CONTRIBUTED BY
ALI RAUCH
OPINION —
College football is back on Saturday, Sept. 5, and I know exactly how it goes at my house.
A flag hits the grass. I am off the couch. I have strong opinions about holding calls that I am in no way qualified to have, and I share them at full volume with someone who cannot hear a word of it.
I have done this my whole life. I suspect a lot of you have too.
Here is what I have never done. I have never once thought about the person inside that striped shirt.
So, who is actually out there?
Someone who worked Friday nights on Ohio high school fields before he ever saw a Saturday. Someone who climbed to the MAC, then the Big Ten, then the SEC, and has worked bowl games, conference championships and College Football Playoff games. Someone who has been booed by a 100,000 people and chewed out by legendary coaches on live television, then had to make the very next call with a clear head.
That is Chris Garner, and he is coming to Opelika on Thursday, Sept. 3, two days before the first kickoff. He wrote a book about his experiences titled “Whistles and Wisdom: Lessons on Life and Leadership from an SEC Football Official,” and he built a leadership practice out of two careers he ran at once, officiating elite football on weekends and leading sales teams during the week, for more than 25 years.
Why is a chamber of commerce bringing in a referee?
Because his job is the one the rest of us are already doing, just with better lighting and worse crowd noise.
You decide with incomplete information and about four seconds to do it. Somebody is unhappy either way. You have to be willing to be wrong in front of people who trusted you, own it out loud and go back to work without dragging it into the next call.
That is not a football problem. That is a Tuesday for anybody who runs a business, leads a team or answers to a board.
And here is the part I am most excited about. You get to ask him anything.
Every question you have hollered at a television, you can put to the man who was standing on that field. Why the review took nine minutes. What the coach really said. Whether he knew, right then, he had missed one.
Whistles and Wisdom will be held Thursday, Sept. 3, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Opelika Chamber, 200 S. 6th St. The event will bring participants together for a closer look at football officiating and the rules that shape the game.
While registration closed Aug. 31, interested parties are welcome to call and check for availability.
Bring your team. Bring the friend who argues with you about targeting every single fall. Then go home, wait two days and watch that first game with somebody in your ear telling you what is actually happening down there.
I will see you at lunch on Sept. 3. I promise not to yell.
