No such thing as a perfect referee - UPDATED

What a relaxing weekend! Friday night I did nothing, and it was everything I hoped it would be. Nash was in Florida with the nurse over the weekend so I was able to get some cleaning around the apartment done. Saturday morning I did a little of the same before meeting Amy for lunch at Bagel and Deli. (Note: I have been refusing to call Chicago Bagel Authority by it's proper name lately, I think I'm starting to miss the Miami life.) Then I worked at J. Crew for a couple hours before heading home to look over the law changes for my referee exam on Sunday. All told, with the exception of some groceries and the exam fee, I spent practically no money this weekend. I'll have to keep that up as things are going to be tight for a couple of months.

So anyways....near the end of pledging the fraternity, before you get initiated, all Pi Kapps have to take a written exam. This exam covers things from the origins of greek letter organizations, to the founding of our national fraternity in South Carolina, to our specific chapter's history and everything in between. When the new member education chair goes to grade these exams, he WILL find something wrong. Even if you have everything completely correct, allegedly, they will give you some bull crap 99% for putting your name in the upper left hand corner instead of the upper right. No such thing as a perfect Pi Kapp, they say.

Thankfully that's not the case for the United States Soccer Federation. Every year each referee must take a day long "refresher course" and a 100 question exam in order to remain as an active official. They are generally very boring classroom settings with a mix of high school kids in their first couple years of refereeing and savvy veterans who are there to take the exam and bolt. I first received my certification in March of 1994, so I have attained veteran status at this point even though I'm still a Grade 8. This year I took the exam up in Edison Park, not far from my house, in the northwest suburbs. Unfortunately for me, there were only three of us veterans and bunch of damn kids that needed babysitters. I forgot how rude teenagers are since I haven't been around them in so long. All the talking while the instructor was trying to cover the required material...I just wanted to slap these little douche bags.

This year I decided that it's time for me to move up to Grade 7 so that I can make Grade 6 (and be out of these horribly boring low level crap sessions) by 2008. So, I decided to just keep my mouth shut, pay attention during the part where they talk about law changes and the FIFA interpretations, take my exam and go home. Maybe I should take that approach all the time...I knocked out my first ever perfect score! Back when I first started taking these exams I remember getting marks in the low 80s (you need a 75 to pass, 85 to upgrade from an 8 to a 7) and more recently I've been somewhere between 93-96 depending on if I'd read up on the rule changes prior to showing up.

I was pretty stoked when it was all said and done, and the instructor was pretty impressed too as it was the only score above a 95 in the room. He even offered to do my assessment, which at first didn't seem like a great idea. Basically, in order to complete the upgrade, you have to be assessed on a higher level match and receive certain marks. I already know plenty of assessors who would be happy to do it, but after some reflection, I kind of like the fact that this guy doesn't know me at all. I feel like I'll probably get a very fair and unbiased review on account of it.

So, I'm finally on my way to accomplishing my next set of refereeing goals. I'll complete my first full year of high school soccer in Illinois this May and this time next year I'll be applying for a collegiate association membership so I can do those games as well (a year ahead of eligibility.) After moving to a 7 with USSF, I'll be offered some more challenging and higher paying games at the club level as well. I've already been doing some matches that I'm not certified to do for about a year and half, but now it'll be legal. All pretty exciting stuff, if you're into this like I am, and hopefully by the time I'm 30 I can be refereeing collegiate and the top level amateur games in the state. I honestly hope to be a professional referee at some point in my life and doing a World Cup match would be incredible. They almost never take American referees so that's not very likely, but amazing would it be to work at that level? So exciting.

After the referee exam I hurried home to catch the end of the Ohio State upset of Illinois on the hardwood. What a great game! The Buckeyes are currently penciled in as a 2-seed for the big dance and they have a legitimate shot of winning the Big Ten a year early, ranked #12 in the country. I was busy being excited for next year's remake of the "fab five" freshman class when I saw this year's squad knocking down 3-pointers as if they were lay-ups. In fact, with the early talk about Ohio State's football team possibly being a pre-season number 1, we may even see the first time in NCAA history that a Division I team wins the national championship in basketball and football in the same year. Okay, let's not get TOO ahead of ourselves, but how crazy would THAT be?

Trivia time: Only eight schools have won both a Division I-A Football national championship and a Division I basketball national championship. Without using the internet, or my friend Brooke (who I told the answer to yesterday,) can you name the eight schools? Post your answers in the comments and the answer will come later in the week!

Finally...Happy Valentines Day everyone. I hate this ridiculous Hallmark holiday, but I guess I have to participate this year. Unfortunately, I have yet to receive my annual secret admirer card in the mail. Have you given up, whoever you are?