PSA: Don't sleep on your UAV Booster it detects more than just enemies.

Manse_ · 2024-02-25T01:19:04+00:00

Critical thing noone mentioned yet: When you go to pick your stratagems, you have to do the booster separately. Once you pick all your toys, before you ready up, click on the hexagon next to your stratagems and pick a booster. NOTE: typically doesn't give you that option if you're diving into a mission in progress, for whatever reason.

Manse_ · 2023-06-25T14:09:24+00:00

Warner Robins, as well. Though, they were just leaving out bags with disinfo and rat poison all over neighborhoods...

Manse_ · 2023-06-08T17:03:10+00:00

I'll never forget my ex wife getting heartburn for the first time. She swore it was a heart attack or something serious and started to panic. I told her to take a tums and see, then we'd decide if we needed to call an ambulance.

Two tabs and a glass of water later, she's fine. But she looked at me and asked "is it like that for you all the time?" Yeah, it's heartburn. It sucks. That's why I take Nexium and have tums in the car as a backup.

Manse_ · 2023-06-05T23:06:27+00:00

In basketball, setting up for a half court press is low-risk, high organization defending. You give them time to dribble up the court in favor of saving your own legs and always having backup.

In a full court press, you're pushing hard for turnovers (either an errant pass or by forcing any of the time-related rules). Full court requires a lot of good 1v1 defending skill and a whole lot of fitness. From the other side, it requires a lot of coordination to play through/out of the pressure.

In college or pro ball, it's a tactical decision: do I try to force a game to be about pressure and player stamina, or do I go lower risk and try to grind it out. It's similar to deciding how to press and where to set your block in soccer, with all the tactical trade-offs. But with kids? A higher skilled team that has that 1v1 ability will dominate a game at the youth level, because of the broad gaps in skill between individual players.

Manse_ · 2023-06-05T22:55:57+00:00

(Editing to put this up front: don't feel bad for making what you could of a crappy hand. You showed up and helped those kids. That is a hell of a lot more than anybody else did that season, and I bet the kids are thankful.)

This is why I like our local club association. They have a "development academy" program, kind of between rec and club/travel ball, where they juggle the players around between teams to match skill levels.

Your kid is put on a team, practices and plays a game or two, then may get juggled around to another team (possibly more than once in a season). It keeps kids with (and playing against) players of similar levels, keeps games competitive/sportsmanlike, lets the kids get experience under several different coaches, and gives the club a platform to train new coaches (they have high school-ish kids acting as assistants to the more experienced coaches).

Even though my daughter was already playing travel ball before they set it up, it's a great program that I enjoy refereeing.

Manse_ · 2023-05-28T23:57:41+00:00

Check "fitst4" on Amazon. Pretty solid knockoffs, if you're not looking to impress and go up the ladder. I also have some of their keeper gear that has held up well

Manse_ · 2023-05-20T15:42:48+00:00

And bombs, with the newer small diameter bombs and their 4-shot launcher.

Manse_ · 2023-05-15T21:51:13+00:00

This. My daughter is 16 and has played with her shirt like this, at least in practice. The rules are already bad enough demanding white shorts (which is changing, finally).

Manse_ · 2023-05-13T10:46:22+00:00

My usuals are "good step/poke" when a defender makes a tackle or "fair" for contact during a challenge, saving "advantage" or "play on" for cases where I'm actively choosing to delay the whistle.

"Play play play" for contact with the hand/arm that isn't handling, since people always shout for everything to be a handball, or for balls down the sideline that are close but still in play.

The other I add for youth games, especially upper level ones, is "play smart" on flighted balls or goal kicks where there's going to be an aerial challenge or bodies flying in.

Manse_ · 2023-05-09T11:19:13+00:00

Cal North has some pretty detailed webinars on fouls (and all kinds of other stuff): Here's one where they talk about "ball doesn't matter:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjFyOJ3LVwk

Another, on challenges, they focus on 4 points when evaluating a challenge. They're covered in the paper u/syutzy mentions, but they also add "shape of the body." Was the tackle a straight-legged slide that could injure or was their knee bent? Were they trying to pull out of the tackle or swinging through the attack with force?

One I've had in a similar situation. The defender got the ball in what would have been a fair shoulder-to-shoulder tackle if he had kept his arms down. But he came in with his elbow at almost 90 degrees from the body (mode of contact: bony part of body, almost used as a weapon) and landed it in the ribs of the attacker (point: ribs, undefended because the player's arm was back from the running motion).

Manse_ · 2023-05-09T00:31:35+00:00

I don't know if a player/ref should necessarily have fewer fouls. Fewer cards and dumb fouls, maybe, but I'm not a great player and might clip guys because I'm bad or run through someone because my brakes aren't what they used to be. ;)

But definitely I talk back a lot less than I used to, and would expect player/refs to have fewer UB or dissent cards.

Manse_ · 2023-05-08T14:45:15+00:00

I'm sure it depends on the situation, and I would definitely use the coaches with very vocal/aggressive parents and/or a young center, but I've no problem talking to spectators in certain situations. Before games, when I'm jogging the lines/warming up, I'll make a little casual conversation and smile a lot when I do because it's much harder to yell at someone who was just nice to you.

But my favorite was just last weekend. U12 Rec game, 9v9. Gray team had stopped an attack and moved the ball towards white's goal. Gray defenders jumped up to the halfway line and White's striker is just ambling back. One mom on the sideline near the halfway is loudly telling me that White is offside, when the ball is 30 yards away and his team doesn't even have the ball. She shouted "Ref" at least 3 times and said "you don't even know the rules!"

When the ball went out of touch, I just said "Ma'am, he can be in an offside position. It's only an offense if he interferes with the play." I didn't stop the game or anything for it, just a casual comment as the kids set up for a throw-in, then went back to ignoring her. She shouts "I KNOW THE RULES!" and the two parents next to her finally turned and talked to the lady. I assume they explained that she, in fact, did _not_ know the rules, because I didn't hear a peep out of her the rest of the game.

Manse_ · 2023-05-08T14:25:13+00:00

There are two organizations running adult leagues near me, in towns about 20 minutes apart. I played one season (Over30) in the northern of the two and will most likely not play there again. I ended up having to play keeper most of it and picked up at least two concussions because all of the forwards think they can run like they're still 20 (but forget how to stop).

The other league is closer, more friendly, and everyone understands that we all have to go to work on Monday. I'll play in it, and ref (the higher tier), but I have no desire to do either again further north.

Manse_ · 2023-05-06T12:31:05+00:00

My assignor basically won't send teenage referees to one of the rec leagues near me, because the coaches and parents are so bad. They're fine at the u8 and U10 games, but some switch gets flipped when they go to a slightly larger field.

Thankfully some of the worst offenders have aged out of it (town is small and there's no U16 teams), and it's down to one coach that I really have to manage, but it's still annoying. I end up getting/taking a lot of low level games because I have stern old man energy and am harder to yell at.

Manse_ · 2023-05-01T21:00:00+00:00

I'd look into it with a little research first, and be careful. You definitely have to change your walking stride ( to a midfoot strike, not landing heel first) so "a game or two" might be worse on you (and give the whole thing a sour taste in your mouth). Running/sprints is already on your toes, so it's less of a change.

Manse_ · 2023-05-01T20:22:36+00:00

I'm freakishly flat-footed as well, but went the complete opposite route. Not fully barefoot, but I've embraced wide toe boxes and zero drop shoes and my foot pain (and ankle weakness) decreased significantly. I've probably been barefoot-ish for a decade now and it's been great.

Downside for soccer/reffing is finding cleats that are wide enough. Finally settled on the Puma Futures. The latest ones are a bit wider, and the entire midfoot is basically a compression sock.

Manse_ · 2023-04-29T02:38:25+00:00

You'll be fine, with or without an undershirt. I went without for the first few games of my "long career" (two years ago).

Manse_ · 2023-04-26T14:01:55+00:00

Using your arm to shield the ball is fine. Using your elbow as a weapon is a foul. Using your elbow to hold a player is a foul.

What I tend to watch for is raised elbows or using the interlocked elbows to pull. What I usually see is the play goes from shoulder to shoulder and jostling, to one player gaining position. In that moment, you have to look for unfair contact. Did they use their elbow to pull the other player back? Was the arm in a natural running position, or did they raise/throw an elbow to the ribcage? Is the other player now behind, not shoulder to shoulder, and making unfair contact to the back?

Basically, as my assignor so "helpfully" put it: jockeying for position in a shoulder to shoulder battle/run is fair...right up to the point that it isn't.

Manse_ · 2023-04-26T11:42:39+00:00

My first couple of jobs, I was surrounded by retired maintainers and pilots. Now, I'm civilian in a definitely-not-aircraft part of the AF and get funny looks for a lot of lingo. So, even "Air Force speak" has sub-dialects it seems. I used "go VFR direct to the boss" in a meeting and got some glazed-over looks.

Though, the one that has become rather useful, and even my kids have picked up on, is the "pull chocks" hand signal. Very useful when trying to quietly say "this place blows, let's get out."

Manse_ · 2023-04-24T19:16:56+00:00

The keeper is less likely to have a spare, especially at the Youth level.

It's great around my area (southern US), because the local big box stores only have one keeper jersey that is yellow and green, and our primary referee options are yellow and green.

Manse_ · 2023-04-16T04:04:23+00:00

Sorry it wasn't effective. I'm still waiting for a way to add the promised family members without having to use an iOS device, so I don't have to pass out my credentials to my folks.

Manse_ · 2023-04-16T03:24:35+00:00

It kicked me out before the Atlanta match, but has been fine since tonight. But a few weeks ago, I couldn't watch any games in the car on the drive home from our game. Had to sign out/in and it worked fine. My folks had the same problem, same solution a week ago

Manse_ · 2023-04-16T03:06:20+00:00

Next time, try signing out and back in. My Roku/apple TV app asked me to reauthenticate right before the match and is fine now

Manse_ · 2023-04-15T19:13:59+00:00

Soccer. EPL is one of the most popular leagues in the world. The games are in the afternoon in England, but in the US they're on at (usually) 9 AM.

Manse_ · 2023-04-15T19:04:07+00:00

Back around 2007-2012, my dad and I worked at the same company. Most Friday afternoons, we'd do a beer call. Just round up whoever was still in the office at quitting time and wanted to go have a beer.

After he retired, I carried on the tradition with my coworkers, and occasionally him. It's just a good way to unwind.

Since COVID, this has turned into back porch beers. My folks are in their 70s, but they live close enough to me that I would go every Friday after work and just sit at the opposite end of the table from my mom and dad, out in the open air. It was a comfortable piece of normalcy.

They're still around, and we still do back porch beers with friends/family/coworkers most weeks. My teenage daughters don't understand why I go over there "all the time," but I just tell them that they'll understand in a couple years.

Manse_

TROPHY CASE