It has to be tough being a referee in professional sports and not for the reason you are probably thinking of. Referees can't have a favorite team in the sport that they work in. You would think that a football referee had a favorite team growing up and that's why he wanted to be a referee in the NFL. How do you get a job in a sport you love and just not like any teams anymore? Also what makes you want to become a professional referee anyway?
I mean umpiring your son's little league team is probably fun but what's the incentive to going pro? I could never do it. I would want to watch the game and not my section of the field. That's the other challenge, is having a section of the field to watch during the whole game and not sneaking a peak at the actual play. Obviously I'm centering around football because that is what I mostly watch. I guess it's all about ethics and doing your job. I think the refs are underrated. I wonder how much they get paid? Are they under contract too? These are the things that I ponder everyday.
1 comment:
I was listening to a piece on NPR a while ago, and they said that there's only 68 umpires in the MLB.... And it's a huge process to become an umpire in the majors....
You have to go to school, finish at the top of the class, get noticed by the big wigs, suffer with a low paying job in the minors, and wait for an opening in the majors (and you'll be one of 225 minor league umpires they have to choose from)....
It does not sound like a fun process....
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