Dee Kantner On Being A Basketball Official

[JavaMan]

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I started grade school, church league in 1982. I did some high school in 1983, some D-II in 1983. I moved to Asheville, N.C., in 1984, and they put me on the staff of the Southern Conference Women's Division I. I didn't even realize it was a big deal.

I think we are encountering some different challenging attitudes and maybe a sense of entitlement because some of these athletes have been recruited and coddled since they were so much younger than was the norm in 1984. Now they're starting to recruit these players in sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade, whatever. It possibly imbues the athlete with a distorted sense of self-importance.

We teach our children that it's O.K. to yell at officials. I remember distinctly, I was in the NBA and I had an 8 year old little boy look at me and go ‘Lady, you belong in the kitchen.' I looked at the father and said, ‘And you should be proud.' It's what we're teaching them.

I assure you that there isn't a single referee in the world who goes out there and says, ‘Gosh how can I miss this call? I really want to miss the next call.

Sometimes you have to put a persona on to manage a game, to make sure everyone understands you're in control because otherwise, things could get kind of crazy out there.

Most play-calling accuracy of most officials is, at least in the data we had in the WNBA, is around the 90th percentile. How many teams shoot like that? One of the jokes about officiating is that it's a profession that they expect you to be perfect and then get better. We understand that is the expectation. We also understand that we can't meet that expectation, but we're striving hard to do it.

Full Article [HERE]

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[rbny1]

As mad as I sometimes get at officials for terrible calls, I think officiating is far more difficult than playing. Fans accept mistakes from players but expect perfection from officials -- at least I know I do.

I would never want to be an official and have to make instantaneous, "correct" calls on every play for 40 minutes without benefit of replay. God bless those officials who are good at their job.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

The more replay intrudes in sports the more it kills the games. We'll get by with mere humans. Find one cheating: cut head off at mid-court at half time; problem solved.