After my last game, I felt a little twinge in my knee and decided to take a break. I don't want to screw up my knee at any time, but certainly not over high schools games (which I tolerate at best, loathe at worst). So my hiatus ended up being nearly three weeks; and my second high school game of the year was one team's final home game. Click to continue reading...

You know you shouldn't be doing anything when your personal trainer orders you to take a week off. I've had a couple twinges of late, and she thinks it's a combination of the soccer reffing, the weight training, and the amount of skating I've been doing lately. So, better safe than sorry. Click to continue reading...

You know the high school association is so focused on coaches when, at a referee association meeting, the "trainer" goes on about coaching activities. Every year I get just a little more cynical about high school athletics. I don't know if it's because I don't feel the love (the guy really hammered on things that would get us fired or sued this year - I suppose it's better than the insults he did in years past when I kept a list of the number each time), or just them being overly pompous. Click to continue reading...

My schedule before my last game was thus: the day before was the gym with my trainer, the next day the game, followed by a day off, then another center for a city high school team.
I felt a slight twinge in my knee the day of my game, but nothing serious, did the game and had no problems (as you see in the previous entry). Click to continue reading...

A quick warning and recap for those who just joined us. I dislike working high school soccer games - sometimes I outright detest them, and you will hear be complaining about it a lot. So why do them, you may well ask? Easy: if you're not good enough and/or lucky enough to work colleges games, they're the only competitive option available. Click to continue reading...

It's an assumption, yes - but the timing is a little bit suspect. It looks like the guy who prompted me to enable comment moderation has decided to spambomb my refblog email account. So, for the time being, I've disabled the account. If you want to have a comment made privately, please specify it as so at the top of any comment made on the site. Click to continue reading...

I went into the day expecting a line, expecting to work with two guys I've known for a while, and ended up working with two completely different men, on a completely different game, and in the middle. Part of it was because we're in the playoffs, and because the actual scheduling was done last minute, as it wasn't known until the last minute which teams would be playing. Click to continue reading...

I was looking forward to this game for a couple of reasons - first, it was another division 1 men's game. I went from one last year, to four this year, plus lines. Considering how often I've been available (not as much as in the past), and that I'm still a seven (and will be for a long time), that's great. Click to continue reading...

It's often said that rules are created because some people just won't play nice. In this case it's true: one really sad individual who won't play nice has forced me to enable comment moderation (which is really nice considering I was thinking of stopping comments altogether).
Feel free to make comments as you have before; but now I'll need to approve them before they actually show up. Click to continue reading...

Sometimes it only takes one player to turn a game from an almost genial affair, to your typical men's game complaint session. We're winding down the adult leagues as well, and the men's playoffs are right around the corner, and even though both of these two teams are inside the playoff zone (and presumably would like to stay there), the first half was downright nice - although I could see one person who could, if he wanted, light the fuse that could turn it it into something nasty. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday I had a 14-girls Classic-1 (2nd division) game that bored me nearly to tears - no team play and just run-and-dump for 70 minutes. Today, it the girls were a couple of years older, and down a division - but this game was actually fun. There still wasn't a whole lot for me to do (there had to be less than ten fouls for the game, maybe half that), but the game was so much better. Click to continue reading...

Referees lately have been hounded to take games at the State Tournament, which is different than the State Cup. The Cup is done at the beginning of the season, for top-level teams to represent the state in the Regional and maybe (although rarely) National Championships - because of geography we're forced to do this before our regular league games start, and use the strongest teams from last year. Click to continue reading...

I sometimes wonder if the really good teams play with fewer people by design, or because they lose people to boredom. In this game, a first division women's game where I was on the line, had the losing team had a full squad they would have crushed their opponents to a fine white poweder; instead, they started with seven players and held their own for the first half. Click to continue reading...

You know it's hot and humid when the precipitation you feel isn't from the sky, but rather the sweat being flung from your arms as you run.
I realized as I got to the field, that one of my personal soccer landmarks , something that always brought back a memory, was being demolished. Click to continue reading...

Does anyone really want to do the physical? OK, maybe the guy who ran a 5k in the morning and then went to the physical - but the rest of us? No, I didn't think so.
The last two years, I tried running my ass off during the winter to get ready for this thing, any it just didn't work out. Click to continue reading...