I haven't been bloggin lately (too much going on...Mental Tuffness Training (R), complete with newsletters...3rd Annual Stanley Cup Playoffs Data Study ("You mean you actually TiVo the Stanley Cup Playoffs, get out a legal pad, some pencils, lots of coffee, and analyze every thing the officials are doing, so you, in turn, can share this information with other hockey referees to make them better? Holy Shinto!"), so I had to share a little bit of Don Cherry (goddam, I love guys who wear their hearts on their sleeve) for the faithful.
p.s. I only study the Conference Finals and the Finals. I love it. I may be wacked out, but I absolutely love it!
I read this in the paper the other day, and then looked into it further with an online research of "Associated Press Basketball Refs". I found this [article] and this quote:
"We'd like them to have no memory and strictly call what's going on on the court," Anderson said. "But part of this is, if I'm a ref, I want everyone to think I'm fair and if I call 10 fouls on one team and two on the other, people are going to think something's going on here. It's sort of subconscious. And it points out one of the biggest problems with basketball is that it's a very hard game to officiate."
Why don't I doubt this one bit? Because I think it's true and it's real. I ask you to do some homework throughout this season. When you read the box scores in the paper for NHL games, take a look at the power plays. It will be real easy to read. Let's look at some from this past week (Power Play Goals/Power Play Opportunities -- the home team is listed second):
0 for 1, 0 for 2
2 for 3, 1 for 4
0 for 4, 1 for 6
0 for 0, 0 for 4
0 for 2, 1 for 6
0 for 3, 0 for 4
1 for 3, 0 for 1
1 for 4, 0 for 5
0 for 3, 1 for 2
1 for 2, 1 for 5
Average for 10 most recent games:
Visitor = 2.5 power plays per game (averaging 1/2 goals per game on PP) Home = 3.9 power plays per game (averaging 1/2 goals per game on PP!, despite more opportunities)
Well...so what?! Huh???
How about this...
the marbles are usually always very even
the home team usually gets more power plays than the visitors
the refs are really good at making this a reality for game to game, season to season
I realize that I have sampled a whopping 10 ten games here, hardly a representative sample. I don't really want to crunch numbers beyond that. I don't want to do that because (a) I want you to watch the power plays throughout the rest of this season, and (b) I know from my own experience that the "keep the marbles even" is true.
All I am going to say any further is this...good coaches know this. They know that if a series of three or four penalties are called against their team, that chances are the next call will go in their favor. They also know that in the end, everything usually evens out. You see, whenever I have "rung a team up for a bunch in a row" and I have some coach just come "un-glued" with me, deep down I really feel like saying, "Just wait, Buddy. Things will work out in the end." [Really want to see more thoughts about this? - click here].
Where did I first learn this? From one of my mentors.
I've got loads of data and research to support my points. I'll just use that data to ensure there is a fair and equitable playing field (wouldn't want to tip the scales in favor of one side or the other, eh? -- After all, there's two teams!!).
How about some "X's" and "O's" to make you a better official?
Is Belichek a misunderstood genius or a riverboat gambler?
Care to look at the thing beyond just scratching the surface level?
What are you trying to prove again, J.B.???
Developing the best hockey referees (without cutting corners) in the shortest amount of time. Or, for example, "is there a way to teach a ref with 5 years experience to referee like he had 20 years experience?"
Familiar with the Bill Belichek debate from last Sunday's Colts v. Patriots game? If you don't know, Belichek went for it on 4th down, with the ball on their own 28 yard line, with 2:08 left. Ballsy? Maybe not. How about playing the percentages? Well...you gotta punt, right?
When I first heard this news, I thought of this HS coach who never punts, kicks PAT's/Field Goals, and does all on-sides kicks. That guy is Kevin Kelley and here is an interview of him on ESPN: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4577094
What's this got to do with creating the best referees? How about this:
breaking down the game on a shift by shift basis to help predict outcomes
analyzing all positioning on the ice to give concrete data on where you can best place a ref
breaking down the skating elements to best train hockey refs (I apologize to all skating students out there, but I honestly believe that I have sold you all short. If you have had me in any power skating instruction, I have taught you the best I could, with all my heart, but I have discovered I was missing an IMPORTANT, IMPORTANT piece. Sorry.)
teaching the "feel" of the game to increase success rates (another thing you can research and document)
teaching officials the proper things to say to be the best communicator
See this explanation:
(oops...I guess to see more, you have to be a part of the Ultimate Officials Referee Camp. You might be saying, 'J.B., looks like it started on Nov. 1,' and you'd be right. But, you need to know that our camps are broken down into 3 month segments to coincide with the year-round training for hockey referees. Therefore, any program you would start (like now, today) would run for three months.)
I went to a Jr. A Tier III game last night. I was there to collect data on the game, like what the referee was doing, work/rest ratios, stoppages, and so on. My reason for doing all the "geeked-up" type stuff is that I want to break the game down into its most basic elements to better instruct hockey referees. This is key to really giving a guy an edge where he may need one. Either physically (for example, do you know how many times a ref in the 1-2 system will sprint the ENTIRE length of the ice -- all 200 feet -- in any given game? I do.), or mentally (do you know how many times a linesman will have to be aware of icings/offsides in any given game? I do.).
What does this and a hill of beans mean to you?
It means you can predict the future.
Before you go on further, I want you to read this [link] (please be sure to come back :)
Did you know that Gretzky stepped down as the coach of the Coyotes today?
(hint/hint: He was really, really good at being one step ahead of the competition)
Gretzky's Last Game as a Player (and other stuff):
Q: What does all of this have to do with each other???
A: Being one step ahead of the play (or...predicting the future).
The best refs are the one's who are one step ahead of the play. They anticipate actions, retaliations, sometimes really bad shtuff, and even what type of game you are going to have. Now, I am not quite as good as Carnac (that Johnny Carson picture up there, for all you young punks, he was on the Tonight Show before Jay Leno -- hehehe), but with my arsenal of data, I did correctly predict the 3rd period of last night's game. Pure luck? Nope. You would be AMAZED how uncanny it is that hockey games move in predictable patterns. Game in, game out, season in, season out, they move in very predictable patterns. There happened to be a supervisor at that game last night, and I told him exactly what was going to happen in the 3rd period. I was right. No luck involved. Just a bunch of yellow legal pads full of notes, stats, skating diagrams, and situations.
Wanna have that edge? Wanna predict the future of your games, be one step ahead like Gretzky and Nate Lawson? Come hang out with [me].
I'm the Dave Pelz of Hockey Officiating (I guess you could call it my "Mission Statement")
"My life is helping referees get bigger and better games.
Get better games, that's what it is all about.
Doesn't matter what level you work, what league you work, if you are IMPROVING, if you getter better and more exciting games at your level, if you are getting better and you are looking forward to having the best hockey season of your life...that's where the fun is in hockey, that's where the enjoyment is.
So, my life, right now, is devoted to research, testing, finding out how to teach people, how to help them learn to improve."
