Thirty bucks.....that's it???

What word best describes how I feel today?  Bad doesn't quite do it justice, but horrible may be too much.  I guess lousy is the closest I can come to it.  I'm a little chilled, pretty sore and coughing quite a bit.  Not a fun way to spend Sunday.  Good thing the NFL is on as that's about all I can handle today.

Last night I had 3 games to referee.  The weather was pretty crappy.  It was cloudy and very windy when my first game started a little after 5.  Temps were around 80 so it wasn't cold but the wind was blowing pretty good, around 20 miles an hour with gusts over 30.  We could see dark clouds coming from the east so we felt it was a pretty good bet we would get wet.  We were right.

The first two games went without a hitch.  I had a really good group of guys to work with and that makes it a lot more fun to do.  Everyone had a good bit of experience which is not always the case for the late games.  A lot of the experienced refs don't want to do the games late on Saturday.  They have a point as most of them do games on Thursday and Friday nights and their wives and families would like to spend some time with them.  The problem is the late games on Saturday have the oldest and best players and you really want to have more experienced people doing the games.  So some weekends we have some pretty inexperienced people doing games but last night was not the case.  Everybody there had been refereeing for quite a while and I had worked with all of them many times before. So we were having a pretty good time but by the second game it started raining.  Not too hard but with the wind, it was a bit chilly and a pain to ref in.

The third game started and we knew this was gonna be some work.  The teams were not too far apart talent wise but they were kind of sloppy.  I had a couple of unusual calls in this game.  Early in the game I was covering a kickoff.  The home team kicked it deep and as the return was developing I watched a blocker on the receiving team coming back toward the ball carrier to block for him when one of the kicking team hits him dead in the back.  So I flagged the kickers for blocking in the back.  The home team coach was quite unhappy about that one.  In truth I have only thrown that penalty maybe 3 times in 9 years but it's never a good idea to ignore a block in the back, even away from the ball.  People who get hit in the back and knocked down want to retaliate unless you give them a little penalty justice in my experience.  Before you know it you have guys out looking to take cheap shots all over the field.  And we can't police everything. 

At the half, the home team is leading by 14-0 and looking pretty good but they've picked up a fair share of penalties for holding, block in the back, etc.  A couple of them were completely unnecessary and cost them TDs.  So they aren't real happy with us.  They kick off to start the second half and kind of pooch the kick over the first couple of lines of players.  The ball lands and then hops toward a receiver and bounces off of him and right to one of the kicking team.  He plucks the ball out of the air and sets sail for the end zone.  He's gone.  Except there I am whistling the play dead and giving the kicking team the ball on the 33 yard line where the guy caught it.  The coach (and fans) start yelling and we have to explain to them that a muffed kick which is what this was, cannot be advanced by the kicking team as the ball has never been possessed.  If the receivers catch and run with the ball then fumble, anyone can advance the ball, but a kick cannot be advanced unless it has been possessed and fumbled.  A muff is not possession.  It took me a moment when the guy first caught the ball and took off but I realized it pretty quick.  I have seen that miscalled on kickoffs and punts a number of times.

The next play the quarterback rolls to his left and is looking to pass.  I run forward to cover the line and make sure he doesn't step over the line before he throws.  While I'm rushing forward, a receiver is coming across the field from the right side to either catch a pass or block, I don't know which.  Didn't matter because he hit me right in the small of the back.  That stopped him but it didn't do me any good either.  That hurt.  The head ref stopped the game for a couple of minutes to make sure I could continue and though it hurt a little, it wasn't too bad.  I'm surprised it isn't really sore today but the way my knees feel right now, I'm pretty glad it isn't. 

Late in the third quarter I was covering a punt and as the return went on a kid tried to tackle the runner and got hit and broke his arm near his wrist.  He just laid on the ground screaming and we had to have the paramedics come take him to the hospital.   That delayed the game for about 20 minutes all told.  When we started the game up again, it started pouring.  The wind was blowing and water was just dripping off my hat.  I was not unhappy when that game ended and I made my dripping way home. 

The daughter was home from school this weekend.  It wasn't planned that way but she was having some car trouble and brought it home to be fixed.  She is starting a job soon so this was probably the best time to get her car fixed.  It turned out to be a relay for her engine fan and all is well now so everyone is happy.  She is preparing to head back to school and said she was hungry and my wife suggested I give her a little cash to get a bite and some gas as well.  So I gave her $30 and her reply became the title of my post. Since when is $30 not enough to get a bite to eat and some gas.  I'm not talking about filling her tank, I know that's more but still.  I looked at her and said "Hey I worked hard in the rain last night for this $30."  And she smiled at me and I gave her another 20.  I'm just a sucker and she knows it.

Well back to football for me.  I have 2 pro picks this week.  I'm taking the Jets +9.5.  I hate the Jets and Mark Sanchez but lately they have either beaten or played close with the Pats.  Every time they look like they are in trouble they put a good game together. Kinda like Pittsburgh. 
I'm also taking Chicago +6 over Detroit.  Detroit has played well but also been lucky to come back from big deficits.  In fact they ought to send a check or 2 to Tony Romo after that last fiasco.  If they fall behind big again, I don't think they get back in this one.  I'm not sold on Chicago being a good team but give me the points on this one.

I went 3-2 in college yesterday fortunately taking the over in the Texas/OU game and not playing a side.  Nebraska did their best to lose to OSU but came back to win but unfortunately not cover.  That hurt.  And GTech surprised me by only winning by 5 over Maryland.  But the rest went well as UGA's defense came up big and Arkansas put the wood to Auburn.  Hope your picks were better than mine.  Stay lucky