Maybe stopping on a paradigm is more appropriate.

So yesterday I had intended to sit inside in the air conditioning and watch Sporting Kansas City lose 1:2 to New England Revolution.

Instead I reffed a semi-pro men’s game in Greenwood.

Let me just let that sink in for a second.

A month ago I was reffing 9-10 year olds.

Yesterday I was reffing a game for teams three tiers down from the MLS.

What the fuck is evening happening in my life?

To be fair, I was the fourth official.

For those of you that know nothing about soccer, let me break down how the ref situation goes.

The center referee (CR) is the person that runs around on the field with the players.

They are also the person with the whistle and the yellow/red cards.

The are the head ref.

They make the final calls on everything for the reffing team.

Next you have two assistant referees (AR 1 & 2).

They are the ones that run along the side (touch) lines.

They have the flags.

They are the eyes and ears for the stuff the CR can’t see.

Then there’s the Fourth Official.

They pretty much handle substitutions of players and keeping teams and staff from getting too rowdy.

Mostly they just stand there listening to the coaches bitching about calls.

That’s what I did.

In the coddamn nightmare heat of yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday theme was: fall.

That was me after standing in the sun for four hours.

Today’s theme is: arch.

My facial hair kinda looks like a backwards comma.

I’m already getting emails about being 4th official at more semi-pro games next weekend.

This is my life now.

See ya’ tomorrow.

More soon. ~SC