The weekend in Alaska

I was hoping to get more blogging time, but I was really busy and then really tired. With the sun out longer in these parts it was hard to tell when to sleep. The picture is the house all the out of state referees stayed. We had referees from Cal-North, Cal-South, Washington, and even one from Montana. Funny part about where we were staying, it felt like a "Big Brother" setting where the best referees would be the last to go. I have to say Jesse and I were the 3 and 4th place as the Husband and wife from Washington got the latest flight out of here.

Thursday night Jesse and I had an exhibition match at Dimond High School. It was a good game, not much going on. After the game we had a meeting and the locals introduced us out of staters. My favorite was when one of the head locals was telling his referees, "Don't embarrass us."
I should have listened to that advice. On Friday, John started us out with U11 boys which was an easy game. Coach was annoying as hell, but more on him later. I had my second game with U12 girls. In AK the maximum players was 8 instead of 11 for under 12 and below. This got me in trouble. SERIOUS TROUBLE. My ARs were first year referees. I gave a pre-game, but took for granted they would count the players. One team had one player extra on the field. When was this caught. If you are feeling the twist in your gut, you know it wasn't the best of times. It was shortly after the restart of the first goal the extra playered team scored. It really sucked and it didn't take long for tournament directors to catch wind of it.
At half time the score was 4-0 now. The tournament director came and I told him, I screwed up (Yes my ARs buried me, but ultimately I should have taken more caution). The losing coach came out and I told him on the spot before he can speak that I screwed up and he has every right to be upset, but we need to finish the game. He was more then understanding of the situation. Basically the score stayed the same and even if they took the one goal for sake of points. Lucky me!


Day 2 was better. It was all U19's and more my element. I did the girls center. It was as fun as usual. Only had to give one stern lecture and it was all good. The boys I did a line for Jesse and this other guy from Montana. Between the 3 of us, we had good control of the match but the games were a bit lopsided on the boys.



Also on the photo to your left is a fine example of dress and appearance. Would you take this referee seriously?


Day 3 was the best. I had a U15 boys semi final. Northern Lights were well connected from the back line to the front strikers. Alaska Rush was struggling after the first goal. It was a near perfect game except I did have to caution a Rush player for a tactical foul which was pretty damn close to be a DOGSO. Two defenders got back in time to make it just a yellow. The only goal Rush got was through my PK call where Northern lights passed the ball back and the keeper juggled it a bit too long. Lost the ball, so he tackled the player. Lucky for the keeper, the stricker was dribbling away from goal or I would have had to send him off in another DOGSO scenerio.


I also ran line for a couple of games. One was with John M. I hadn't refereed with him in years. We had fun and the girls played some hard soccer. The U15 boys final, I got Northern Lights again. They played Phoenix and while Phoenix played hard, a few of them played too hard. There was a #13 which committed most of the fouls, encroched a few times, kicked the ball away after a foul. He should have been booked, but the center, an up and coming youth, didn't have the courage. I even asked him at half time, who the trouble makers are. He said 13. However a couple more talking to was all I saw. At one point, the last 15 minutes 13 dicided to play ball, but I still thought he should have gone in the book. Now he is someone else's problem.



After the tournament we went to a party where we had all kind of Salmon and Halabout. I was stuffed, but it was a great way to end a tournament weekend. I'm flying home today in about 5 hours. Some referees weren't lucky as they had a midnight flight. Fortunately I learned from the last time I was there to get what you want.


ETA: It looks like Jesse and I are the last ones out of the house. The Washington couple left us a note saying goodbye. So my plan to win this big brother contest is to have Jesse leave first.

Touched down in Alaska.

Well I'm spending my first night in Anchorage and this place I am staying at is incredable. AS I told my wife, it is basically my wet dream of a house. There are 3 levels. You enter the house in mid-level. Each room as a bathroom/shower and ethernet connection which is a must so I can write this blog.

This time I have a traveling partner, Jesse N., who is passed out at the moment from exhustion. Tomorrow night I have a center in a girls exhibition match. Supposed to be like an All-Star game with the best girls in the State of Alaska. Should be fun, but why do I get the feeling more eyes will be on me then I would care to?

I will have pictures of this house because words alone can not decribe it. Basically for a little history of the Hickle house, it used to be a mom who housed 15 kids. Lots of rooms. The bottom level is a rec room with a pool table, ping pong table, dart board. I tell you, I can run poker tournaments down here easily.

A point that was brought up on the ptich..

Well yesterday was a Sunday of assessments. The game before and the game after both had assessments and if Robert F. had his way, he would be assessed as well. Robert would have probably passed his with flying colors. If there was one thing an assessor would bring up is the fact he missed Substitution flags 3 times. After that little mess up, Robert seemed to have adjusted. Only one time he restarted the game prematurely. Otherwise he was good at waiting for me to get back into position and the paperwork in my pocket. Mez. was a team I knew very well. They have gotten their fair share of red cards from me. They knew me pretty well too, even after a year absence from them. Their goalkeeper who I'm usually butting heads with over one thing over another wanted to know why I wasn't running center. I told him I was easing back into the swing of things and honestly I wasn't sure if I was CPSA ready for a center yet. I told him I came out of a full year recovery and he basically told me I was missed. Considering the guy loses it by the first 10 minutes of the game, I took that as a complement. I was expecting Mez. to shutout Con. but while Mez. dominated the game in possession, they could not finish. Con. had one true shot at goal (You ask Jim (AR2) he would have said there were 2) and that one shot counted as a goal. Con. played possession for the most part and the Mez. keeper was out a bit too much and he paid for it with a nail in the coffin 2nd goal to make it almost hard for Mez. to come back.

I felt pretty good, pretty much my old self. I believe if I impose more discipline in my training I will be ready by July/August for my assessment.

So the meaning of my title. The game before me had Bill B. He also fell on the same hard luck I did with an injury and couldn't make the requirements to maintain his grade. I went grade 8 while I choose the path of Emeritus. I saw he managed to make up his requirements to get his badge back. He also said, "The next one that complains to Jones regarding how unfair it is not to get a waiver, he will say, 'Well GP and Bill B. did it. You can too.'"