Today was the second week in a row that I had to ref a football game, and I have decided that it is possibly my least favorite thing in the world. I constantly feel overwhelmed and under attack, and I don't have enough attention cells in my brain to focus on everything I need to focus on. And when I see something that I potentially want to call as a penalty, my brain goes through this sequence..."well, I think I saw it, but it really wasn't that big of a deal and they are going to ask me which player it was on and I don't remember if it was the guy with the black shorts or the muscle shirt and if I choose the wrong one, they are going to object, and look it didn't have an effect on the play anyway." So then I talk myself out of calling anything. But I have to remind myself that it isn't like soccer where the ref can just indicate "play on" due to advantage. There are definitive penalties that need to be assessed whether they had an impact or not. I finally figured this out at the end of the game and ended up calling a stupid too-many-men-on-the-field penalty even though the girl wasn't anywhere near being involved in the play, she just hadn't quite reached the sideline. But, I just need to call things I see and put the responsibility on the team not to break the rules rather than on me to draw a gray line on what constitutes a false start.
And, I'm going to do my best to start paying more attention to downs, girl plays, which first down marker they started the drive behind, etc. I'm going to be a good ref. Or at least, not a bad one.
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