The Michigan Daily-Friday, march 24, 1978-Page 1
THE SPORTING VIEWS
Student referees...
. . . abused by their peers
By GARY KICINSKI
'M SURE YOU'VE HEARD all the cliches about sports officiating. Things
like "a referee's job is a thankless task," or "referees never get a home
game." \,
Both of those cliches may be true, and the public is likely to be inundated
with many more like them in the near future, judging from the recent con-
troveries in professional sports where officials have come under fire.
You know the incidents I'm talking about-Rob Lytle's "non-fumble"
in the AFC Championship game, for instance-and others like it. But of-
ficials have been taking abuse of another nature at the local
level-specifically, IM basketball, and a lot of people are concerned about it.
IM referees, who are students just like you and I, have been subjected to
threats, punches, chokings and shovings, as well as good old verbal abuse.
This disrespect comes out from hardened criminals or crazed mental patien-
ts, but from IM players. Students just like you and I.
Now without getting into a "What is our society coming to" tirade, I
want to point out that I don't really believe that the students on this campus
are as immature as they sometimes act during athletic competition.
People are responsible
But people should be responsible for their own actions, and the excuseof
"the heat of the competition" is a flimsy one at best.
"Players have to realize that these games are supposed to be
recreational, not life and death situations," said Sandy Sanders, who runs
the officiating program for the intramural department. "They have to
realize that referees can make mistakes."
Sanders, who has been a referee himself for nine years, said that since a
lot of IM officials are refereeing for the first time, many mistakes can be ex-
pected.
"The number one problem is peer pressure," he said. "There's a ten-
dency on the part of the players to disrespect the officials because they are
their peers.
"Most of these guys have been playing basketball for 10, 12, 14 years.
Most of our refs have never administered games before coming here. The
way I look at it, a mistake is not a mistake unless it goes uncorrected. I ex-
pect mistakes from new referees."
The players, coaches and officials also agree that there is a problem, but
they disagree as to the severity of the problem.
"A lot of players don't respect IM refs because there are a lot of incon-
sistently-called games," said Dave Brown, a law student in his first term of
officiating. "One game the refs will call everything, and another they'll let
everything go."
These inconsistencies and mistakes are what lead to players hassling
the officials.
One official, Lou Corey, was once grabbed by the neck and picked up by
a player who he had just ejected from the game. "Incidents like that are
rare, though," Corey said calmly. "Certain people just don't know how to
control themselves. You get a good deal of foul language from the players,
but you've got to expect to take some flack."
The self-control shown by some officials when faced with instances like
that is remarkable. "I think the officials do an outstanding job for the adver-
sity they're confronted with," Sanders said.
"It's not really that bad, if you're not overly sensitive in your per-
sonality," Brown said. "You've got to realize that the game means a lot to
some kids. When I first started officiating, I was expecting a lot worse-a lot
worse-And it just didn't happen."
According to Hank Brennan, team manager of an .independent team,
most players tend to get upset only momentarily, and that they don't hold the
grudge after the game. "The refs aren't emotionally involved in the game
like the players are," he said. "They tend to remember the incidents better,
while a player soon forgets all about it."
Still, official abuse at the intramural level is serious. "It's a big
problem," Sanders said. "We get one or two a week (reports of official
abuse), especially during the playoffs. Then everyone wants to be a ref."
Draft plan considered
Under a plan Sanders is considering, everyone would get a chance to do
just that. "Next year we're thinking of instituting a-draft system where two
players on each team must be officials. It would make everyone more sen-
sitive to the position referees are in. It would cut down on the abuse, because
you may disagree with a call, you may say,-Hey, Joe, you really blew that
one,' but you certainly wouldn't hit a referee or cuss him out if he was a
friend of yours."
Only time will tell of the validity of that approach, but something should
be done to educate the players regarding what it's like to be an official. And
as anyone who's tried it will tell you, it's not easy.
' I can see how human emotion can induce a player to behave in a manner
which he normally wouldn't, but players will simply have to be taught to
exhibit more self-restraint. Because even if official abuse occurs at a
minimal frequency, it occurs too often.
BILLBOARD
Anyone interested in being a
manager of the 1978 Michigan football
team contact Mark Andrews. Call him
at 995-4825 after 6 p.m.
SCORES
EXHIBITION BASEBALL
DETROIT 7, Montreal 0
Kansas City 14, Chicago (AL) 3
Texas 3. New York (AL) 1
Toronto 7, Pittsburgh 5
California 5. San Francisco 2
Oakland 4,. Milwaukee 2a
Minnesota 10. Boston 2
Los Angeles 12. New York NI.) I
Philadelphia IS, Cincinnati 5
Pittsburgh 4. St. Louis 2
C~hicago (NI.) 7. San Diego 1
Montreal ;, Houston 0
NHL
Montreal 5, Colorado :l
Boston 7, Chicagp 0
Atlanta 5, Si. Louis #
NBA
Milwaukee I 16. Portland to!
ATTITUDE
ADJUSTMENT
HOURS-
3:00-6:00 pfm
Monday-Friday
'1sPR ICE
DRINKS
15C HOT DOGS
BLUE
FRh GE
611 Church 995-5955
HthavAP Photo
Met second baseman Doug Flynn didn't get to see the double play he started but maybe he asked the Dodgers' Reggie
Smith, who seems to be an interested observer, all about it. The only thing missing from the picture is Ron Cey's absurd
waddling attempt to reach first after he hit into the play. Come on guys, we've heard of close encounters but this is ridiculous.
BLUE SEARCHES FOR GREEN PASTURES:
Fore! Lnksters fly to sunny south
By TOM STEPHENS
So the sun is finally getting warm and'
everybody is looking forward to a green
spring without those annoying mounds
of dirty old snow; but for golfers the
annual passage out of winter always
goes far too slowly. Most linksters un-
fortunate enough to be stuck in.Ann Ar-
bor in March have to content them-
selves with daily watching from State
Street as the new spots of grass pop up
on the University course just south of
Yost arena.
Michigan's men's golf team already
has a pretty fair head start on the local
exiles. With one tournament in South
Carolina under their belts and a week of
qualifying completed in Florida over
spring break, the team shows good
prospects in the Big Ten race.
THE TEAM kicked off its season with.
the Coastal Carolina Classic March 1st
through 3rd at Bay Tree Plantation in
Myrtle Beach. Senior captain Doug
Davis opened the tournament with a
bad-weather 74 good enough to tie for
the tournament lead. The final 18 holes
of the scheduled 54 hole event were
cancelled on account of the weather and
Davis' second day 75 left him in third
place at 149, only three strokes behind
host team South Carolina's medalist
Rocky Reavis at 146.
The Wolverines finished eighth
overall in the 24-team field that was
topped by Ball State's team score of
612. Michigan's team score was 627.
ASSISTANT coach Jim Lipe called
the tournament "a good showing for the
first time out this season. Unfor-
tunately the weather was too cold and.
rainy." He particularly praised the per-
formances of Davis and fellow senior
John Morgan, whose 78-77-155 placed
him at second best on the Wolverines.
Fourteen prospective Blue linksters
spent their spring vacation by special
invitation at Cypress Creek Country
Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
They were there for the annual
Michigan spring team qualifier, a 72-
hole tournament that determines who
makes the varsity squad. Coach Bill
Newcomb chose 12 of them to form
what is in effect two golf teams;
because only six players can compete
in any one tournament.
The low qualifier was Davis at 298. He
was followed by two promising fresh-
men, Tom Pursel and Ed Humenik, at
308.
THE TEAM leaves Monday for the
GAC intercollegiate in Cape Coral,
Florida. Competing for Michigan will
be Davis, Morgan, Pursel, Humenik,
and juniors Frank Sims and Rod Paf-
ford. Lipe was optimistic about the
team's prospects. "Ohio State was just
rated number two in the country by
Golf Magazine and they're really tough
so we're realistically playing for second
place. We're just as good as anybody
else (besides Ohio State) in the con-
ference and hopefully better because
our four freshmen are one of the finest
groups in years. Indiana is tough too
but we should have an edge on the rest.
PLATIGNUM ITALIC SET
We have outstanding leadership in
Doug Davis and both he and John
Morgan could be all Big Ten this year."
With Davis and Morgan providing the
steady performance and some looked-
for improvement from freshmen Pur-
sel, Humenik, Dave Koch, and Gordon
Kastelic, the Wolverines could be
something to watch when their golf
course finally turns green this spring.
AT YOUR
SERVICE.
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Circulation 764-0558
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BU
bounces
Badgers
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (UPI) - Line-
mates Mark Fidler and Dave Silk
scored goals 36 seconds apart early in
the final period Thursday night to spark
Boston University to a 5-2 victory over
defending champion Wisconsin in the
31st NCAA hockey championship before
8,136 fans at the Providence Civic Cen-
ter.
BU, 29-2, will meet the winner of
Friday night's game between Boston
College and Bowling Green in Saturday
night's championship contest.
.,,'
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