An interesting post about the idea of Referees in ultimate. I’m not for referees at the moment, but I’m for exploring the idea. How many complaints were there about the national title game being unwatchable? I enjoyed the game in spite of the stoppages. After all it was the national title game.
However, I walked away from the Colorado-Wisconsin pool play game because it was unwatchable. Both teams called foul after foul. It’s ridiculous, and there’s a reason that game was capped at 13-11 even with 2 hour rounds. Referees don’t necessarily stop this, because it’s sport dependent. Ever watch the end of a basketball game? There’s a reason I wait till March Madness.
I’m biased being a UOA observer, but this the type of model we should see in Ultimate. I honestly got bored during some of the games at Joint Summit where there were multiple 5 minute discussion over fouls. Active observing is where this game should go for now. The UOA model is quick and games are almost never capped. If we keep the game where it is, we could have commercial breaks during foul discussions like the NFL does during instant replay. Keep the calls in the hands of the players, and put the rulings in the hands of the observers.
Yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, my opinion, man
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