My Gripes with Your Gripes about My Gripes about Officiating

[Rudolph]

It’s a message board and it’s a game and people are fans and refs are an easy target for offloading frustration and stress. Whoopty frickin doo.

Two plays can be so similar as to render them the “same” albeit technically unique from one another.

Refs are human. Refs most certainly can favor one coach over the other, one player over another, maybe a nice conversation in an airport, maybe a player’s personality is one the ref admires or enjoys, so on and so forth. Conversely maybe a ref finds cause to disfavor a coach or player. They’re human. And while I don’t think refs actively try to allow this human thing affect their judgment, surely it happens. And that can be frustrating. Take an easy one—Aaron Craft. Refs favored him clearly. Kid got away with a lot. Aaron has a great personality and rapport with refs, even with opponents who are the recipient of his being such a nuisance. Mateen Cleaves is another one. Obviously Fran rubbed a lot of refs the wrong way early on. Now ten years in he has earned some respect and thus more leeway. But the B1G is like this club and you can’t just come in acting like you deserve to be treated with the same respect as, say, Izzo.

Regardless, for the love of god I don’t know why anyone would take serious issue with people bitching about refs on message boards.

Gripety gripety gripe gripe gripe!

 

[DewHawk]

Cause he is one and has rabbit ears

 

[spiderland]

Cue the gripes about gripes about gripes about gripes thread.

Infinitely recursive message board is infinitely recursive...

 

[Rudolph]

Cue the gripes about gripes about gripes about gripes thread.

Infinitely recursive message board is infinitely recursive...

Just did a search. It appears you just used the word "recursive" for the first time ever in this forum. Nice!!

 

[Joes Place]

Sour gripes.

 

[markfromj]

Regardless, for the love of god I don’t know why anyone would take serious issue with people bitching about refs on message boards.

I just find officiating complaints so celebratory of victim status, and I think the seeking of victim status is so sad.

 

[Rudolph]

I just find officiating complaints so celebratory of victim status, and I think the seeking of victim status is so sad.

Oh come on. Under that line of thinking, you're victim-statusing yourself as being victim of people constantly bitching about officiating.

I'll say this in support of what you're driving at—when the coach and/or players seem to always be wrapped up in the officiating, I will agree that fans bitching about it as well feels shitty. But this team doesn't let refs phase them, which I think kind of frees up us fans to use refs as our outlet for in-game angst.

Whatever, this is all pretty silly.

 

[LuteHawk]

My father was a high school basketball
referee for boys games. He had a white
collar position at the Rock Island Arsenal
by day and enjoyed officiating basketball
at night in the metro Quad Cities area.

I played basketball and my father told me
one thing: "You do not need to blame the
referees if your team loses. Instead go
home and look in the mirror and ask if
you played to the best of your ability."

 

[HawkRugged17]

 

[ichawk24]

A classic case of sour gripes.

 

[markfromj]

But can you influence some things?

 

[markfromj]

A classic case of sour gripes.

From whom?

 

[HawkRugged17]

But can you influence some things?

Not referees.

 

[Rudolph]

Not referees.

Not true. I have influenced my ass right to the locker room. A few times. As a player and as a coach. Lol. Lot of piss & vinegar in young Rudolph.

 

[H4wkfan4life]

@Rudolph I don't think you want to know my gripes about your gripes about his gripes about your gripes!

 

[Rudolph]

@Rudolph I don't think you want to know my gripes about your gripes about his gripes about your gripes!

I do want to know. I feed off of gripes, especially fourth generation gripes. Please do share.

 

[DougFHawkeye]

Oh come on. Under that line of thinking, you're victim-statusing yourself as being victim of people constantly bitching about officiating.

Bitching about others bitching...guess it's all in the timing

 

[squibs]

Not true. I have influenced my ass right to the locker room. A few times. As a player and as a coach. Lol. Lot of piss & vinegar in young Rudolph.

Ahhh, young Rudy! What a stud you must have been in the day

 

[hawkeyeinmo]

I just find officiating complaints so celebratory of victim status, and I think the seeking of victim status is so sad.

Then you should have no problem in complaining about officiating after a victory. Correct?

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

I just find officiating complaints so celebratory of victim status, and I think the seeking of victim status is so sad.

Some times victims really are victimized.

Less of a victim when you fight back. Internet news, social media and talk radio provide a tremendous forum that could apply much more pressure on the NCAA to crack down on some of the obvious cheaters and gamblers.

 

[markfromj]

Some times victims really are victimized.

Less of a victim when you fight back. Internet news, social media and talk radio provide a tremendous forum that could apply much more pressure on the NCAA to crack down on some of the obvious cheaters and gamblers.

I agree with all of this. (Although those are not really effective feedback forums (echo chambers). Much better is direct engagement with authorities.)

But I don't believe there is nearly the amount of cheating and even just ref incompetence that the usual game thread conveys.

 

[markfromj]

Then you should have no problem in complaining about officiating after a victory. Correct?

Yes. But the complaining I think is WAY over the top is the in-game, in game-thread complaining. It is non-stop, every game, and nearly every call/no-call.

 

[markfromj]

Not referees.

"If you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem".

 

[hawkeyeinmo]

Yes. But the complaining I think is WAY over the top is the in-game, in game-thread complaining. It is non-stop, every game, and nearly every call/no-call.

It is. And I kind of have a rule that I will not post criticism or critique of officiating after a loss because it sounds too much like “sour grapes” and only critique after a win. There’s been a few times though that the officiating was so poor (Iowa vs MSU in B1G tourney comes to mind) that I have voiced some criticism.