All Sports

Letter Perfect

M nemonics are devices intended to assist the memory, as a verse or formula. A popular example, HOMES, is an acronym to help recall the...

No Argument About It

Not all arguments with coaches end perfectly. The goal of all officials is to resolve volatile conflict quickly and to an extent that allows...

Career Suicide Can Be a Killer

Officiating is unlike many endeavors in that hard work, diligent study and the right temperament are not guarantees to success. Conversely, there are several...

Slay the Drag-on

One of the great debates in sports these days is how long it takes to play the games. Television has been a great boon...

Arrive And Shine

How you enter the arena, stadium, field or other facility says a lot about you. Do you casually stroll in? Are you laughing, confident,...

What’s Your Angle?

Esse Baharmast had the key angle to make the right call. During the 1998 World Cup, Baharmast, NASO’s 2011 Gold Whistle Award recipient, awarded a...

Your Attention Please

T here are many things that might disrupt an official’s concentration during a game. They might be internal or external and could happen during...

Brand New Ballgames

How will you feel when the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and the games resume? Ecstatic? Relieved? Anxious? How about prepared? We will be experiencing a new...

Best Selller

The score is tied in the championship basketball game with less than a minute remaining. The fans in the packed arena are on their...

Fair Ball

Coaches have all sorts of creative ways to question the ethics and integrity of officials. During the pregame meeting, they are often curious about...

‘Big Time’ Attitude Is for Small People

By Jeffrey Stern Virtually every local association or chapter has at least one official who has “made it big,” the member who has worked a...

Principles With Interest

O fficiating has been in my blood since I was a scholastic wrestler during the mid-1960s. Throughout the decades, I gradually began to understand the...

Tip Top

In the 44 years Referee has been in existence, tens of thousands of words have been devoted to helping officials improve their performance. Our...

Touch and Go

According to the website deepenglish.com, the handshake dates back to knights in Medieval Europe. Mistrustful fellows, they would shake the hand of those they...

Help Yourself

I stumbled upon a couple of clips of MLB games and got a chuckle out of how the announcers reacted to two situations. It’s...

No Dead Ends

When the late Jerry Seeman was NFL director of officials, he developed his 10 Commandments for Officiating. Ninth on his list was: Thou shalt...

Don’t Fan The Flames

Between the lines, sports officials have every right and can take immediate action to eject a player or coach from a game for unruly...

What’s the Rush?

I once watched a golf tournament where one of the Sunday leaders hit an approach shot about 20 yards over the green. The announcer...

Pleasure Crews

"Perception is reality.” When it comes to officiating team sports, that’s often the absolute truth. It doesn’t matter what sport you’re officiating, crew cohesion...