Not sure this pic has anything to do with this post but you still "have to be kidding me."
In our little tennis officiating world we often hear of decisions made by referees that boggle the mind and imagination...
In Austin this past weekend at a big men's tournament, the referee made the following decisions:
1. When player A called in at 9:05 a.m. and said he was "lost" he did not put him on the clock for his 9:00 a.m. match even though courts were available and the guy had played at that site the day before.
2. When player A arrived at 9:20 a.m. for his 9:00 a.m. match the referee had already put 9 of the 9:00 a.m. matches on and said there were no courts currently available. No penalty was given to player A for either infraction.
It does indeed boggle the mind... Perhaps we should have a remedial school for referees!
8 comments:
And then in the area where I work, when we assess a lateness penalty (in this case it should have been a default) then we get yelled at and "reported to Austin" for enforcing the rules because "they didn't enforce this rule at the last tournament I played." (I still hear players/parents asking for the old grace period!)
I guarantee you, if EVERY tournament regardless of level in the state of Texas would correctly apply and enforce the lateness rules/penalty, it would greatly reduce the problems we have with punctuality. And those who are late would know what is going to happen.
It wouldn't solve all the punctuality problems, but they would be greatly reduced to a much more reasonable level.
But that is probably too easy of a solution!!
I would give the "late for no good reason" player a break - there, most-likely, were hundreds of longhorn fans crying in the streets blocking everyones path to the tennis courts.
I really can't understand why any referee would have a problem with the lateness penalties. They are real clear cut.
Now all they have to do is get the courage to enforce them.
Give Dennis Mc a break for trying to do the right thing. This was a tournament for all those old geezers so I'm sure the guy probably had a minor case of dementia and lost his way from the previous day. That does happen when you get older than dirt.
I tend to agree. He should of been put on the clock then the loss of toss and 3 games would be given the player a break for getting lost.
What would I know. I got in trouble for calling foot faults in a tournament on a guy who was habitual and finally told me he should be given special dispensation because, "I can't serve without foot faulting." Though, I will admit that on many of his serves he didn't touch the baseline ... because his foot was completely INSIDE the baseline.
Just part of the reason I don't make a greater effort to work anymore. I'm not capable of accurately and consistently discerning to whom and under what circumstances certain rules don't apply nor which rules they are that don't apply.
Kevin, you hit the nail square on the head. Your seccond paragraph very accurately describes the state of Texas officiating. The level of inconsistency here(for that matter, maybe the nation) is appalling. Many umpires interpret the rules they way they see fit, without regard for consistency and many times with blatant disregard of the rulebook. If the number of officials leaving the business is still at a high number, maybe inconsistency and personal interpretation of the rules have something to do with the exodus.
The Grape of Wrath
You mean like saying Gosh in Abilene AND Tyler results in a Code Violation and saying God @#*& in Houston gets you accolades.
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