Basketball officials

[LitlBuck]

While I watch a few basketball games during the week, I often times see an official who did a game the night before in a different city and I wonder how the guy got from the one city where he was the night before to the game in this different city that I was currently watching. It made me wonder how some of these guys who are fairly old, or look fairly old, can do different games in different cities one night after another. It made me wonder how much these guys get paid and how they physically hold up doing so many games in one week.

The following story by Bill Rabinowitz of the Columbus Dispatch is a very good read and now I understand, I think, why guys like Jim Burr, Ed Hightower, and Ted Valentine amongst others should get some rest during the week.

About 11 p.m. last Saturday, Mike Kitts, Ted Valentine and Mike Sanzere finished refereeing an intense Big Ten men's basketball game between Michigan State and Illinois in East Lansing, Mich.

Almost immediately, they hopped into a vehicle with Big Ten associate commissioner Rick Boyages and headed south on I-69. After sleeping in Fort Wayne, Ind., they finished the 250-mile trip to West Lafayette, where Kitts, Valentine and Sanzere officiated the Ohio State-Purdue game at 1 p.m.

Only the most biased Buckeyes fan would contend that officiating was responsible for Ohio State's 13-point loss. But the sight of watching an officiating crew working on so little rest raises questions about whether referees are stretched too thin.

Among some coaches, it's not even a question.

more... http://www.dispatch.com/live/conten...heavy-workload-remains-refs-call.html?sid=101

 

[gracelhink]

Thanks Litl for beginning this thread devoted to Officials.
From the Dispatch site you linked, this piece of info caught my attention.

Boyages said the Big Ten monitors its referees closely. Officials are required to look at a detailed performance review within 24 hours of a given game on a secure website. If an official's performance is deemed unsatisfactory, his schedule can be reduced or eliminated the next season. A ref can be removed from the current season's schedule . . .

One name not included in the list from the Dispatch article is Ed "the show" Hightower. He has only reffed for 3 OSU games this year.
Checking his Statsheet schedule , it appears Hightower has been relegated to games that are not prime time, not nationally televised, and seemingly involve more 2nd level opponents.
His number of games as referee has also dropped from 75+ per year to just 45 in '10/11 with one week and the B10 tourney left in this season.
While Hightower still is a home crowd pleaser, the variance of final scores home vs. away is not as pronounced. Neither is the standard deviation of total fouls called per game. Home team foul margin is nearing an all time personal low. Stats
Looks like Boyages is hearing from enough coaches and getting proactive with his detailed performance review within 24 hours of the game.
This is wecome news in the pursuit of Big ten quality in officiating.

 

[Rene Descartes]

I often times see an official who did a game the night before in a different city and I wonder how the guy got from the one city where he was the night before to the game in this different city that I was currently watching.