http://www.columbussoccerref.com Observations, opinions & other ramblings of a soccer referee Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:00:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Sorry to everyone.  I'd been meaning to blog about my Regionals experiences on a more ongoing basis, but really haven't been able to work it in.  Some of the reasons will be clear in the review. Day 1 - continued from last post. Check-in was smooth for everyone.  Then we all went ... http://www.columbussoccerref.com/region-ii-regionals/2008/06/24/ This year is the first time I've been invited to Regionals and have been looking forward to it for a while.  I was planning to give updates of my experiences each day, if nothing else by using my iPhone.  But fortunately our rooms have WiFi acces, so each night I'll ... http://www.columbussoccerref.com/coverage-of-region-ii-regionals-begins-today/2008/06/20/ Back on May 27, I posted my review of the Spring Best Of The Midwest tournament which was hosted by the Chicago Magic.  At the time, I ranted about a tournament that didn't pay their referees at the field at the time of the match and promised to post an ... http://www.columbussoccerref.com/update-on-bomw/2008/06/17/ I was recently pointed to Robert Evans' excellent blog "For the Integrity of Soccer" where I was reading about an incident in Dallas. While it was often referred to, the video of the incident was never linked to. After doing some digging, I was was able to find ... http://www.columbussoccerref.com/the-10-yard-myth-the-divine-right-to-delay-the-restart/2008/05/30/ I've been a referee for a while now, and recently came across a situation where for the first I sent a player off after the match had ended.  It was a U14B match at the Best Of The Midwest tournament.  The match was pretty typical of a higher-level U14 boys ... http://www.columbussoccerref.com/and-dont-let-the-door-hit-you-in-the-butt-on-the-way-out/2008/05/28/ At least once a year I try to do some games outside the Columbus/Ohio South area. I like to see styles and levels of play I can’t necessarily see in Columbus. Since I have family in the Chicagoland area, I usually find a tournament in that area and ... http://www.columbussoccerref.com/review-of-best-of-the-midwest-tournament/2008/05/27/ Well. . .the Ohio South State Cup 2008 is now in the books. Apparently, Ohio South does State Cup differently than the other states in Region 2. In OH South, we have preliminary matches throughout April and then have the Round Of 16/8 the first weekend in May and then ... http://www.columbussoccerref.com/state-cup-2008-observations/2008/05/18/ I did a tournament recently and was definitely surprised at how much whining there was over throw-ins. In the matches I did, most of the complaints came from teams east of Columbus - notably from PA and Ontario, Canada. The majority of the time, their complaints were centered ... http://www.columbussoccerref.com/whining-about-law-15/2008/05/01/ Alright. . .I'm definitely feeling that I have to vent. I'm very quickly losing patience with Official Sports. OSI and USSF announced the new-style shirts at the 2007 MLS Cup. That was November 18, 2007. Now here we are FIVE MONTHS LATER and ... http://www.columbussoccerref.com/getting-very-impatient-with-official-sports/2008/04/24/ One major difference between players and referees is that referees can’t go to practice. Sure we can read the LoTG and the Advice To Referees, but real improvement can only come from doing matches, making mistakes, and learning from them. Of course the spectators, coaches, and players don’t ... http://www.columbussoccerref.com/mistakes-made-lessons-learned/2008/04/21/