Category: Sports

Don’t Mess With Lightning

Category : Sports
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I was scheduled to ref a soccer game last night in Madison and, as always, I checked the weather before the game. It looked like there was going to be some rain in the first half, and then the potential for thunderstorms in the second. Refs are always trained that if they see any lightning, no matter how far away it is, to stop the game immediately. We are supposed to send everyone to their cars and wait for 20 minutes without any more lightning before restarting the game.

I started the game at 530 and heard a few rumbles of thunder in the far distance, but did not see any lightning. We played the entire first half, and I still had not seen any lightning. During halftime, there was a quick burst of heavy rain and the skies got darker. Still no lightning.

Twelve minutes into the second half, out of nowhere, BAM!!! There was a flash of light, with a huge clap of thunder seemingly simultaneously. A parent on the sideline fell to the ground and his umbrella that had been planted into the ground flew away from him. Three players fell to the ground, shocked either by the lightning or just the loud bang. My assistant referee, who was about 10 yards from the guy who was hit, felt the electricity and I felt buzzed for over an hour.

Everyone sprinted to their cars. The players slowly got up and seemed to be ok. The guy who’s umbrella was hit was laying on the ground for a few seconds, and was helped up and seemed ok. We cancelled the game and made sure that everyone was off the field as quickly as possible. We were incredibly lucky and I am happy that nobody was seriously hurt.

I have never been in a situation like that where the first bolt of lightning is right on top of us. Normally there is some warning, but this time there was not. I have stopped many games in my almost 12 years of reffing after seeing lightning in the distance, only to be called a wimp or worse.

As I was leaving the soccer park, I saw another game still being played. I couldn’t believe it. I drove over, laid on the horn and told them that a guy had been hit near us and that “this was stupid and that they needed to get these people out of there.” They stopped and got everyone to their cars.

If you are ever in a situation like this, don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself and get out of the situation. Many people have a macho attitude about lightning and ridicule people who go inside after seeing the first bolt. You can be hit by lightning up to 30 miles away from a storm: If you can see lightning, you can be hit. Its better to be safe than sorry. Get inside and stay safe.

I’ll leave you with a video that should be required viewing for all refs, coaches and parents of youth athletes. It was a professional soccer match in Africa where two players died as a result of a lightning strike. Its in German, but you can see the flash and the aftermath.

What Do You Do After Retiring in Your 30s with Millions?

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No, I’m not talking about me (too young and too poor).  I’m talking about professional athletes and what they choose to do after retirement.  The NBA estimates that over 60% of players go bankrupt within 5 years of retirement, but what do the rest do?  Many athletes who made sound money management decisions go on to start businesses or run charities. 

LeRoy Butler is probably most famous for inventing the Lambeau Leap while he was the starting safety on some of the great Green Bay Packers teams in the 90s.  Butler is a great example of an athlete who had a successful career and is now trying to make a difference off  the field.  Butler has sponsored the Go Pink Soccer Series in Wisconsin, a series of 88 high school girls soccer games that has raised over $100,000 for breast cancer charities in the last two years.

Butler doesn’t just lend his name to the cause.  Although he is a resident of Jacksonville, Florida, Butler makes appearances at many of the games in the series, signs autographs and makes an event out of the games.  I was fortunate to referee one of the Go Pink Soccer Series games last night where Butler made an appearance (I’ve reffed soccer since I was 12 as a side job).  He happily posed for pictures, signed autographs and talked with the players, fans and refs and seemed to really enjoy himself.  I asked him if he could do a Lambeau Leap into the high school stadium bleachers but he said “he didn’t want to crush anyone.”  He couldn’t have been a nicer guy.

Its great to see an athlete using his celebrity to help out a great cause and enjoy it.  Butler could have been in sunny Florida last night, but he was in wet, windy Wisconsin on a Tuesday night watching a high school girls soccer game and enjoying every minute of it.  It would be great to see more athletes follow Butler’s example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJzZPw0PDNQ

Innovative Marketing in Baseball

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During football season I wrote about innovation in the NFL and why the NFL is slow to adopt new in game tactics. Today,  I was reading Al’s Ramblings, my favorite Brewers blog, and found his post on the Cincinnati Reds attempt at making more money and generating more interest for the franchise: a futures game.  Instead of normal futures games like the one during the all star break, where the two teams are made up of minor league prospects, this futures game is the best players from the Reds minor league system against the full major league club.

This is a unique event that will not only generate money for the Reds, but will offer a value add for Reds fans.  Imagine if one of their top prospects hits a home run off of a current major league pitcher.  The fans will have something to look forward to and could have the beginnings of a legend, especially if that player comes up the the majors and stars later in life.

Al argues that the Brewers should implement a game like this before the regular season.  I agree completely, especially if the Brewers sold tickets for $10-20.  They could market it as not only a futures game, but an opening day for true baseball fans, rather than the alcohol soaked event that is the current opening day.  I’d like to see the Brewers and other team continue to innovate on and off the field, as adds to fan interest and team income.

Club Trillion

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If you like college basketball and have the humor of a college student, you need to read this blog called Club Trillion: Views From the End of the Bench.

It’s written by Ohio State’s last man on the bench Mark “The Shark” Titus and is absolutely hilarious.  I’ll let “The Shark” explain the origin:

Club Trillion is an exclusive club founded in 2007 by three very handsome and very financially well-off Ohio State basketball players–Kyle Madsen (#15), Danny Peters (#13), and myself. We named ourselves “Club Trillion” because as athletically limited white folk, we found ourselves riding the bench for the Buckeyes. When the time came for us to get in, there would usually only be 1 minute remaining in the game and after sitting down for 39 minutes, we really had no interest in trying to be all that productive. So we devised the plan of trying to get the “trillion” which occurs when we play 1 minute and do absolutely nothing that would appear in the box score, thus making our stat line say 1 minute played followed by a bunch of zeroes. I know what you are saying to yourself right now. You are saying, “That is side-splittingly hilarious. These guys are probably just a comical party waiting to happen.” You are absolutely right.

His post about being stuck in an elevator with some of his teammates is laugh out loud funny as well.

Hopefully he can parlay his successful blog into some sort of a job after college that lets him avoid cubicle life to continue to put his superb practical joking and writing skills to good use!
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