I've never reffed at all and I don't think I would ever be good at it. It would be hard to view a game the way a "good" official is supposed to after I've been involved in the sport from the other side for over 25 years.
I have all kids of crazy ref stories. The best ones that come to mind usually occur in summer games. These guys are in hot gyms, getting about $25 a game, working 5-6 games a day. So the pay is decent, but it's a LOOOONNNNGGG day of running around and putting up with irritated coaches who don't really even want to be there in the first place. Some of the refs are KHSAA certified and some are college aged kids just trying to make some money to go buy a pony keg for the weekend.
One year we attended Eastern's camp when Travis Ford was coaching there. He didn't invest heavily on refs for this camp (more money for him and his staff!!!) so his players were calling the games. One of his student managers, who appeared to be an English Lit. major and all-around coffee shop genius, was giving players and coaches lectures all day, just being an insufferable dick. Imagine Travis Ford as a long haired, wispy bearded, hemp necklace wearing Starbucks barista. During our game he made a horrible call and I just asked for an explanation. He then goes into a soliloquy from Macbeth and ends it by saying, "not that you would know, but that's Shakespeare." I teach English. And I teach Macbeth. This little a-hole didn't know what to do when I ended his soliloquy for him with "yeah, and this game sure has been 'a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.'" So he T-ed me up for calling him an idiot. But he shut up for the rest of that game. Players in that game still tell me about that when I see them.
The best qualities in a ref are: 1. Don't be a dick. 2. Keep things in control/communicate the right way. 3. Know the rules. 4. Don't hold a grudge.
