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By Jeffrey Stern

I’m guessing you can fill in the blanks in the title of this post. If you haven’t used the word even once in your life, I feel confident that you’ve at least heard it a time or two. You don’t want that reputation.

The title is part of a mantra Red Cashion, the great former NFL referee, told me once a long time ago. Red said, “You want to be a ‘Thank God’ official, not an “Oh, s —“ official.

Red was referring the reaction coaches have when you walk on the field before the game. You hope they feel confident in your abilities, that you’ll hustle, get the judgment calls correct and enforce penalties properly. So when you walk on the field, the coaches say aloud or to themselves, “Thank God I have this crew tonight.”

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Coaches being coaches, you can do all of the things mentioned above and they will still have the feeling, “Oh, s —! Them again!” Likely something happened the last time you had that team and the coach can’t separate the crew from the fact that his fullback fumbled on the opponent’s one yardline, his star wideout dropped a sure touchdown pass in the end zone or the opposing kicker nailed a 47-yard field goal on the final play of the game. None of which is your fault, of course, but there is that connection.

Once you get labeled as an “Oh s —“ crew it’s hard to shake that tag. I’ve worked for coaches who felt they got jobbed by us 20 years ago. And maybe we did screw up that one time. We’ve had them every year since without incident, but the coach just can’t shake the memories of that one game.

Sadly you can go from a “Thank God” crew to an “Oh, s—“ crew in the wink of an eye.

Sadly you can go from a “Thank God” crew to an “Oh, s—“ crew in the wink of an eye. But the opposite is a tougher task.

The way you don’t want to become a “Thank God” crew is bad-mouthing another one. I’ve heard about coaches saying to an official, “I know we’re going to get a fair shake from you tonight. Not like last week.” When the official asks to whom he is referring, the coach only too happily coughs up the name of the previous crew. To which the official replies, “Oh, yeah. They’re awful. You’ve got the A-team tonight.”

Way to go, genius. You just fell into the trap. First of all, do you know for sure the coach really got screwed the week before? Or is he trying to curry favor tonight? Secondly, if he says that about another crew, do you honestly think he’d hesitate to tell next week’s crew the same about you? Right or wrong? Heck, maybe he says that to every crew.

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If you are assigned to a team you’ve never had before, you have a golden opportunity to make the great first impression everyone talks about. Get in there, bust your butt and maybe you’ll find yourself on that coach’s preferred list. At least you’ll stay off his, umm, you-know-what list.

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Note: This article is archival in nature. Rules, interpretations, mechanics, philosophies and other information may or may not be correct for the current year.

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