Wrangled up a Jadon

In the event any of you have stopped by here to see if we've posted a new show, well, you are in luck.

Show 024 is now available on iTunes or however you get your podcasts. We finally answer some email, discuss how to handle the distraught coach and promote my other podcast, Tribe 131 Sounders Pow Wow.

With any luck, Jadon will show up on the other podcast I produce, and perhaps Troy will drop in on the POV in a role other than that of driver.

Thanks again for all your support for the show. We'll continue to put out more episodes, though as we've all seen, not on any sort of regular schedule.

Jonathon

Still officiating, if you can believe it

Just posted the latest podcast for Referee POV and will apologize for the sound quality. Received a new portable MP3 recorder for the holidays, recorded Jadon and myself in a car and boy, howdy is that lil' thing sensitive.

With any luck, you'll forgive me the background noise and appreciate the fact I got a new episode out.

Thanks again for your continued support.

A new show!!!

Hey All,

Jadon FINALLY made his way over and we put a show on wax. I will be editing the thing in the next few days and posting Show 22 by the end of the weekend.

Thanks again for your patience. We are still producing, albeit, irregularly.

Jonathon

Fail.

Hey All,

I got called up to the National Team and won't be available to podcast this evening with Jadon so more delays are stacking up to keep the show from being recorded.

Actually, I got a last minute meeting I need to attend tonight for the kids' school (no, he's not in trouble or anything, just a fundraiser), so Jadon and I will have to reschedule...again.

Silly life all being busy...

Jonathon

Dang Jadon

Ok,

Jadon went and got himself a real live full time gig and I am spending the majority of my time either watching the brood or working on my book, so as you can tell it has been a while since we've had a show.

But good news all. Assuming Jadon doesn't pick up the H1N1 going around at his workplace, he is planning on relating a couple fun stories he has (and I have something entertaining myself), next Wednesday. If he should actually make it over, I should have something up on Halloween day or November 1.

Thanks for the patience.

Jonathon

Tarnation!

Hey All,

Still alive on this end and finally back out on the pitch (at least I think that's what I was doing). Jadon has a couple stories, maybe, but finally got himself a real-life full time job so it may be a bit before I can wrangle him back into the studio for a few minutes to have a chat.

Thanks for the emails lately with the questions and comments. We'll be sure to address everything when we can get our acts together enough to produce another show.

I've got a couple low level games next weekend so I should have at least one story about silly coaches or parents (and we all love those, don't we?).

Jonathon

A Jadon this way scampers

Ok,

I will not mess up the recording this time, I almost promise. That said, Jadon is scheduled to stop by Thursday, September 3 to record the next podcast. I have a pretty hectic weekend in store, but should be able to get something out the first part of the following week.

Thanks again for all your support and we'll try to keep you humored.

Ah, Part 2...

It took a bit of time out of my stimulating Saturday afternoon to kick Part 2 in the head on get it off my computer to the interwebs. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as much trouble as Part 1 and with any luck I can get silly little Jadon over here this week to record a bit.

Sorry to say, I have painfully little news from the girl's tournament a couple weekends back. I was hoping for a thrill-fest of cards, dissent, broken bones and complete carnage. Instead, it was an extremely laid back tournament (from my seats anyway), I issued a whopping two cautions, one each in two matches, for essentially the exact same foul (reckless contact after the ball had been played away). No protesting from the players (one actually apologized to the girl she had just flattened), no problems from the coaches or parents. Even the PK I called in the first minute of one match was met with nary a word from anyone. At the half, the AR mentioned that the coach of the player who committed the foul, stated he was surprised his player was still on the pitch after the foul. From my point of view, it was a foul and nothing more, but I can certainly see where it may have looked worse from the touchline.

I hope to have something to you in the next couple weeks. There is the boys tourney this coming weekend (as well as the Fair!!!), so there should be something to talk about.

Thanks again for checking out the show.

Show 20, Part 1 be up

Before y'all get all up my grille about having to release Show 20 in two parts, please consider the following:

1. I am stupid. As a result of my stupidity, I recorded the entire show incorrectly making the subsequent editing of the show a significantly more difficult and lengthy process. Where the typical show takes about 15 mins of editing for every 10 mins of show, my moronity has altered the equation to 25 minutes of editing for every 10 mins.

2. The hard drive where all the good stuff is, died. While I was able to back-up the majority of files from the hard drive before it became defunct, I wasn't able to get the Photoshop original (to easily make the Show Pics) or any of the sound fx or pre-recorded beds (like the vocal intro). Combined with the editing debacle, well, I spent quite a bit of time doing much of nothing. I hope to find the time to re-record an intro, acquire sound fx and re-edit the Photoshop background eventually but unfortunately, it is a VERY low priority.

3. A piece of sound found its way underneath the visible data making the final mix a crazy piece of mess. Once I found it and removed it, I had to re-align the existing sound bits so things didn't sound like, well, bad.

But really, it all starts with me being stupid. I hope to get the second part out by week's end.

Thanks again.

Jonathon

Latest show is recorded, really.

Jadon actually made it over yesterday and we were able to put down about 45 minutes of stuff. Once I have a chance to edit it and throw a bed behind it, I will post it for your appreciative consumption. However, I am kid-laden today, have several matches at a tourney this weekend and am joining the family on Sunday in Seattle for the Jim Henson show at the EMP.

With any luck, the latest will be up early Monday.

Thanks again for your support.

Jonathon

What is wrong with the youth today?

I called Jadon yesterday morning to remind him he was scheduled to record, left him a message and didn't hear back from him until 8pm. Silly boy.

Well, apparently he turned off his phone so he could focus all of his attention on finishing his requirements for graduation. He has now SWORN he will be here next Wednesday to record. If he blows us off again, I say we curse his name.

Hopefully we'll have something entertaining for you next week.

Jonathon

Dang Jadon...

It's me again,

I've been hassling Jadon unmercifully for the past couple, well, ok, I spoke to him yesterday and we have confirmed that we will be sitting down this Wednesday and putting something down.

With any luck, perhaps a lot of luck, I will have time to mix the beast and post it before the end of the weekend. So we are now less than a week away from a new show.

What is in store? Well, I have a disturbing event from the tournament in June. I have a silly card story from the girls high school tournament. Jadon has a story about his first professional line. And we would like to talk more about silly fields and could use your help. If you have any good stories on the subject please let us know.

Thanks again,

Jonathon

A high school tournament? During the summer?

It's true I say. One of the local high school invites several schools from around northwest Washington for a three day, three game guarantee warm-up for the fall season. And lucky me, I am just unemployed enough to get the call to do several matches.

I am going to save the juicy story for the podcast (I am sure to do it more justice there as opposed to here), but suffice to say beyond the Championship match I centered, there was VERY little to report back to y'all. All of the pool play matches were single officials, so there was the occasional offside yelp from a defender or two. However, the two PK's I called this weekend were met with absolutely NO objections from the defensive teams, coaches or parents. I'd actually thought I'd died and gone to referee heaven. Until, that is, the final match. Then the world came quickly back into focus and my illusions of a stretch of four games without idiocy and more idiocy were shattered.

I spoke to Jadon yesterday evening and he is in his last week of school so no podcast until the third week of July it seems. Blame Jadon.

Thanks again,

Jonathon

Something boring this way meanders

Hey all,

Just a quick note to let you know the tourney two weeks ago provided very little in the way of entertaining stories (not for lack of my trying but I'll get to that on the next podcast). That said, there is a girls high school tournament which I have been assigned four games and will certainly have something of note to discuss somewhere at the conclusion (three of the four matches are just me, so ample opportunity for me to make mistakes and be ridiculed for them).

I have a phone call in to Jadon to see if he has any time to record, however, I recently received an invitation from his wife to Jadon's graduate thesis presentation (and subsequent party and graduation). What this means to y'all is it might could be a while longer before he'll have a few minutes to sit down and do a show.

I have received a great question regarding penalty kicks, which Jadon and I will be discussing so if you have any questions, comments, etc. please let me know. Also, we'd still love to hear about any field things (crazy, bad, otherwise) you may have had the misfortune of having to deal with in your time as an official. You can leave comments here, voicemail or email us.

Thanks again for your support.

Jonathon

Oh No! It's Tourney Time...

Well looky here,

It's June 22nd and I have received my assignments for this weekend's youth tournament in Bellingham. I got a call from Jadon today wanting to podcast but since neither of us have done any matches since the last show and there haven't been any responses yet to the interesting field question posed last time, I suggested we wait until after I do five or six matches this weekend and try to throw something together next week.

Seeing as I always have something ridiculous happen to me during a tournament (as I imagine most officials do), I will surely have at least ONE good story coming out of this weekend. Plus I have been asked by the assignor to help with some mentoring (always good to watch other's matches as there is good material there as well). And if that wasn't enough, I may get to be involved with the judicials this weekend and if you haven't had the joy of enduring one of those meetings, well, I will take a couple notes if I get called in and let y'all know what kind of silly happened.

Thanks again for all the support and we will be trying harder to provide something entertaining more frequently this summer.

Jonathon

Contrary to the evidence, we are still podcasting.

Hey all,

Both Jadon and I sincerely apologize for taking such a long hiatus and not letting anyone know it would be happening. I suppose if we had any idea we would be taking a break from the show, we might have made some attempt to let people know.

A new show will be posted in the next 24 hours (June 17, 2009) or else.

Thanks again for your support and we'll find a way to make it up to you.

Sincerely,

Jonathon & Jadon

And a Happy New Year to all y'all!

Here it is Monday the 12th of January and I finished the first weekend of winter games with no incidents that I know of (yet). Yes, there were some scheduling issues (a game being canceled while another being moved then possibly canceled but not) however nothing of large annoyance.

And then I check the mail and what do I discover? An envelope with no return address, postmarked Indiana. Hmm, curious, but it doesn't seem to be large enough to carry a bomb or bio-weapon of any sort so I go ahead on and open it. And what a surprise I had. A money order and a note thanking me for the podcast! I am touched. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm not precisely sure who deserves the thanks (though I have an idea -- but I do know of a couple officials in Indiana who listen to the show), regardless I am most honored by the donation.

The next show should be coming along in the next couple weeks. I was hoping to get out and start doing games again to get a couple stories for the podcast but I suffered a set-back in the healing from the vasectomy and it will be a couple more weeks before I can get back on the pitch. I am not convinced doing the older kids is in my best interest (as I haven't been able to do exercise of any kind since the beginning of December), but it should make for an interesting story if I never make it out of the center circle.

Again, my sincerest thank you for the donation to the cause. I am honored and humbled.

Jonathon

Again with the trauma

I received the schedule for the latest select season last week (and it's a full three month gig, big good times) and have just one minor issue. Not as one might expect the number of matches between this weekend and the end of March, nope. I am having an issue with another administrator in our association.

The way things work: Joe Referee needs to get registered each calendar year (to keep in good standing, be educated and pay fees to cover liability insurance). To this end, someone in each local association collects the paperwork and money from Joe Referee, deposits the monies and sends the paperwork to the state (which then continues the paper trail to Chicago (the National offices)). Said person is also responsible for updating Joe Referee's registration information on the state website and the local website (if applicable).

I once held this position within our association but politics and such made their way in to our little neck of the woods and I have turned the position over to another in 2007. Throughout 2008 I assisted this person in all the responsibilities in order to assure a smooth transition. As I have been somewhat involved in the registration process for referees through 2008, I helped out during Whatcom County's Recertification Day on December 6, 2008, trying to make sure the current Area Referee Administrator (ARA) wasn't overwhelmed by the paperwork and such. The adult soccer association in Whatcom County also held another Recertification Day for officials on December 20, 2008, which the ARA also attended (I was unable to help out at that particular event).

Yes, I am getting to the point.

After I posted the latest schedule, I began receiving phone calls and emails from referees in our association telling me they couldn't self-assign matches through our website as the site didn't think they were registered for 2009. As I don't have any of the paperwork (or subsequent trail), I suggested they contact the ARA to update the website. A couple of days ago I received an email from the State Referee Administrator (I am still included in mass emails for ARAs) insisting the ARAs update the registration files immediately as referees were unable to sign up for the State Cup matches on the State website. I am hoping it is several associations that are creating a problem at the state level, because I am already catching plenty of heck from local officials about not being able to get the matches they want because they weren't updated on the website in a timely manner.

And before you go saying, "If you want something done right, do it yourself," I've been there, I've done that and I grow weary.

Be sure to check out the Referee POV gear at zazzle.com (the link is to your right) and expect a new podcast in the next couple of weeks.

Happy Holidays all!

Hope everything is going well for you this holiday season.

Here in POV land, if you haven't subscribed to the feed, I was able to post two shows in one week. It had quite a bit to do with other people being available and being able to sit down and record. Show 014 features the return of Chris. We discuss his rise and fall in the world of refereeing and the causes thereto.

Show 015 (released less than a week later) brought Jadon back with his brother (currently living in Hawaii) Timon together for couple of rants about Washington State's treatment of soccer officials and a discussion regarding a comment on Show 014.

I thought both shows ended up being pretty informative for those who might not put energy into thinking what goes into officiating. I have to admit I don't often consider the trouble other sports must have getting and keeping officials, but I am sure the problems are not limited to soccer.

On the assigning front, the weather has had a negative effect on the last match day of the season and games were cancelled prior to there being any inclement weather (the call was made the day before based on the weather reports). If the matches would have been played at the times scheduled there wouldn't have been weather issues (the storm front hit several hours after it was expected). Then the weather has continued to get worse (or better if you like snow and ice) so the likelihood of rescheduling the matches looks unlikely (as neither of the matches were to determine 1st or 2nd place in their respective divisions). But I haven't heard "officially" that the matches will not be played so we can't bill the association for the remainder of the season. This also means, I, as the assignor, will have to wait longer to be paid for my services.

For those who aren't aware, assignors typically get compensated (if at all) at the end of the season. The current season has been running since the beginning of September and I probably won't get paid until the first or second week in January. Are there many positions out there that wait so long to compensate for work done? I think employers would have a difficult time getting people to stick around if they only paid once every 4 months. I could be mistaken.

There are now eight designs of tee-shirts available through zazzle.com (the link to Referee POV stuff is to the right). Help support the show and be snarky at the same time.

Thanks again.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

Is the season still going? Yes, the select program still has two more weeks of matches (but are taking the Thanksgiving holiday weekend off) so the last matches will be held on December 13. Yup, cold, muddy and potentially hypothermia-inducing.

I spoke to Jadon yesterday and with any luck he'll be able to sit down with me next week and we can get something posted in the next not too long.

I know I was hoping to get the podcasts (and this here blog for that matter) out a bit more regularly and shall continue to try. I will make efforts. But my efforts are often slighted by the reality of life.

Well, to complain about assigning more (which is the main reason I do it, to complain), I spoke to an official on Friday evening to confirm that he was, in fact, planning on doing a match he requested on Sunday but had yet to accept on our website. He said he was going to need to miss a fitness test that he'd said he take but since he asked for the match, he'd go ahead and do the matches instead.

As I am sure you can see where this story is going, you won't need to imagine my surprise when I receive a call Sunday 15 minutes prior to kick-off letting me know said referee hadn't shown up at the fields. I was working a Western match at the time and couldn't do much as far as calling people nor was I near a computer to see if anyone else might be available on a moment's notice.

After I'd left the Western match, I had a message from the official letting me know he just plain forgot that he had accepted assignments that day. So what do you do? Well, I wept a little.

Hey, be sure to check out the Referee POV t-shirts on Zazzle.com. More designs will be posted all the time.