OT: Ted Valentine

Submitted by WorldwideTJRob on
I flipped to the Kentucky v. Mississippi St. game and to my surprise I saw "T.V." Ted working the game as an official. I was unaware he worked SEC conference games. Is he just filling in for someone, or works there regularly? If so I guess he is giving other fan bases besides those in the B1G headaches.

DayTayBoom

February 21st, 2012 at 11:00 PM ^

do not have specific conferences that they are alligned to.  They work all over the place and that is part of the reason why college basketball officiating is so terrible.  The guys travel all across the country and work way too many games.  I wish the B1G had their own set of officials.

Mr. Yost

February 21st, 2012 at 11:02 PM ^

He works C-USA games, particularly involving Memphis as well.

He's just so cocky and arrogant. He's bigger than the game. It's like that MLB umpire Joe West. The fact that we know these games names is a disgrace, but that's how they want it. It's a show for them.

SKIP TO MY BLUE

February 21st, 2012 at 11:02 PM ^

I am always so happy to see Ted Valentine working other teams games. Seems as though he has been a bad offical since the early 90's, when he was going crazy in the Big East with Jim Burr. I am amazed he is still a ref in the NCAA.

Alton

February 21st, 2012 at 11:07 PM ^

Unlike NCAA football (or hockey), refs in basketball are independent contractors, and generally work in several different conferences over the season.  Experienced refs like Valentine are able to make a living as a referee, something football refs can't do, even in the NFL.

Valentine's schedule last week...Monday off, Tuesday--North Carolina Asheville at Coastal Carolina, Wednesday--Purdue at Illinois, Thursday--Vanderbilt at Mississippi, Friday--off, Saturday--Ohio State at Michigan, Sunday--Indiana at Iowa

This week so far...Monday--Texas Southern at Mississippi Valley State, Tuesday--Kentucky at Mississippi State

Those seem to be pretty typical weeks for him; he will work 5 or 6 days every week.  He has worked conference games this year in the Big Ten, SEC, Southern Conference, ACC, SWAC, Big South, Conference USA and the Sun Belt.

jmblue

February 22nd, 2012 at 7:18 AM ^

Those schedules are just absurd.  Referees must be incredibly tired by the end of the season.

I especially can't believe he went from calling a Michigan game on Saturday night (a game that ended around 11:00) to calling a Sunday afternoon game in Iowa City.  He couldn't have gotten much sleep.

DeadMan

February 21st, 2012 at 11:10 PM ^

Wow, look at that travel schedule. That looks just absolutely grueling. I have a newfound respect/horror at that. 

B-Nut-GoBlue

February 21st, 2012 at 11:27 PM ^

But...They work 5 days a week, jogging up and down the floor for a couple hours?  As in, they get some good exercise each day of the week, like many people really should anyway.  And we're calling this grueling?  Many of the games are in the same vicinity of one another as well.  I agree the traveling may get pretty extensive, and the more I look at it it may be "tougher" than I first thought, but I wouldn't go as far to say they're overworked.

I don't mean to say they're overrated by any means, but it sounds as though they work a job, that is tough at times, like most Americans do; and they're involved in a game they probably love.  No matter how much I rip on referees, more power to them for what they do; I have respect for them (no matter how much they make themselves known in the games these days).

jmblue

February 22nd, 2012 at 7:20 AM ^

My concern is not necessarily that it's too hard on the officials (though I'm sure it catches up to them), but that their performance will almost certainly suffer when they're flying red-eyes all over the place.  When you're talking about someone who needs to be able to make split-second decisions on a major stage, having him be sleep-deprived probably isn't helpful. 

JamieH

February 22nd, 2012 at 3:01 AM ^

IMO HIghtower is NOT worse than Valentine.  Back when i used to go to all the basketball games (back in the early 90's) I used to cringe whenver I'd see Valentine on the court.  The dude's just brutal.  Completely inconsistent from call to call.  The only thing consistent about him is his consistent ability to make wrong calls.

There was one ref that was even worse though.  Some bald guy whose head was so shiny it almost blinded you.  One game I remember we got both Valentine AND the bald guy.  The officiating that game was comical in its badness.

I feel like I've seen Hightower call SOME good games.  I can't recall ever seeing Valentine do that.

 

 

northkent40

February 22nd, 2012 at 4:29 AM ^

I know a guy who is good friends with Ted Hillary, who used to do a lot of B1G games with Hightower.  Hillary said a lot of Hightower's fellow officials thought so much of his abilities they called him "Lowtower". 

 

I do not recall seeing Eddie do any games this year.  I wonder if he finally retired.  I used to cringe every time I saw him do a Michigan game....especially when on the road. 

jimtresselissatan

February 22nd, 2012 at 8:00 AM ^

I believe the bald official you referenced may be Jim Bain, truly the worst baksetball official I've ever seen. In the mid to late 70's I thought more than once that Johnny Orr would punch him.