Bob Waggoner: NFL Official

I was lucky enough to be able to listen to a REAL LIFE NFL OFFICIAL! This is a huge deal to me because I love football and if you think about it, these officials have met some of the best athletes in history! Bob Waggoner came to BGSU’s Field House to talk about his life as an NFL official.  He broke down what a week in his life is like.  Much to my surprise, they are very busy men!  It amazes me as to how some of them also have full time jobs, as this officiating position takes up 6 days of a week! 

NFL Official Week:

Monday- Evaluate crew members on film

Tuesday- Testing and Rules

Wednesday- Evaluate themselves during their past game

Thursday- News Press

Friday- ONLY DAY OFF

Saturday- Travel

Sunday- Game

Bob Waggoner is in his 14th year as an NFL official.  Before becoming an official, he was a probate officer.  To start his presentation, he played a video clip of different NFL coaches in the officials faces because they did not like the calls. Here is a picture that I thought summed up the video:

http://blogblitz.nfl.com/baltimore-ravens/date/20100924

During his presentation, Bob made a very valid point, that I am sure many have never thought of: his day consists of being taped and then broken down and criticized as to what he did right or wrong- this makes my job not seem so bad after all!

Bob also said that in order to do what he does, one must have a boat load of self-confidence.  He also stated that interaction with people during work enables one to be confident in themselves.  People skills = confidence.

People are human and make mistakes. As an NFL official, they are expected to be perfect and not make any mistakes. Per game, there is an average of 3 mistakes.  Reality is, people make mistakes.  If an NFL official makes a mistake, they are ridiculed and sometimes even endure death threats.  That seems to be a little extreme for something that is considered “just a game”.  As an avid football fan, I understand how irritating it can be for an official to make a bad call, however, as I said before , they are human. 

Bob Waggoner- “60 minutes of football- a lifetime to remember”.  When Bob said this, he wanted us to realize that we have to work hard for what we want and in whatever we do, and have a lifetime to remember the wonderful memories.

People asked Bob what he thought about instant replay.  Not surprised by his answer, he said that he is thankful to have it.  Officials are proven by instant replay to be right 98.6 percent of the time.  However, people do not recognize that number; people look at the 1.4 percent of the time that they made the wrong call.

Towards the end of his presentation, Bob quoted “It’s not always about smelling the roses, sometime you gotta get down to the manure pile”.  This was at first funny to me, until I realized what he meant.  Life is not always going to be easy and pleasant, to really enjoy life one must work hard and get through the not so easy and pleasant times.

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