Unofficial Chaos

[Jeff Waegelin]

Originally posted by Amanda Morrison
Ask Andy Baker about his final DQ call last year at IRI. Andy is a very respectable, honest, and fair person, and he got stuck in a bad situation. The outcome? Andy called the game according to what the book said and what he thought was right. The call was against my former team. When we got home from IRI, the kids were mildly disgruntled about the call. Our mentor told us, "Andy Baker is an honest guy. The referee's decision was a tough one to make, and Andy called it the way he saw fit. There's nothing wrong with that. We'll just try again next year."

I think that one call is representative of the tough job that referees face, and I think Andy handled that admirably. Granted, my team did get the "benefit" from that call, but we really didn't want to win on that call any more than your alliance wanted to lose on it. Unfortunately, there are times when the referees have to make a decision that is difficult or unpopular. There are always going to be tough calls, and you just have to trust in your officials to do the right thing.