Don’t be a homer

Before I get started, as a show of good faith, I will be the first one to admit that I have a hard time not rooting for some of our local sports teams when they are in action. I think it’s only normal to want to see kids do well, especially ones that you sometimes become attached to through daily contact.

However, as a reporter first, I have to find a way to remain neutral while I am working. That’s just part of the job. If by some chance I let a little ‘way to go’ slip out, no harm done as long as the two teams playing are not both local.

Now I will get to my point and I hope nobody takes this the wrong way.

If there is a referee that graduated from a particular school, or has some sort of interest in how the game ends (children or relatives on the team, good friends coaching or maybe dating them) that referee should not be calling that particular game. You can say what you want, but I have seen several occasions when the outcome winds up being closer than it should be.

Believe me, I am not singling anyone out, I just feel like a little discretion in who is assigned to certain games would be wise. I’m not even sure who does the assigning for some of the games in the area, but it looks like some people are being given games that are close to home just to be nice.

In the long run, I think this type of thing will hurt the teams. What happens if a team has some cushy calls all season at home and when they get on the road in the postseason, refs call totally different than they are used to.

That’s right, it will result in a loss and teams will have no one to blame but those homegrown refs.

Oh well, there may not be much to what I am thinking, but that’s the beauty of this.

It’s my blog and I can say what I want to.