Zen Referee signing off.....

[Mauler]

Well, when I referee this is what I strive to maintain:

Mental state: "Zoned out" in a meditative sort of way. Zen type stuff. I find that I can see more this way, and keeping 100% free of emotion helps highest level of consistency, day in day out, in sickness and in health....

Procedural/technical matters: Customer service oriented and "official-like." That's where the "mechanical" responses of "this is a recording" style comes from. Ensures that every bout I process meets a standard of care as set forth by the industry regulations per FOC guidelines and training.

Physical state: "Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto....." Standard refereeing posture and hand signals geared for optimal energy conservation and mechanical efficiency.

These factors combined tend to produce the characteristics that earned me my reputation, for better or worse. Between my attempt to push it to the extreme, and sheer frequency of repetition in practice, it's kinda hard to imagine a noticeable deviance from the usual pattern in my service these days.

Basically the way you see me ref in New England in any random day is going to be the same way I will ref in, say, Indiana, or Alaska.... with some customized variance depending on needs/requests of the clients. (i.e. there's a client who specifically requests that referees don't wear suit and tie)

[notalent]

Greetings sleepyweasle,
Little league parent is a common problem in everysport. Some years ago I was physicaly accosted by a dad who was unhappy that I asked him to move so I could ref. He got so worked up that he wanted to "step outside" I replied I don't want to embarass your kid any more than he already had.

That is one of the most ridiculous and yet most frightening stories I have ever heard.

[Mauler]

It may have been last year's Mr. Ma Cup in NJ/PA area... the one where New England team was hired to operate.

There was a case of fencing father/uncle combo that was being quite rowdy by the stripside, particularly regarding the issue of where they can/cannot stand.

I was the senior referee in that section of the venue, and so I approached the strip and I defused the situation somewhat, but only somewhat because I had my own strip to return to and referee. In retrospect, what I should've done is to have them be escorted out by the security. Their behavior was unacceptable, but I wasn't mature enough as a referee at the time to apply the appropriate level of penalty on a consistent basis.

[Schiavona]

Basically the way you see me ref in New England in any random day is going to be the same way I will ref in, say, Indiana, or Alaska.... with some customized variance depending on needs/requests of the clients. (i.e. there's a client who specifically requests that referees don't wear suit and tie)

Sorry, Mauler. We're not even buying refs lunch yet, let alone paying anybody.

[Mauler]

Sorry, Mauler. We're not even buying refs lunch yet, let alone paying anybody.

Some of the factual details on my initial post is true information, including the mileage I'm collecting on refereeing trips. 15,400 miles during the month of March alone! So I wouldn't put it past the possibilities just yet about upcoming free tickets.