has
stated the most decorated program in state makes playoffs again———-go chargers

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:22:24 +0000

We can all be rivals during the season, but if we demean each other’s programs in the post season we are only diminishing our accomplishment of being considered the best conference in the state. While Staples absolutely deserves its #1 seed in the LL, if they win it all, which of course I hope they do, I would fine with saying that Central, Greenwich and Ridgefield could have achieved the same thing if given the chance. As for NC, they’ll get to prove their true state talent next year when the state divisions expand; they have dominated their class for years and should have no problems moving up.

By: Bay

Bay — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:35:01 +0000

GHS Fan….until you start officiating games flawlessly, please just SHUT UP about the refs!! These are just regular guys who make less than $100 a game. They feel the same sense of nerves that the players do in front of thousands of fans and have to make split second decisions. As far as keeping statistics on them, I think that since you have thought the idea through so thoroughly, you should volunteer to be the state’s first “official” stat tracker. You will have to collect videotape of every game throughout the state every week and check every officials’ mechanics on every single play. I’m so glad you volunteered to do this for everyone!! This will effectively ruin the deeply plotted conspiracy that every official in CT is in on against the Cardinals. (Disclaimer: I have absolutely nothing against Greenwich or its football program. I just can’t stand it when people think it’s okay to openly insult human beings who are doing something for the good of the game.)

By: NewCanaan4-peat

NewCanaan4-peat — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:52:14 +0000

I watched the replay last night of the Stapes-Greenwich game on t.v. What a great high school football game! Of couse, I was at the NC-Darien game.
Anyway, yes, Greenwich must be doing some things to merit these penalties. It is a poor reflection on the coaching staff. They could have 1 loss if not for these penalties. If they don’t fumble against Central, they are 10-0.
Anyway, I heard a Staples fan on here (Pat Patriot, I believe) he doesn’t want NC to win a state title. Why not? You should root for your league! We are rooting for you, even though I don’t personally THINK you will win it, I HOPE that you do. How can you root for an upstate team you know nothing about over a fellow FCIAC team? Makes no sense. Where is your lague pride.
Having said that, Go RAMS, WRECKERS, and CADETS!

By: MasukRules

MasukRules — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:22:48 +0000

The turkey was not as good as last year.

By: John

John — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:58:28 +0000

GHS Fan – This is an institutional problem and not an officiating one. New Canaan, Staples and the other “big draws” certainly aren’t penalized to that degree. But hire a head coach who’s largely unfamiliar with class and sportsmanship, ignore a few infractions here and there, and you’ll have a program incapable of maintaining discipline in crunch time. Greenwich very well may be a few swear words and insults away from a perfect season. So what? The rules have been clear on this matter for decades…I don’t think there’s anything unique about Greenwich kids’ temperaments or self-control(the parents, on the other hand…), so I’m inclined to blame the staff.