[nfb-talk] True Story

[John G. Heim]

I once officiated at a hocky game.

I was reminded of the time I officiated at a hocky game because we got 
around 8 inches of snow today in Madison, Wisconsin. I wore my swampers into 
work because the snow is higher than the hiking boots I usually wear. These 
are essential pieces of survival equipment here in Wisconsin.  Hiking boots 
for every day during the winter and swampers for when it really piles up.

So then I had to bring in some shoes to wear all day. I dug around in my 
closet for some old shoes and what I came up with was an old pair of 
basketball officiating shoes. No, I never officiated at a basketball game. I 
just have the shoes because I got them on sale. Somebody noticed them, 
though and asked jokingly if I was a basketball referee. I said, "No, but I 
did once referee a hockey game."

What happened was that we got another one of those huge snow storms. I was 
organizing an intermural  hocky league and some of the the referees didn't 
show up.  The one ref that did show up said you had to have at least 2 refs 
on the ice or you had to cancel the game. But, he pointed out, the rules 
didn't say anything about the refs being able to see. So, I laced up my 
skates and got out there.

We ended up cancelling the game anyway because the players, realizing that 
if the one ref was looking away, could get away with anything they wanted. 
One player complaining about my refereeing actually came up to me and said, 
"What are you, blind?"

I'm like, "Well, yeah. I am."

I did think it was really sad the way those guys took advantage of a chance 
to kill each other. That's hocky players for you though.

--
John G. Heim
jheim at math.wisc.edu 3-4189
http://www.math.wisc.edu/~jheim/