Does anyone officiate another sport?

[kylehutson]

38 minutes ago, flyingron said:

I spent 15 years as a NASCAR official.   Not quite the same thing, but ESPN thinks it's a sport.

So I've got to know (and I'm being honest here, not snarky - I have no idea), what does a NASCAR official do?

[Replacematt]

24 minutes ago, kylehutson said:

So I've got to know (and I'm being honest here, not snarky - I have no idea), what does a NASCAR official do?

They sit at each turn reminding them not to go right. 

[kylehutson]

7 minutes ago, Matt said:

They sit at each turn reminding them not to go right. 

You'd think the drivers would just memorize the song.

 

[noumpere]

50 minutes ago, Matt said:

They sit at each turn reminding them not to go right. 

All base coaches are automatically qualified.

[Replacematt]

15 minutes ago, noumpere said:

All base coaches are automatically qualified.

You'd think that, but yelling "back" proved catastrophic.

[noumpere]

29 minutes ago, Matt said:

You'd think that, but yelling "back" proved catastrophic.

But they are really good at yelling"balk" when they *think* a car does not come to a complete stop on pit row

[flyingron]

On 12/3/2020 at 9:42 AM, kylehutson said:

So I've got to know (and I'm being honest here, not snarky - I have no idea), what does a NASCAR official do?

Watch the cars go round and round.     Do the timing for time trials.   Watch for wrecks, signal slower cars faster ones were coming up behind them.   Before electronic scoring became common, we'd spend time putting cars back in the right positions on cautions (for those cars involved and those not involved).  Generally, come up with the official finishing orders.   Weigh and inspect the cars, occasionally tear down the first few to check for illegal stuff.

Unlike Baseball (or most sports), our rule book is pretty much just full of safety stuff.    We have local track "ground rules" to insure competition (what motors you can use, what tires, etc..>) .

[BlueRanger]

I primarily work my one true love: baseball, but I do some basketball for the HS chapter (mainly MS and a bit of sub-varsity) during the winters. I took this season off and am glad I did since I would have lost money with all the cancelled games around here. 

[BT_Blue]

On 12/4/2020 at 3:02 PM, flyingron said:

Watch the cars go round and round.     Do the timing for time trials.   Watch for wrecks, signal slower cars faster ones were coming up behind them.   Before electronic scoring became common, we'd spend time putting cars back in the right positions on cautions (for those cars involved and those not involved).  Generally, come up with the official finishing orders.   Weigh and inspect the cars, occasionally tear down the first few to check for illegal stuff.

Unlike Baseball (or most sports), our rule book is pretty much just full of safety stuff.    We have local track "ground rules" to insure competition (what motors you can use, what tires, etc..>) .

Why do I love Umpire-Empire? Because we RANDOMLY have guys on here that do some really cool stuff... LIKE BEING AN ACTUAL RACE OFFICIAL FOR NASCAR!

[maven]

Nascar? What's the penalty for "didn't turn left?" 

[Aging_Arbiter]

Ejection? well, given safety restraints, at least impact.

[mac266]

Whelp, I passed my Level 1 certification test for USA Boxing.  I'm now officially a timekeeper, clerk, and equipment table judge from the club through state levels of competition.  Referee and judge are separate certifications that will come later.  I'd like to do level 2 (regional-national) or even level 3 (international) to make me eligible to work the olympics, but both of those are years down the road.  

 

There are some intercollegiate leagues within USA boxing that I can officiate with my level 1 certification.  Given that I boxed for one of those as a high school student (my dad knew the coach, so I trained with the college students while I was still in high school, but only competed against other high school kids), I would really love to work some of those matches.  I assume they won't let me officiate where I boxed, even if it was 25 years ago and my coach has since passed away

[Vegas_Ump]

I'm going to take a different look at this.  While, I don't officiate anything other than baseball, I am always watching officials in all the sports I watch (live or on TV).  I have noticed in the last decade that officials work together much more than they did in the past.  Notice how in football, the side judge and the back judge will coordinate about feet out of bounds before a catch or touchdown is ruled.  They seem to be taking their time--just like we are taught in baseball.

I think the teamwork emphasis pays off as it does in baseball.  Having done a Regional LL tournament, I saw the best of teamwork.  No doubt this pays off in other sports too.

Mike

Las Vegas

[LMSANS]

I have done baseball, softball, wrestling and football. All from youth to varsity levels

I quit wrestling after my first year when I realized I was not as good a referee as I was a wrestler...and I was a terrible wrestler.

I quit football after I realized I couldn't keep up with the game. Next year I will go back to do chains if they need me.

Baseball and softball, I can do from March until November (2020 is the exception ). I will be contented with this while I can still do it physically.

[flyingron]

We have a penalty of being black flagged for some on-track violation or if the car appears to have some sort of safety issue (leaking fluids).    That means the car has to come into the pits at a time penalty for inspection.   If they refuse to come in after three laps, we just stop scoring them.

[SeeingEyeDog]

Since 1948, NASCAR has raced at least ONCE per year on one of 15 different road courses (NON-ovals)...

~Dog

[Umpire in Chief]

I've thought about other sports. for a long time people were trying to convince me to do Volleyball, They said it's fun and while it doesn't pay as much per game as umpiring the matches are shorter and often you get 4 games in a night between Mens JV, Womens JV, Mens V & Womens V.

I also thought about Wrestling. And I still do from time to time. I was a decent wrestler in HS and was pretty passionate about it. 

I did soccer as the first sport I officiated up and through college a little. I liked it but it was always a job for me not much passion. Before umpiring I went to return to soccer and they would have been happy to have me back, but then they told me the physical ability requirements and tests so I didn't pursue that any longer. 

I've also thought about other sports, something more rare, but I need to have a passion and nothing is drawing me into any sports now.

[dumbdumb]

2 hours ago, Umpire in Chief said:

I've thought about other sports. for a long time people were trying to convince me to do Volleyball, They said it's fun and while it doesn't pay as much per game as umpiring the matches are shorter and often you get 4 games in a night between Mens JV, Womens JV, Mens V & Womens V.

I also thought about Wrestling. And I still do from time to time. I was a decent wrestler in HS and was pretty passionate about it. 

I did soccer as the first sport I officiated up and through college a little. I liked it but it was always a job for me not much passion. Before umpiring I went to return to soccer and they would have been happy to have me back, but then they told me the physical ability requirements and tests so I didn't pursue that any longer. 

I've also thought about other sports, something more rare, but I need to have a passion and nothing is drawing me into any sports now.

obviously you get fired up about football. give it a shot in the arm and there are also more partners.

[NCAAump2]

Other than baseball, I have done volleyball, basketball, and inline hockey.  

Baseball is still my number one sport. I do basketball for the exercise to say in shape for baseball, plus it's hard to beat the atmosphere of a packed gym for a rivalry basketball game.  

I officiated volleyball for 3 years before I started coaching my daughter's CYC team, but the practices and games left little time to officiate. 

I still do inline hockey sometimes, but it's mostly just glorified adult babysitting and trying to prevent fights.   It is great exercise, and forces you to learn to skate well, quickly.   I learned early though, if they're going to fight, I let them.  I'm not going to risk getting punched in the face.

[philaump]

On 10/14/2020 at 8:01 AM, maven said:

I've been working HS football for about 70% as long as HS baseball. At this point, not least because of the pandemic, I'm working more football than baseball.

The officiating experience is rather different from baseball, in many dimensions. Some of what I'm about to report is surely regional, and might not apply everywhere. But here are some of the differences I see.

• There's still an old-school formality to the relationship between various participants and officials. Some of that disappears in the heat of battle. Nearly all coaches ask that we send their players off if they're disrespectful on the field. Disciplined teenagers—who knew?
• Friday nights are longer than a baseball game—in some cases, closer to the length of a double header, once pre-game is factored in (my state requires that we arrive at least 90 minutes before kickoff).
• Game clock, play clock.
• The officiating experience is far more social. In baseball, done properly, partners might not interact the entire game beyond signals. For football, there are 5 of us, and we're talking all the time (in pre-game, on the field, on radio). We usually enjoy an adult beverage post-game (or did prior to the pandemic).
• Eye discipline is more challenging. We have 22 players to watch, and everyone needs eyes on. There's a reason NCAA has gone to 8 + 1 officials (at least 2 of the power 5 conferences station their alternate, 9th, official on the sideline to rule on ineligible man downfield; he tells the wing on that side, who drops his flag). In baseball, we watch the ball, glance at runners. Nothing much happens away from the ball, unless fielders get in the way (and we mostly know exactly where the runners will be). None of that is true in football: for most of most plays, I can't watch the ball or ball-carrier (properly called the 'runner' in HS football).
• The feeling on the field is electric: Friday night lights, baby! For most of the schools I work, not including this season, the smallest crowds are over 1000 people, most are 5-6000. We did a huge rivalry game a few years ago in a local university stadium that was on radio, TV, and had 15,000 fans in the stands. It can be thrilling.
• The rules of football are, believe it or not, more complex than baseball. Sure, folks struggle to master balks, batter INT, RLI, OBS, INT. But in football, we have even more infractions, some seldom committed, and I have to remember the damn signal for the thing. (That's an in-crew joke; rules and enforcements are my superpower. I miss 1 per season to prove I'm human. Irony is my other superpower.) 
• Did I mention being on TV? My crew will be on again this Friday night, round 2 in my state's weird pandemic hunger games state tournament, hosted by perennial state champions (who play like a small college team).

 

Any schools out your way run the triple option?  With all the spread tendencies permeating HS football, its a complete culture shock for DE officials when they get my team's games. 

[maven]

1 hour ago, philaump said:

Any schools out your way run the triple option?  With all the spread tendencies permeating HS football, it's a complete culture shock for DE officials when they get my team's games. 

Yes, quite a few. It takes a little recalibration, and a patient whistle. Fortunately, my crew has excellent whistle discipline, so we have not had much trouble with that.

We did miss a huge targeting foul by one team, because one of the wings came off his key too fast looking for the ball. Still regret that one.

[GreyhoundAggie]

I've thought about doing football but I haven't taken the plunge. I'm afraid the wife would murder me with how much time baseball takes the first 3-4 months of the year.

The big draw to me is hearing guys talk about being on a crew and how much they like working together, etc. We don't get that in baseball. I may see the same umpire 2-3 times in a season.

[flyingron]

Never officiated for real in football but I got to be the chain guy for a few games in college.

[kylehutson]

16 minutes ago, flyingron said:

Never officiated for real in football but I got to be the chain guy for a few games in college.

Oh yeah, I head up the chain gang at the local high school, and run the scoreboard for the basketball games as well.