A Tale of Two CDs

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to the FIFA list, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the system was so far like the present, that some of the noisiest authorities in the referee program insisted on its being received, only for goodness, in the superlative degree by comparison to any previous other program.

So states the fictional opening (slightly modified) of Charles Dickens’s great novel of the French Revolution, a novel of turbulence, power-hunger and ultimately, self-sacrifice for the greater cause of the common good. And so goes the story of two CDs, created for the common educational good of all referees, the suffering peasants in the present autocratic milieu. . .

Late in 2002, Alfred Kleinaitis asked me to help with an educational videotape he was putting together from incidents in MLS and WUSA the previous year. Would I write the script describing and analyzing the incidents, and would I narrate the voiceover for the tape? Of course I would, for after some time in “exile” I was glad to be back helping with the program.

So Alfred traveled to Davis, and we spent many pleasant hours in my home going over the incidents and the script. When it was all settled, I recorded the voiceover in a nearby studio. (I have done professional voiceovers, including one for EDS, praising their employees for their work in supplying the electronic connections for the 1994 World Cup finals here.)

Years before, Alfred and I had had a successful collaboration on another tape——“Gamesmanship”——and this second effort together caused me to recall a time when things in refereeing nationwide were a lot less complicated, where there was less secrecy and deception. Anyway, while I was waiting, I summarized my thoughts about my first season as an MLS coach/mentor, and sent them to four members of the Referee Committee for them to consider for the agenda at their forthcoming meeting in the Fall.

For several months I heard nothing, either about my observations, which unbeknownst to me were posted on the web, or about the project. Curious, I called Alfred in January of 2003 to ask what was up. He quickly told me to call Julie Ilacqua, Manager of Referee Services. I did, and was told that I was fired as an MLS coach/mentor, would not be used as an instructor or assessor for the federation in tournaments round the country, and that the project with Alfred was terminated. My heinous crime had been to express my opinion and share it with people in the referee program around the country. I learned later that my comments were ignored . . . but maybe not.

So I was in the dog-house again, put there by people who ignore the message and condemn the messenger, who, in that famous Jack Nicholson line in “A Few Good Men”: “..can’t handle the truth!” I’ve been the recipient of petulant vindictiveness before, and when I think of the characters in Dickens’s novel, at least this vindictiveness from Chicago was not going to cost me my head, so I continued teaching and assessing whenever I was asked. And Dave McKee, the nominal Chairman of the Referee Committee, did try to assure me in a ‘phone conversation that “..these things blow over after a time..”

But the work that Alfred and I had put into the videotape was wasted, and other ideas I had discussed with him in my home were also to be cast aside. For a few hours we had been enthusiastic about new ideas for programs to get referees excited and thinking, but those hours were come to naught. But it did not take long for my heritage of growing up in a household where nothing was to be wasted, took over, and I decided to try to find a way to put the tape out.

Duncan Way, national assessor from northern California, and a very effective “eminence grise” behind progress here, found a computer wizard; Dave Jones the SRA found several thousand dollars; and the tape became an interactive CD for instructors and individual referees. Unlike anything the federation had put out before, those few copies excited a lot of interest, mostly among referees, but also among administrators and lawyers, would you believe?

In the last week of June, 2004, I received a remarkable letter from the General Counsel of the USSF, directing me to “cease and desist” distributing the CD, and to destroy all copies of it. The letter was remarkable because it was full of false information——you’d think a lawyer would check her facts, wouldn’t you?——and also because permeating the errors in syntax and law was a tone of malevolence that I found hard to understand. This was, after all, a harmless yet beneficial educational CD for referees, not an attempt to steal the millions of the USSF. I ignored the letter, as I avoid any obvious malice in others. But Dickens wrote about malice, didn’t he?

Some good came out of this sorry exercise in legalese. The sight of four or five national referees sitting at a restaurant table in New Mexico at the end of a regional tournament, referees with their laptops open, clicking from scene to scene on the CD, commenting, discussing, arguing, and yes, learning, convinced me that this might be the way to teach other officials. One notion I had discussed with Alfred many months before became an idea, the idea became a project, the project became a reality, thanks to Dave Jones and Duncan Way again, and northern California produced another interactive CD a couple of months ago. It explains why referees of all levels of experience, miss or misjudge important fouls, and shows how to avoid making the same mistake. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world, I promise you.

This time I made sure that there was no mention of the USSF, the national referee program, any characters in the national office and so on. This was strictly a NorCal product, financed and distributed because of the foresight of the gentlemen I have mentioned. The disc is free to be copied, is not for sale, because the purpose is to educate referees, not to protect hallowed (though infertile) turf in the Windy City.

As a courtesy I sent a copy to Julie and Alfred, for which I received a curt, one-line e-mail: “..much appreciated..” At his request, I sent a copy to Esse Baharmast, which so far has elicited no response. But everywhere else——tournaments, training sessions, evening talks——the response has been enthusiastic. Everyone wanted a copy to work with at home. It reminds me of a scene from Dickens’s novel, where a broken wine cask outside a shop caused the neglected peasants to lap up the spilled wine in their hunger and thirst. For a moment I feel like Defarge, the proprietor. There is a shortage of good, new material for referees’ education. Outside the shop I can still be of service.

Though the response from the federation was negligible, I received better compensation from afar. Because of Ed’s friendship with Keith Hackett, Manager of referees for the Premiership in England, I sent a copy to England, and within days received a highly complimentary appraisal of the CD. So excited was Keith Hackett after playing with it for three hours on the day he received it, that he is going to use it for the referees in the Premiership, because as he wrote: “Stimulating thought is one of our main tasks as Instructors.”

The message the reader is left with after reading “A Tale of Two Cities” is that there is hope even in dark times, that the goodness of the human spirit can overcome malice and ignorance, be they in France in the eighteenth century or Chicago in the twenty-first. In my office here at home, I can echo (with poetic licence) Sydney Carton’s words when as he stood on the scaffold in Paris: “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is far, far better work that I go to than I have ever known.”

[A note about the CD “Angle of View”, which runs on both Macs and PCs: It is free to copy, and there are now hundreds around the country. I will send you one, if you send me a stamped, addressed, padded envelope big enough to hold a CD. I have used Jiffy© Padded #0 envelopes, and for one CD the postage comes to about $1.29. Enclose your e-mail address and I will send you a label for the disc, instructions for the CD and an additional slide presentation in PowerPoint© that gives other examples of the concept on the CD. Send the SAE to me at 39702 Barry Road, Davis, CA 95616.]

Comments

[Chuck Treat]

Please forward a label, instructions, and a slide presentation so that I can send you a stamped envelope suitable for you to mail me the CD, "Angle of View".
Thank you & best regards,
Chuck Treat
cwtreat@comcast.net
Moraga, CA

[Russell Cardle]

rcardle@sbcglobal.net

[Rick Blumenfeld]

Please forward a label,instructions and a slide presentation as well. I will send a package with postage for the CD "Angle of View"

Thanks you for excellent reading on Football.

Rick Blumenfeld
rickblumenfeld@yahoo.com

[Ron Lagraff]

I'm sending you an SASE envelope. This sounds like a great learning tool. Can't wait to share this with my reffing comrades in Oregon.

In the meantime, it would be great if I can get a link to the power point presentation.

Ron
Portland, OR

PS - fyi, I was lead to this blog through the Julian Corsham site.

[Jim Kunke]

We were fortunate to have Ed Bellion present the Angle of View software at our recent recertification clinic. It was very well received and frustratingly informative. (So *that's* why the Ref blew it! Of course, *I'll* never be in that position.)

FYI, the software - but not the ppt - is available for download at zeevi.org.

SASE to come.

[Dan Hartzell]

I have found the powerpoint and instructions for the CD Rom available at

http://www.cnra.net/downloads/AngleOfView

I have only breiefly had a chance to look at both the powerpoint and the angle of veiw software, but I am very impressed with both. This will definitely help me elevate my level of refereeing.

[Jason Sessions]

We were fortunate to have a presentation of the Angle of View software at our college meeting. Good stuff!

[Michael Lance]

Bob,

I was so looking forward to you presenting the Angle of View material at the February clinic in Petaluma earlier this year. Instead two days before the clinic got called to be a fill-in clinician in your absence. Glad to hear that you have recovered well from your surgery, and there is no way I could ever fulfill your shoes at the podium! Good presentation of it at the summer collegiate clinic

The CD was distributed at our annual SDI meeting, and I have since distributed to the instructors in my district (III) and the feedback has been exceptional, as was with your first CD.

I and two of my fellow colleagues from Cal North will be attending the second state instructor module, IIE, at the end of September at the OTC in Albany, NY. I will be sharing your materials with other instructors (as we generally use these courses as a place to share ideas), and will be interested in what feedback or comments we hear from the national instruction staff about it as I have been very impressed with their openness and continued support from last year's TT course.

Yours in referee development,
Michael

[Jason Austin]

Hello Bob

Some while ago you kindly sent me a copy of the Angle of View. This was presented at our RA recently, and last night to the referees of my club.

What a great teaching aid this is Bob. Our referees alternated between being speechless and voluble. No presentation we have made has elicited such a positive reaction and interest from the referees.

Many, many thanks.

Jason Austin
Victoria, BC, Canada

[Tim Sparks]

Could I get the Powerpoint presentation and instructions and label? I'm a grade 07 instructor and can use the CD this August possibly. It breaks my heart to hear of USSF and their attitudes. I really don't get it....thanks...glad EPL has validated your work. Too bad you had to go across the pond to get it done.