October 5, 2006.

You’re only respected when no one knows you are there. The shirt you wear is a vertical version of a prison outfit. And by no means is it worth any amount of money to be a football referee.

I once refereed youth football until an overzealous coach decided to berate, throw a flag at me and would not stop until his team was assessed 45 yards in unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

I bid farewell to he and his ilk and never have looked back. He, by the way, is no longer coaching youth league football.

In high school, officials on the Gulf Coast threatened to boycott a Friday night’s worth of prep games because of an altercation following a West Jones-Pascagoula game earlier in the year.

A West Jones High adminstrator, unhappy with a few calls during the game, and one of the referees had an altercation resulting in the ref’s suspension.

High school referees, mind you, are business owners, truck drivers and insurance salesmen, not full time professional officials.

In college, Ole Miss faithful are still trying to find the holding call against Georgia that negated a blocked punt that Ole Miss recovered. If the Rebels score there, who knows what happens. Maybe they go on to defeat the 10th-ranked team in the country, maybe not.

After blown calls in an Oregon-Oklahoma game on Sept. 16, the instant replay official at the heart of the brouhaha had to take a leave of absence for the rest of the season for fear of his family’s safety. The forgotten part of that game was the fact that, trailing by two touchdowns and well before any replay changed anything, Oklahoma defenders dropped two gimme interceptions that could have salted away a victory.

So why do people do it? What would possess men and women to take to the fields each weekend knowing that all they will get is earfuls of grief?.

One of the best, Cary Grantham, said in a Vicksburg Post story before he was picked to work the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star game, that he does it for the kids. Most do. They certainly don’t do it for the money, and only a fool would want to be screamed at for three hours on a Friday night.

Think about a job where no matter what you do, every time you open your mouth, half of the office dog cusses you.

For enough money, there is little most of us would not do. The decimal point better be pretty far to the right for that to happen.

Until then, look at your own team’s miscues – the fumble on the goal line, the 10 straight incomplete passes – if there is someone to blame.

Coaches and players expect referees to be perfect, yet they rarely reach perfection themselves.