Agreed once again, P&Y! No offense, what's next--just having a bit of fun. It started with a question of semantics, and I couldn't resist getting up to some antics of my own.
Now, as for something "substantive" related to the original debate...my apologies to all for the detour...
Sadly, there seems to be a dearth (SAT word alert!) of available officials in many areas of the state. I agree that raising the standards for training and accountability of officials (compound object of the preposition "for"--parallel, n'est-ce pas, P&Y?) would help immensely. Trouble is, it's hard to force accountability when the available pool of officials is so small. We always try to have a three-man system in place for varsity matches, but the fact is that there are literally not enough officials to go around on a Tuesday or Friday night for everyone to have three; officials are assigned on a priority basis (matches that have greatest significance in the standings getting first dibs on three) and the rest are divided up after that. I hope that as soccer continues to grow as a sport in SC, more and more people will become involved and increase our pool of willing officials...I for one am grateful for those who have come to do the job here at Berkeley.
