The Officials Corner with Henry Bray is brought to by:
Beyond the whistle, there’s another side of the game. See it through an official’s eyes—brought to you by Ray’s Do It Best, Wisconsin Generators, and Walsh’s ACE.
After more than thirty-five years of officiating, I understand why people get upset over a missed call. You care about your team. You want the players to get a fair chance. So do I.
But there’s a difference between saying, “You missed that,” and saying, “You missed that on purpose.
”One questions my judgment. The other questions my honesty.
When I’m working a game, I’m making decisions while players are moving, bodies are crossing my line of sight, and the angle I had a second ago is already gone. Sometimes, a person in the stands has a clearer view of one particular play. That doesn’t mean I ignored it. It means we saw it from different places.
And sometimes? I simply miss it.
Experience doesn’t make me immune to mistakes. It gives me more tools to get the play right—and more responsibility to recognize where I need to improve.
I owe those athletes preparation, hustle, concentration, and the willingness to listen. If my positioning costs me a look, I need to fix that. “The game moves fast” cannot become an excuse for poor effort.
But an honest mistake is still an honest mistake.
I don’t walk onto the field hoping to become part of somebody’s story about why their team lost. I want the players deciding the game, and I want my calls to be accurate.
You don’t have to agree with every whistle. I won’t agree with every call I make after I’ve watched the film.
But being wrong on a play and being dishonest are two very different things.
Please don’t confuse them.
This has been the Officials' Corner. Have a great weekend and remember to be kind!
Adam Hess has been involved in radio broadcasting since 1990, with many of those years spent on the air at WRCO FM in Richland Center. Currently, Adam hosts the Weekend Wake-up and Prime Mover Saturdays on WRCO FM, jumps in and helps out with news duties, handles Social Media duties for WRCO and WRCE, and is the Director of Technology at a Southwest Wisconsin School District. Reach him at adam.hess@civicmedia.us.