chipinbogey

There are associations throughout the Commonwealth that work in partnership with the VHSL. Richmond, Roanoke, Lynchburg, NOVA, and here it is the Appalachian Football Officials Association. We were short on numbers last year but, seem to be building back a little based on initial numbers. Our association covers GW, but I haven't heard of any moves based on anticipation of us being short again. Of course, to a school, I could see it being slightly more advantageous to have a game on a Thursday night. The fact of the matter is we could always use more officials to help us cover games.

I hated to hear this last night. I truly always enjoyed working his games. I will always vividly remember heading into a stadium to work at a game this past season, and he was parked outside the stadium. He then called us all by name over to his car, and we chatted briefly, wished us a great game, and we were off. It's funny how stuff like that sticks with you in life.

Our crew loves Macadoos whenever we are in a town that has one anymore. I can speak for Wooden Pickle, Bellas(we have all of our pre-season crew meets there), and Bonefire. Although it used to be a chain, we STILL mess with the Bonanza in Lebanon. I'm with Sixcat, find the local spots. We ALWAYS get great food and service there and they are usually more than accommodating to host us for our meetings.. I can microwave food at home, looking at you Applebees and Chilis.

The thing I love most about this community is NOTHING and I mean NOTHING gets more heated than food conversations. Everyone pulls for their team, and 99% of the time it's extremely respectful. But by god bring up food, buckle up Buttercup....

I knew I put it on a tee for someone to take as soon as I hit enter.

Alcoa would run all over either by as much as they felt like. They're a 6A talent school in 3A clothing.

Poor choice of words on my part and definitely taken out of context. What I am referring to is the "holding" calls everyone wants away from the point of attack. The subjective calls that would not affect the outcome of the game whether called or not.

This x1000. If the average football fan knew half of what they think they know, we would not have a shortage of qualified officials nationwide. Are there missed calls in every game? Absolutely. But, they pay their $6 every week and officiate from the stands WITH bias, that part is important, about things that in the grand scheme of the game DO NOT MATTER. Some would be absolutely blown away to know there is a whole philosophical side to officiating, even more so about what goes into that process. I'm fine with them blowing up someone over a bad call, or booing because of a perceived miss. That is what it is. Some fan bases go ENTIRELY too far in picking on officials age, weight, appearance, etc. I have pretty thick skin and I am pretty comfortable with my appearance. Not everyone is though, and I cannot blame some for just leaving altogether. Sure, there is one bad apple in every fan base, however, some fan bases are just AWFUL in what these folks will say to officials. Sorry for the rant, but it has really went from problem to crisis this season. We have a people problem in this country. Decency is a thing of the past and the lack of will only continue to push others away from a very noble cause and enjoyable avocation.

Varsity-11. Could have been more, but logistically, I had to turn some back in to make college assignments. I think I turned in 3 this season Subvarsity-over 15 (I'd have to look at my planner to be sure) College- 9 and counting

This is not a new issue. It's been happening all season. The difference is we run 5 man crews through regular season, 7 man crews for playoffs. We had plenty of moves to be able to cover 5 through the week for a lot of these games. The AFOA is aging, and believe it or not, these games do take a lot out of you mentally, and physically. I'm lucky enough to be on the younger end of the bell curve, but I can tell you, I'm tired. It's been an extremely long season full of moves, cancellations, traveling, and skeleton crews. If it takes playing a playoff game on a Thursday to make sure we have enough officials, that is what it is. We are down almost 35% on our roster from fall 2019 to now.

Those mid-90's Grundy teams were loaded. Dressing over 50 players, many went on to play college ball, and just humongous on the line. Salem did not want to make that bus ride across the mountain and at the time, Grundy had no visitor bleachers. That was the nail in the coffin, not the field conditions, but separate bleachers. The field in Tazewell that day was much much worse than the one in Grundy that week. 25 years have passed and I still remember that day and week like it was last week. I still have a field pass and program from that game somewhere, I need to look for it when the season ends and I actually have free time again.

Mudgate was and still is a crime to Buchanan County football. Don't let them forget Leonard.

Leader in the clubhouse for “Underrated Comment of the Year”. 😂😂😂😂

Hence why half the stadium met the crew at the exit, because no one could see and they just made the call for them. Haha With all due respect, it was not even close to a completion. Ball was overthrown, receiver made a great effort just to get hands on it.

I’m not a sensitive person. It takes really insulting my ancestry to hurt my feelings. Chill, we’re good.

Look guys, Ryan made a funny on the internet. Let’s all laugh along with him. Now god forbid we mention cleats around him because that definitely is NOT funny anymore 😂

The ball hit the receiver right in the hands and he dropped it. He NEVER had possession. Moving on.

What if I told you the same crew you thought was atrocious last week was the same crew this week? It’s almost as if the result of the game determines folks opinions on the officiating no matter what calls were or were not made.

Come on out and join us then Ryan if they were that atrocious. All crews make mistakes, they're human. That one was a simple miscommunication, since the chain crew and moved the chain clip moved during all of that chaos, no one could get the original spot. And in the midst of all that chaos, no one can recall the play before that. The penalty was assessed from the spot of the foul to begin with, which was wrong. It's dead ball, then proceeding spot on the sequence of fouls called. It genuinely humors me that we HAVE to be life and death perfect under every circumstance. That crew called a pretty good ball game outside of that sequence. Fact of the matter is, it affected the outcome of the game absolutely zero, Richlands still couldn't score. No one likes us, we get it, but it's comments like those that it glaringly obvious why we have a hard time retaining and recruiting officials. Both calls were there, the assessment got jumbled. To this day, no one has ever officiated a perfect game.

The Midway Mussels. Done and done.

Two words: Eagles Nest. Thank me later.

I had Northwood a few weeks back. They are reallllllllly down on numbers. Barely had enough healthy to start the 2nd half. I'd say Warriors by as much as Coach Robinson wants.

Only a fool goes in Cuz's and orders the BBQ. Show me anywhere else you can get a 32 oz Prime Rib dinner for $40. To each their own I suppose. We go at least once a month and it's till as good aas ever. They do say your taste buds change as you age though so that might be the issue.😆

Just stop at Cuz's in Pounding Mill on the way up. Best food you will find in a 50 mile radius there. Ignore all of the incoming haters that will quote this post by saying "it's too high", "they're rude", "it's not good", etc. I will put my word on it that it is far and away the best stop to eat at on that ride.

No official is going to shut a train horn down, or stop a band from playing. That is completely up to the site administrator and how they want to proceed. We have our hands full enough without worrying about what is going on outside the fence. We may put it in our game report to our supervisor and it may be handled from there moving forward. We've got 22 players, an UBSURD amount of coaches these days to monitor and keep off the field, and 2 time keepers to monitor with only 5 sets of eyes and ears. A train horn is the least of our worries.