Better Dads Better Kids

I think sports is a great way to learn about life. It’s important to learn to work hard, compete hard and give it everything you have to be a winner. If you don’t play a game by the rules, it probably won’t be much of a game. It’s also important to learn that there are consequences if you don’t play by the rules.

 

Somewhere during my sports life I learned to respect referees. I saw a cartoon that hit home that said the trouble with umpires is, they don’t care who wins. I came to realize that there was always going to be some tension because I cared who the winner was going to be and he didn’t.  But I became comfortable with the fact that I had one agenda and the umpire had another.

 

One ref told me that his job was to make sure the game is played safely and fairly, not to get every call right.”  We would all like for refs to get every call right but as long as we have people doing the job it isn't going to happen.   You aren't going to find a guy that eats carrots everyday to work a 5th grade basketball game.  What do you call a game with no referees?   That is a pickup game, not a true championship.

 

Great basketball Coach John Wooden was quoted as saying you are not a loser until you blame someone else. You must learn to focus on the things you can control. If the referee makes a bad call, it is one thing to voice your opinion in a very respectful way.  It is another when you act like many of the people that we have all witnessed.