RULES, MECHANICS, TECHNIQUES:

Baseball
Chin Music Can Strike Sour Notes:
Inside Pitches Challenge an Umpire’s Judgment;
Advice for Newer Officials — Part IV;
Five Minutes With … Joe Burleson

Soccer
What Your Equipment Bag Should Include:
You May Need More Than You Think;
Foul Recognition: How to Judge Challenges;
What Type of Referee Are You?;
Got It Covered

Football
For the Referee, It’s Job One:
Calls and Mechanics Involving the Quarterback;
Flags and Whistles:
When to Use Them Together or Apart;
Five Minutes With … Henry Zaborniak

Basketball
The Center of Attention:
12 Tips to Being a Super Center;
Time to Go Camping?;
Take a Peek!;
Five Minutes With … Melanie Davis

FEATURES:

The Art of Verbal Judo
Do you have a plan ready when a coach wants to give you an earful? The Verbal Judo Institute teaches people like police officers and business professionals how to take control of heated conversations. Now officials, too, can utilize the same principles and gain the upper hand through gentle persuasion.

How to Act
A group of some of the most influential people in officiating has released a new document that is worthwhile for all officials to read. The “Code of Conduct for Officials” is the product of nearly two years of discussion and analysis.

Interview: Mike Pereira
The NFL’s director of officiating discusses the high profile challenges he faced during his first year on the job. From the labor issues at the start of last season that led to an officials’ lockout to the bottle-throwing debacle in Cleveland, Pereira goes on the record in this exclusive interview.

You Are There: The Hand of God
It is perhaps the most famous goal in the history of World Cup play. When video replays showed Argentina’s captain Diego Maradona apparently deflecting the ball into the goal using his hand, it sparked a media frenzy.

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS:

Publisher’s Memo
Strong at the Broken Places

In Black & White
Media Needs Education, Not Access

The News
NFL Refs Offer Help to College, Prep Officials

Back to Basics
Can I Get a Witness?

Getting It Right
From the Barrio to the NBA

Tools
High School Maps Online;
The Anatomy of a Game;
USSF’s Advice to Referees;
Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud;
StrikeAlert Lightning Detector

Law
Make Quality Training a Universal Focus

For the Record
NCAA basketball tournament officials, AFL2 roster

Classifieds
Camps/Clinics;
Books, Manuals, Cassettes;
Equipment/Apparel;
Miscellaneous

Last Call
My Biggest Booster