[Nuttyman54]

I've been holding back and just reading for the past few days, but I'd like to jump in and say a few words:

First off, congrats to both finals alliances, they were certainly the best matches of the entire competition (as it should be), so thanks for making it exciting.

And of course, I'd like to say a few words about the reffing.

This regional had an insane number of penalties, and what makes it worse is that I saw just as many penalties that weren't called. I do not believe these were the referee's faults. This game is so dependent on catching all the little things that teams do wrong in a match, that it's nigh impossible to catch them all. This game is inherently inconsistent in reffing simply because it's so hard to catch everything, and the penalties are so subjective.

I'm not saying this excuses the poor reffing in matches, but I would like to bring some perspective to the fact that these guys aren't going to catch everything, simply because there are just too many to catch.

This opinion applies only to in-match penalties that would require instant-replay to correct a call, NOT to game-state calls such as bonus balls, popped track-balls, etc.

It's also highly upsetting to me that the issue of supported trackballs was brought to the referee's attention earlier and was not addressed. It is their job to ensure that the rules are being enforced to the best of their abilities. Some rules are ambiguous, but G14 is completely clear in what counts for a bonus. Once a wrong call has been brought to the ref's attention, it is no excuse to continue calling it wrong just to be consistent. Consistently wrong is still wrong.

I do not agree that paid referees will fix the problem. I believe that referees who know the rules better are the solution to the problem. The referee test is a step in the right direction, but evidently was not rigorous enough. I don't have any better solutions, but I'm sure with everyone here, someone can come up with something.

</soapbox>