“I write about what I see and hear… And sometimes I comment on it.” — Me.
Fox-17 Sunday evening had a special sports segment with guests T.J. Restau, athletic director of Wayland Middle School, and Brad Brunet discussing a growing shortage of referees for high school sports.
Both former referees themselves, they maintained the reason is the boorish behavior of fans, particularly parents of players, who make the refs’ jobs a lot harder. I maintain there are a couple more reasons, perhaps more compelling.
I submit the change in seasons for boys’ and girls’ basketball, making them the same, and the toxic masculinity of players and coaches present even greater challenges.
I got in touch with an old friend, 1974 Wayland High School graduate Pat Wilde, who retired from being a basketball official not long ago, to ask for his take. He said:
“Sadly it’s the way it is now. No one hesitates to curse in public now, including the F word. Disrespect is just a way of life.
“In high school sporting venues, a big problem is the lack of game management, like an AD or mature faculty staff member in attendance to monitor the crowd and then take action when necessary. It can be done. It used to be done.
“Then you see college coaches going ballistic on TV and feel they can now do the same. Then their players see this and follow suit. Then the fans, etc. Is violence next? Will the cops have to be a larger presence?
“When I started officiating, you cut your teeth doing freshman/JV games and you worked at not engaging with fans and seeing where the line was drawn for you as far as a coaches behavior went. It wasn’t easy, but you eventually, after many games were able to block out the noise and just ref.
“Now because of the lack of officials, new referees and others without a lot of experience get thrown into varsity games and then are bombarded with this crap from coaches, players and fans before they really ever learn how to deal with it, so they just hang it up. It’s not worth it.”
Several years ago, a court ruled that boys’ and girls’ basketball seasons should be at the same time, turning the tables on having the girls play in the fall and the boys in the winter. It was a ruling that benefitted very few and was almost universally opposed by players, fans, coaches and even the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
One particularly negative side effect has been that basketball referees must do boys’ and girls’ games, and in some cases, on the same night, such as Southwestern Athletic Conference contests. That has increased demand and decreased supply.
Toss in bad behavior from players, parents, coaches and fans and you have a recipe for future disaster.
I personally have seen or have been made aware of troubling incidents that contribute to killing the golden goose of high school sporting events.
The Martin boys’ varsity basketball team has made things too interesting on several occasions in my presence. In one game, a Martin player was whistled for a technical foul and subsequently ordered to retire to the lockerroom. On his way out, he hurled an expletive at a fan from the other team. I saw and heard it.
The next time I saw him, he avoided a tech or getting tossed out, but had to be restrained from getting into a fight with an opponent. In the third instance, he was whistled for one technical, but a teammate was nailed twice and disqualified.
Not only does this kind of behavior create unnecessary public unpleasantness, it reflects poorly on the school and community. So all that talk about good sportsmanship before each game is just that — only talk.
A Wayland coach this winter was tossed out of a game and given a one-game suspension for getting a little too animated in disagreeing with officials. And I have witnessed referees give official warnings regarding coaches three times.
Some might say the refs are guilty of “rabbit ears.” Some might say the refs are being unreasonable in attempting to whitewash bad calls. Regardless, this kind of argument leads to killing the golden goose.
There have been times in the past when two teams have played in empty gyms because of unsavory fan and player behavior. I personally witnessed in 1979 a referee get slapped in the face by an Ypsilanti Willow Run fan. My colleague that night was MHSAA Communications Director John Johnson.
Indeed, we are told, this bad behavior often is done during the “heat of battle,” but that doesn’t excuse it. I could lose my temper and kill someone, but I still would have to face the consequences.
Too many players these days treat the games they play as life and death matters and they geek themselves up so much that when things don’t go their way, they lose their tempers and exhibit toxic masculinity with awful consequences.
If we can’t get this under control, we may more than lose referees. We might lose the games themselves.
And parents, who Jon Gambee once observed normally are really nice people, can turn into nasty ogres when their children enter the athletic arena. I now have to recall the words of comedian Bill Hicks:
“I’m sorry, folks. Your kid’s not special. I know you think he is. But he’s not.”
