Pot Pouri - Mind Dump

1. He Ain't That Good --

I totally thought about the dichotomy (that's the condition of  being mutually exclusive) of hockey refereeing and how you are in a 'brotherhood' and yet you are in direct competition with each person.  I mean...how can I wish you well as my 'brother in arms', yet hope you fail so I can get bigger and better assignments.

I thought about this dichotomy when I read this [article].  Can you see any comparisons with reffing?

Here's an excerpt from that article:

"As players, we continually evaluate our teammates and our competition saying, “he’s not that good” under our breath and to each other because “I” need to be better than “him” to survive. Now, as a writer, all-too-often I find myself saying “he’s not that good” only to get responses from readers in stats, dimensions and potential.

I’ve never been a guy prone to negativity – “he’s not that good” is just fully burned into my competitive psyche. To be good, you learn to think you’re the best."

I, as a referee, really used to go through this all the time.  Entering my 22nd year of refereeing, having done pretty much everything I have wanted to do, and, thankfully now with no regrets, I don't look at guys like that anymore.  Well...not as much anymore.  I think it's human nautre to do so.

** Here's my advice to you -- as you do this mind-thought process on guys who are working levels higher than you, I caution you to also question:

• how many miles has this guy put on his car to get where he's at?
• how many more off-ice workouts has he done than me?
• how many times did he show up at an arena at 7 a.m., just to get better?
• how many more times has he totally busted ass to get to the goal line than me?
• (if he's at the end of his career, and obviously hasn't put in the effort like he did to get to where he is now), ask yourself 'what did he do to get there?'

Then you can have the best answer out there, BECAUSE THE MAJORITY OF REFS I WORK WITH ALL WANT TO GO TO SOME HIGH LEVEL.  UNFORTUNATELY, THEY SEE HOW DAMN HARD IT IS TO GET THERE AND THEY DECIDE THE PRIZE IS NOT WORTH THE PRICE.  Oh well...

*********************************************************************************
When you watch a high level game on t.v. ( that would include Division I College Hockey and NHL), I will just say that you have no idea the B.S. that goes on behind the scenes, and all I have to say is the guys working those games are tough bastards.  Mentally, I mean.  You have to be mentally tough.  Real tough.  Are you tough?

*********************************************************************************
I read about a guy who is doing his 19th round of P90X.  I read that and say, "that's friggin' sweet!  I can do that, too!"  And, then I go out to prove it right.

You see, my skill level is "so-so".  Always has.  The difference is I'll kick your fanny.  You ain't going to out work me.  With the hesitation of sounding corny, the most accurate quote out there is:

"The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary."

One of my most favorite "manly-but-you-can-still-cry" movie is "Pursuit of Happyness".  In the 'special features' of the DVD, Chris Gardner talks about how every day you have to bang the hammer at the anvil.  That's how you dig yourself out of the most desperate places to be a HUGE (I mean HUGE) success.

So...get of your ass and work, dammit!  And do it today, please.  The world needs more "roll up your sleeves" types.

******************************************************************************

Nov 1 to Jan 31 Referee Camp

To learn more about our 3 month referee camp that will REVOLUTIONIZE the hockey referee world, go to:

www.ultimateofficials.com

Check out the whole thing and then register here: