Week In The Life of An SEC Football Official
SEC FOOTBALL OFFICIATING WEEKLY PROCESS
SATURDAY
From the SEC Football Command Center, monitor games as well as internet and social media and note issues for...
Deep Official A Key Crew Member
Back judges are often undervalued in a crew of five. Perhaps that stems from the many prep teams that run the ball much more often than pass...
Refereeing Gives Skills For Your Lifetime
Through three decades and nearly 3,000 games of my officiating career, I've accumulated insights, notions and generalizations I didn’t have before which I can...
Appreciating Every Game
It's easy to get caught up in chasing the next assignment, the next postseason opportunity, the next rung on the ladder. But every now...
The Mindset of a Successful Umpire
Consider the top umpires at any level. What mindset do they have? How do they get it? For me, the key ingredients for the...
No Autosave On Out-of-Bounds
One of the great things about being a basketball official is having to make quick and instantaneous decisions on many different types of plays that are happening at...
Poor Signals Lose Time
By Gerry Grunska
Recently I witnessed a victory that was essentially accomplished through timing errors by the officials. The process went like this. Time was running out for team...
Onfield Meetings – Short, Simple & Complete
Much has been written and said about the importance of perception in officiating. Image is everything, as the saying goes and that is true not only of...
Hip, Hip No Way: Yankees vs. Dodgers 1978 World Series
Reggie Jackson earned the nickname Mr. October because of his bat. But a baserunning play swung the 1978 World Series in favor of Jackson’s...
Adjustments for Better Look at the Plate
Any fast-pitch softball umpire is familiar with the slot position when working a game as the plate umpire: assuming a heel-toe stance behind the catcher, aligned slightly inside the...
It’s a Foul Now or Later (But Not Never)
You observe movement in either line just as the ball is snapped. You know it is a foul, but do you prevent the play...
Active ‘C’ Creates a Successful Crew
The center official on a three-person crew is the straw that stirs the drink. When “C” is active, things go more smoothly and games are apt to be...
Prevent Timing Errors
There are three seconds to play in the game. The score is tied and team A must go the length of the court to...
The Best Games Include These Three Elements
Safe, fair and fun.That phrase — that triangle, if you will — contains the ingredients to the best game you’ll ever have. And there...
Timed Properly, Appeal Plays Result in an Out
Why should umpires like appeal plays? Because we can get an out if appealed properly. An appeal play is a play or rule violation...
Free-Throw Mechanics Deserve Pregame Attention
W
hen thinking about the mechanics you use as a basketball official, where do you put the bulk of your study and practice? Proper location...
Take a Wedge
The evolution of the mechanics of calling plays at home plate has been fascinating to observe.
Plate umpires can make decisions on 250 to 300...
Manipulation Or Management?
One of the attributes that separates the best referees from their good counterparts is the ability to manage a game. Good game management includes...
No Substitute for Awareness
There is more to know than just foul or violation. Commonly astute officials might have heard once to have an awareness to what type...
Six Key Factors Assessors Focus On
There are many myths and legends about assessors and their roles and responsibilities. Some officials do not want to be assessed because they do not understand how an...
Grab Those Borderline Pitches and Help Your Game
I once worked a college game with an umpire with the proverbial postage-stamp strike zone. It lasted three hours, 31 minutes, and featured as much head-shaking by pitchers and...
In the ‘Try Right Zone’
The plate umpire in fast-pitch softball faces the demanding task of making split-second rulings hundreds of times each game, regardless of the competition level....
Coordination, Communication Key to Measurements
One of the oldest sports clichés is that football is “a game of inches.” When a measurement is involved, it might be a fraction...
Flying Flag
On Dec. 19, 1999, Jeff Triplette — in his first year as an NFL referee — was working a game in Cleveland when he...