Ethical Question #2: Is It Right To Play The Race Card In Officiating?

The age-old race card as espoused by Jesse Jackson.

One of the age old tricks in the political world (and now the world of political correctness) is to play the "race card" when you don't get your way or don't get something you want. If you happen to live in Dallas, you hear and see the race card played nearly every day at City Hall or school board meetings.

The question of the day is: "Is it right to play the race card in tennis officiating?"

We see this done frequently at the higher levels of officiating; i.e. the US Open, but is it a reality in the everyday world of officiating?

One of the songs we were taught in Sunday School was "Jesus loves the little children. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight." My motto in hiring officials is, "I don't care if they are red and yellow or black or white, as long as they know the rules and can do the job."

We would welcome your thoughts and comments on this politically correct subject.

Ethical Question #1: ITA Commitments

Question of the day: Do you have ethics?

This blog post marks the start of a new series on ethics--so here we go...

You are an ITA rules certified official who received an availability from a coordinator in September (obviously it wasn't from Baylor because if it was, you would have gotten it in June). You filled it out completely and returned it. Then the coordinator sent you your assignments--which you confirmed.

Then in December you got an invitation to do a big women's pro tournament in Possum Gulch, Texas--which was a tournament you have wanted to work for 17.5 years.

What do you do???

A. Cancel the original assignment because you like the newer assignment better. After all, you have always wanted to climb the pro tournament ladder and this is your chance.

B. Honor your commitment to the first assignment.

C. Call the original coordinator and explain your situation to him--being completely honest that you simply wanted to go to Possum Gulch. Then you honor whatever he allows you to do.

D. Pray that the Lord sends you a case of "travelitis" in which you cannot travel more than 19.7 miles from home. Coincidentally, Possum Gulch is only 19.6 miles from your house.

While I realize that the "Code of Conduct" in the Friend at Court specifically forbids this practice, we all know it happens all too frequently. We would welcome your input on this serious problem in the ITA world.

Let The Chair Training Begin!

2012 TRAINING CLASS

Jim Arnold, Bettie Boyd, Josh Harvey, Mary Jo Douglass, Helen Lyons, Phillip Burch,

and Debbie Threadgill

As is customary in the late summer and early fall, CHAIR TRAINING begins in earnest at the tennis center at Highland Park High School. This past weekend, HP hosted 16 of the top high school teams in the state and the tournament was the training ground for new officials seeking to become ITA chair officials.

Highland Park ISD hosts the only formal training ground for ITA chair officials in the state (and probably the nation). This program enables HP High School to have chair officials for their dual matches as well as providing officials with a great opportunity to advance in the ITA ranks. This past weekend there were seven participants and three ITA certified instructors.

Pictured above are some of this year's participants in the training group.

The San Antonio area was well represented with Bettie Boyd, Helen Lyons, and Debbie Threadgill making the long trip to Dallas to participate.

Debbie may have her eyes closed in the bright sunshine for this picture but she was "all eyes" on the court.

If you are an official who is aspiring to do ITA chairs there are still a few more openings in the training program for this fall. If interested, contact Randy McDonald at rmtennis@yahoo.com

Officials Mourn The Passing Of Ray Delcastillo

RAY DELCASTILLO

One of our most experienced and well-known officials, Ray Delcastillo, passed away this last weekend in San Antonio, Texas. Ray had had some health problems lately and was going to be unable to work this year's US Open. Ray is survived by one niece, so his many tennis official friends were his immediate family.

I can still remember meeting Ray when I was working my first pro tournament in Dallas. He came up and introduced himself and said, "I'll help you figure this all out. Just stay close and remember to ask a lot of questions." He was a quiet and unassuming man, but a good friend to many. He will be missed by all...

Cheryl Jones has been a close friend of Ray's for many, many years and has taken the lead in our helping with his funeral expenses. If you can help financially in any way, here are the options:

* Online by direct deposit to Ray Delcastillo Funeral @ Wells Fargo Bank. Account #9349536053.

* Personal check made out to Ray Delcastillo Funeral and mailed to Cheryl Jones (24615 Player Oaks, San Antonio, Texas 78260).

* Given to Cheryl Jones personally at the US Open on Monday, August 27th. Cheryl will be in attendance at the tournament and will check in to the Officials Office on that Monday.

Here is Ray's obituary in the San Antonio paper:

Ray Delcastillo passed away peacefully August 19, 2012. He was born July 22, 1946 in San Antonio, TX. He was preceded in death by his mother, Elvira Espinoza, sister, Helen Jacobson and brother, Louis Espinoza. Ray worked as a Tennis Official refereeing for over 30 years, most notably referring at the U.S. Open and other tennis matches all over the country. He received the Jack Star Award at the U.S. Open and also was awarded The Texas Umpire of the Year Award. Ray is survived by his niece Helen Ann (Brian) Evins; nephew, William E. Jacobson III; sister-in-law Rachel Espinoza; cousins, Michael and Rachel; and a host of dear friends from the tennis community.

SERVICES

A funeral procession will depart Mission Park North at 9:00 AM Tuesday, August 28, 2012 for a 9:30 AM graveside service at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery with Military Honors. You may sign the on-line guest book atwww.missionparks.com under the obituary section.

UPDATE ON RAY'S SERVICE (8-24-12)

Ray will have a military funeral Tuesday, at Ft Sam at 9:30 am... procession begins at 9:00 am from the Mission Hills Chapel on Cherry ridge Road. After the service, there will be a fellowship get together at the home of Ray's nephew. William Jacobson, 269 E. Craig, SAT 78212. He lived on the same street as Ray. Go south on San Pedro like you are going to McFarlin Tennis Center. Guests and family are bringing food for the occasion. The family has asked that donations to your charity of choice be made in lieu of flowers. If you have pictures of Ray, please feel free to share them with family. They really do not know very much about how he impacted tennis officiating and would be very proud to hear from his extended tennis family.

Those that need additional information may contact Ray's niece, Helen Evins, 210 269-1540 or email at hevins@satx.rr.com.

Official Charged With Murder And Extradited To California

Official Lois Goodman being extradited from NYC to California.

ARREST OF TENNIS OFFICIAL AT THE U.S. OPEN

A 70-year-old U.S. Open tennis referee accused of smashing a coffee cup over her 80-year-old husband's head and stabbing him with one of the shattered pieces was apparently having an affair. A search warrant affidavit has revealed police found numerous emails and notes between Lois Goodman and a man as they searched her Los Angeles home days after the death of her husband. The revelation comes just two days after police swooped on Goodman in a New York City hotel as she prepared for the U.S. Open. She was taken away wearing her competition tracksuit. The elderly mother of three has now be extradited back to Los Angeles, where she will face trial. As she quietly left a Manhattan court on Thursday, she was still wearing her referee uniform.

She had told detective she arrived home and found a trail of blood leading upstairs to a broken mug covered in blood. She followed the blood to her bedroom, where she found her husband not breathing, according to the affidavit. She then called 911.

Before he could be cremated, investigators intercepted the body and found multiple lacerations on the right side of his head, three cuts on his right ear and a blunt force trauma not consistent with a fall, the Daily News reported.

Investigators also deemed the large stain of blood near the stairs suggested he had suffered an injury and stayed there for some time, court documents said.

Blood was also found on the kitchen floor, inside a linen closet and by a garage, and mug pieces were found in his scalp, sources told the Daily News. When she was questioned for a second time, Goodman said the body looked as if it had been positioned by an intruder. Despite these conflicting accounts and suggestions of an affair, Goodman has protested her innocence. She has returned to Los Angeles and is expected to be arraigned on Monday.

'I don’t know what happened,' Goodman told the New York Post from Rikers Island. 'It's a shock. This happened four months ago.' 'She's anxious to defend herself' in California, her New York lawyer, Guy Oksenhendler, said.

Goodman is well known in tennis circles and was preparing to serve as a referee at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships tournament, a district attorney's office spokeswoman, Jane Robison, said. She has refereed at the U.S. and Australian Opens for years, according to the Los Angeles Times. Goodman has umpired with some of the world's top tennis players since the 1970s, including matches featuring Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova.

In a 1994 interview with the L.A. Times, she said: 'It's exciting. This is my favorite sport and I'm out there rubbing shoulders with the best players. There's no real way to describe it.'

Great News! You Can Now Get "Sugarpova"

New candy magnate: MARIA SHARAPOVA

NEW YORK (AP) -- Maria Sharapova is going into the candy business.

The four-time Grand Slam title winner launched her Sugarpova brand of 12 types of sweets on Monday.

At this year's French Open, which Sharapova won, she called Sugarpova ''the most exciting project that I've ever done ... because it's my own business, my own investment, my own money.''

Sharapova is ranked third heading into the U.S. Open, which starts next week.

NCAA Announcement Out & Then Changed

Well, the news is finally out and there are going to be some huge changes in NCAA tennis beginning in 2013. These changes will be submitted to the ITA and they will vote on them in December, 2012, and probably institute them in January, 2013.

In a nutshell, here are the changes:

* The NCAA spring tournament will still have 16 regionals. They will be followed by four super-regional tournaments with the four winners going to the NCAA Final Four Tournament. There will be a site selected each year for the final tournament.

* All singles matches will be the best of three tiebreak sets with a ten point tiebreak for the third set.

* All doubles matches will be a six game set with a tiebreak at 6-all.

* There will be no warm-up at the beginning of the matches. Players will do a coin toss and then begin play.

* Time between singles and doubles matches in a dual match is now five minutes.

* Shorten the time for the changeover to 60 seconds.

UPDATE AS OF AUGUST 23, 2012

The committee announced that they have rescinded some of the changes and will only keep the following:

* No warmup.

* Time is 60 seconds on changeovers.

* Time between singles and doubles is five minutes.

Just One More Day Before The Big Announcement--And Then A New Series On Ethics

Tomorrow is the big day for the announcement from the NCAA. Its been great fun hearing all of your speculations but I doubt seriously if any of them are going to come true. Be sure to check in tomorrow...

Following tomorrow's post, we will begin a new look at ethics in Texas and the USTA. For those who don't know what ethics are, here's a hypothetical situation we will be addressing:

When you hold a super champ tournament in the winter and it gets snowed out, do you keep the entry fees or return them or offer free entry fees into another tournament?

What is the ETHICAL response to something that happens all-too-frequently in Texas?

Stay tuned for more examples and more questions...

Big Announcement Coming Wednesday

Stay Tuned For Wednesday's Big Announcement

Sometimes I like to tantalize your taste buds a bit by telling you something in advance--so here goes...

There will be a major announcement by the NCAA this Wednesday that specifically concerns collegiate tennis. It will be a blockbuster--but that's all I can publicly announce right now.

Be sure to stay tuned--and especially on Wednesday...

What Is An Appropriate Prize For Winning A Tournament

One of the quickest ways to start a lively discussion at a tennis tournament is to discuss the prizes being awarded to the winners. Its not uncommon at all for players to pay over $35 to enter a tournament (and sometimes even play events without a backdraw) so there are numerous and varied opinions about what the appropriate prize should be.

Of course one of the determining factors is the amount of the entry fee and the cost of running the tournament.

The favorite award among college students is a gift card to Best Buy. Usually the cards have a value of up to $50.00

Smaller trophies are awarded in the smaller tournaments. Cost for these begin at $6-$10 and can go up to astronomical levels.

Some tournaments today even give a can of balls to the winners!

Eyes & Ears Everywhere...

KEY TO A BLOG'S SUCCESS: HAVING EYES AND EARS EVERYWHERE

Seems that every time I post a blog questioning something or asking sharp and probing questions, then people who get offended go into overdrive. They begin calling and emailing my friends and wanting to know what and when they told me something--and usually I didn't hear a thing from their "beloved friend." In the past year I've heard from officials all over everywhere and people in leadership and on committees so its give me great assurance that they are reading the blog (even though some of the most vehement say they detest it and never read it or give it a second thought.)

Blogs function primarily by keeping your eyes and ears open and watching things happen around you. My greatest sources of information come from people around the state and country who believe in officials and want things done honestly and in order. When people or organizations violate those principles then we begin to get calls and emails asking us to write about the problem.

Blogs are a great source of information for the average official since those in leadership (and Texas especially) do very little to inform officials of important events, issues, and things that interest them. I do find it strange that some in leadership used to email and ask me to print things on the blog but when I questioned some things they had done--the requests quickly went away.

The good thing about a blog is that we can get information into the hands of officials all over everywhere with the click of a mouse... We will always post items of interest for officials and do our best to keep them informed about things that interest them. We have even offered to set up a blog for some in leadership in Texas but their response was, "I'm afraid of a blog and don't know what to say." Its not really that hard--just keep your eyes and ears open and the rest will come naturally.

We will always blog about injustices, ineptness, and untruthfulness. Sadly, these three things happen all too frequently in our tennis officiating world. The Bible teaches us that the lovers of darkness hate the light so its easy to understand the vitriolic responses of some when we bring light to what they are doing. The best way to not get offended is to not do bad or inept things...

Another aspect of a blog is the pure enjoyment that comes from hearing from people and sharing things of interest. Its always fun to laugh together and officials always enjoy hearing what others are doing. The way we get information like this is to simply keep our eyes and ears open and listen toofficials from all over the world.

The good thing about blogging is that you bless some and get under the skin of others. That's just how it works. If you get offended too easily--then get over yourself. You probably brought it on yourself... You will never go very far in this life if you take yourself too seriously and get offended over anything and everything. For instance, its not my fault that the officials at the women's tournament in Ft. Worth didn't do their job. I just heard about it and reported what I was told. As one writer said, "if the shoe fits, wear it."

Sometimes I get a little weary of hearing the cheap petty criticisms leveled by some but then I realize that's part of being a public blog. It goes with the territory and sure isn't worth losing any sleep over. We have numerous friends all over the world because of the blog--and its here to stay, to love, support, question, and even to sometimes torment...

Come enjoy the ride with us...

Oops! I Hope She Didn't Read The Blog

Chair & Roving Training Available

ATTENTION: All new officials who are looking for roving training and/or chair training.

Specialized training in roving and chairs will be offered this fall at Highland Park High School dual matches. Each match will offer an opportunity for roving or chair training in highly competitive matches with experienced instructors.

If you are interested in this training, contact Randy McDonald at rmtennis@yahoo.com or 214 796 7402.

Remember that chair experience is required if you want to do ITA officiating in the spring and this is a great opportunity to get that experience.

SCHEDULE OF TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

August 24 Highland Park team tournament

August 25 Highland Park team tournament

September 4 Highland Park vs Forney HS (3:30 p.m.)

September 21 Highland Park vs Southlake Carroll HS (10:30 a.m.)

September 25 Highland Park vs W. Mesquite HS (3:30 p.m.)

September 26 Highland Park vs El Paso Coronado (3:30 p.m.)

September 29 Highland Park vs McKinney North (9:00 a.m.)

October 9 Highland Park vs Newman Smith (3:30 p.m.)

Recent Hypothesis: RM And His Blog Don't Exist.

SURELY YOU JEST!!!

One of the neatest things about having a tennis officials blog is getting to see the varied (and sometimes vicious) responses of people to the blog and the posts therein.

Seems that some of our beloved officials now have a unique way or reacting when they are confronted with the blog or information on the blog--they say my blog and I simply DON'T EXIST... (Of course this comes from some of the more easily-offended officials at the women's pro tournament in Ft. Worth.)

Since I was greatly amused by this new tactic, I thought I would share a few of my random thoughts about my LACK OF EXISTENCE.

If my blog and I didn't exist then:

* Why do over 1,200 people visit our blog each week?

* Why do people in the USTA and Texas Section offices read it so faithfully?

* Why do people send me information when they want to get it out to everyone?

* Why did my two dogs just sit in my lap at my house here in Plano?

* Why did people call to tell me that my "existence" is now in question?

* Why do pro officials get their panties in a wad when they hear my name?

You see--my blog and I exist today for these reasons:

* To share information pertinent to tennis and tennis officials.

* To have a good time.

* To listen to officials' complaints and joys.

* To poke fun at things we seem to hold so near and dear.

* To confront those who can't seem to tell the truth.

* To expose injustices in the world of tennis officiating.

SURELY YOU JEST when you say that I don't exist. I'm alive and well and having a great time fellowshipping with some and offending others.

Have a good day and please note that I didn't say you don't exist. I know you're out there and hopefully will have more good blog posts about you in the days to come.

Note: They still haven't trained the chair officials in Ft. Worth how to put the game scores on the scoreboard...

Olympic Gold For The USA

Bob & Mike Bryan

OLYMPIC GOLD MEN'S DOUBLES

Serena Williams

OLYMPIC GOLD WOMEN'S SINGLES

Evaluation Of Pro Level Chairs & ITA Scoreboards

WHAT'S MISSING IN THIS PICTURE? THE GAME SCORE!

One of the hottest topics among tennis officials is the quality of pro chair officials as compared to ITA chair officials--and of course, I've been called biased for ITA officials--and in this case, rightfully so...

Seems that at the 10k Women's Pro Tournament in Ft. Worth this week the pro chair officials can't (or won't) put the individual game scores on the scoreboard. Their excuses are:

* They are not trained to do so.

* Its too much trouble.

* They won't be able to issue code violations if they are busy pushing buttons.

* They are used to having someone do the score boards for them.

I won't even begin to venture into a discussion of those excuses other than to say that in the Texas ITA world we usually allot 5 minutes (maximum) training time for a BRAND NEW OFFICIAL to learn how to use the scoring devices that they are using in Ft. Worth this week.

Actions speak louder than words and in this case, these chair officials wouldn't be permitted to work an ITA event in Texas.

Enough said...

To Boycott Or Not Boycott--That Is The Question

Today is the big day set aside for either boycotting or supporting Chick Fil A for their support of the Biblical view of marriage. McDonald's makes their view known in the picture above...

Before everyone gets all worked up, here's the actual quote from the President of Chick Fil A:

“Guilty as charged,”, Cathy said when asked about his company’s support of the traditional family unit as opposed to gay marriage.

“We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that,” Cathy is quoted as saying.

Seems kind of strange that we are fighting over an issue like this when our country is literally drowning in debt.

Scene from a Chick Fil A restaurant today...

I guess they won't be serving Chick Fil A at the Democrat National Convention this year...

Here's a site that tells you what transpired today:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/chick-fil-supporters-gather-appreciation-day/story?id=16904664#.UBmTQ7SL40I