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Written by: Greg Bonomo
Dodge, Dip, Dive, Duck, and Dodge, oh and yell at the refs loud enough and long enough until you get them to call it in your favor. OK, yeah I understand that it’s 20 screaming kids against two referees, but make your calls based on the ability of one to complete the 5 D’s of dodgeball. If they are unable to do so, and get hit by an opponent’s ball, they are what we call OUT. Oh, and for the referees to successfully say this very powerful three-letter word, they probably have to be watching the game. I don’t want to sound too harsh, but in my experience in the intramural program, mainly dodgeball, I have come across referees that don’t blow their whistles, forget what the actual rules are, call people “out” based on the volume of the opposing team, and if a friend of one of the referees is there, then forget it, they are not going to be paying attention.
My team makes it to the semifinals, and it’s down to one guy on our team and a girl on the other. The referee calls, “Ten seconds until full court!” and we know that we have to wait it out so we can just tag the girl on the other team so we will win and move on to the finals. The whistle blows and my teammate has three balls in his hands, and the girl on the other team has two. He blatantly hits her in the leg, and our team goes crazy! We won that game and we were going to go to the championship… But wait. The referees are still sitting down, swinging their useless whistles around their fingers like they actually use it, and they didn’t call anything? The other team is yelling, “YOU’RE NOT OUT, YOU’RE NOT OUT!” and we’re screaming, “SHE’S OUT, SHE’S OUT!” This is the one moment where you can scream at a football player and not get punched in the face – well, at least not until after the game.
So what happens is the girl on the other team throws a ball at my very confused teammate who thinks he just got her out. Now everyone is going crazy. Everyone begins to crowd around the referees, but surprisingly no one crosses the black line dividing both teams, and we are hoping that this invisible barrier between our team and the beasts on the other team with arms the size of my legs will not break. I was looking for the nearest exit when the 6’10’’ 350lb grizzly bear on the other team decided he wanted to swing. So, after the mess, the referee calls over the girl, who did get hit, and my teammate. The referee claimed she did not see it, obviously because she was too preoccupied talking with her friend about the latest GB homework or when Dancing with the Stars was on, and guess what she does? She asks the girl if she got hit?!?!? What!!!
I was going to get mauled by Coco the bear because I was screaming so much, and the referee is going to end it like that. Who in this entire school would admit that they got hit with a dodgeball, if doing so would make your team lose? I don’t care if you are an Ethics and Social Responsibilities major, you and I both know there is no way you would lose it for your team because you want to “do the right thing.” Sure enough, the girl says, “No, I didn’t get hit.” Why didn’t the referee ask my teammate if he hit her? I don’t get it.
Am I taking this way too seriously? Yes, but realize that I, as well as many others in the program, still want to be competitive, and we don’t want the attitude of the referees to be, “It’s only intramurals.” So, here is what I want to do, because I know I have been a little harsh on the referees of the Intramural Dodgeball Program. I want the intramural referees to get a pay raise, but in response to that, they have to do a better job. I mean, I understand it is hard to sit in a chair at the middle of a basketball court for half an hour and twiddle your thumbs, but why don’t we get people to referee that know what it takes? You may ask if all of this is simply for a t-shirt and a pat on the back. Yes! Put yourself in our shoes for a second; many of us don’t play a sport, and many of us are washed-up athletes, but we all want to be competitive and we all still want to win.
{ 1 comment }
Basketball has the same exact problem. I’ve seen girls games getting to the point of dangerous when teams start fouling because they know the referees won’t call it. They also ruin the spirit of the game by obviously not making travelling and back court calls. These kids get paid 8-10 dollars an hour to be there, the least they can do is blow a whistle every now and then and give us a good game.
The athletic center also needs to do more to enforce that their workers are doing their jobs, otherwise they’re just throwing money down the drain. In most cases it would be a better called game if players just made their own calls. I feel this is a problem across all intramural sports and it’s ruining the integrity of the program. Why not just organize pick up games if you’re not willing to support the program the way it should be.
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