What's up, everybody? Guess who's hosting a new podcast? No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith. Listen as I pull back the curtain on everything beyond the world of sports. Interviewing influential guests, outspoken celebrities, and thought leaders across the political, financial, and social spectrum.
You know me, I'll give you my unbiased opinion. A No Mercy episode drops every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith, a presentation of Cadence 13, an Odyssey studio available on the Odyssey app or wherever you listen to your podcast.
What's up, everybody? Guess who's hosting a new podcast? No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith. Listen as I pull back the curtain on everything beyond the world of sports. Interviewing influential guests, outspoken celebrities, and thought leaders across the political, financial, and social spectrum. You know me, I'll give you my unbiased opinion. A No Mercy episode drops every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith, a presentation of Cadence 13, an Odyssey studio available on the Odyssey app or wherever you listen to your podcast. Gene Steritor, who spent decades in the NFL and in college basketball, always so kind, to pick up the phone and to answer our questions when we reach out to him. Gene, why is it so important that it doesn't even appear as though officials are in any way compromising their relationships with the athletes? For the obvious reasons, Amy, I would think all of us would understand the optics of it, right? I mean, even if it is for another reason or whatever the case may be, the optics of having something like that happen, it puts the possibility of questioning the integrity of the game or of a judgment in a game, you know, not just for those individuals specifically or that crew, but naturally then collectively for the staff and for all of the reasons that we would all fully understand.
You just wouldn't want to have that happen. Look, on the field, I was a talker, right? So I joked back and forth with the players and I felt like that developed a relationship which I never felt was a personal relationship where I was gonna start yelling, look out or something when a defensive player was coming near a quarterback or something unblocked.
But so there's an engagement that you have there within the moment and I think that's totally acceptable. But the optics of what we have seen, all of us have seen now with the advent of Twitter and people having cameras on their phones and video everywhere you go, it's just not the type of look that anyone wants. And I'm sure that both officials involved specifically in that regard too, they wouldn't want something like that to have happened or be on film regardless of how innocent the gesture was.
It's just not a good optic for the game. If an official, maybe a newer official or referee would come to you and say, where do I draw the line, what would you tell him or her? You're going to work is what you're really doing. I mean, yes, is it in front of millions of people, you know, millions of people, thousands in arenas and cameras everywhere and things of that nature, but you're in your job place. You are a participant of those. Now, yes, do we all see people that are famous or have earned that level of stardom and appreciation for what they do without a question of the doubt, but you are on that playing surface with them. That puts you as far as the, you know, the job at hand is the equal to that. So you don't do that. You interact with them. They're the best players in the world.
And guess what? You're the best officials in the world. So we're just out here sharing these moments together, but never in a fan type of an optic, right? We're out here to do our work. And it's a very serious environment that if you can make it like every once in a while and stay focused, then that's a great thing. But really it is to be addressed the way. And I would say, you know, yes, this is unfortunate because it happens in the stadium, you know, when a lot of things are present, but truly too, officials understand your behaviors and how you were seen on and off of the field. And most times off of the field is what represents who you are and reflects what the fraternity means. So you not only have to keep yourself really, really the high bar when you're in the types of situations when games are playing, but you need to continue with the same standard whenever you're living in your community and your personal life. It is that specific and truly officials do speak to that. That is something that is said to the newer officials when you step into this line light in this level that that's understood.
And I'm sure that's why, you know, all parties involved right now or kind of frustrated as you know, as a result of this action. I know though, that some of these guys who've been around the league for a long time, you've worked countless numbers of their games and they will address officials by name or they'll come to you and say, hey, what about this? Or they'll get familiar in that, hey, I need an explanation or I think this call was wrong. I mean, there certainly is a ton of interaction on the field among players and officials. Yeah, and you know, I mean, I wish they asked it as nicely as you just said, hey, can we have a discussion about the previous play or something like that?
That would be fantastic if it sounded so polite. But truly, I mean, I think really what you're saying and this is what I loved about now the reflection, right? It's been three or four years since I've been active in both sports, but when you do look back, you realize when a player kind of lives his full career, that's a 12 to 15 year endeavor and that's a long career in the National Football League.
But you know what? When you have that level of a career as an official, then really your careers along with them, they've kind of intertwined from the moment they came in as rookies or some, you know, a lot of times officials work 20 plus years. So these veterans that retired with a full career, you may have been in your fifth year when they were a rookie. So there definitely is a familiarity that takes place as a result of that interaction two or three times a season. So yes, do they kind of know who you are?
They do their homework and I'm sure they feel like that endears themselves to you a little more that I know your name or see how many children you've had or something like that. And in a lighter moment that boy, I wish they would have asked me the question so politely. Like, can we just talk a little more about that play you just didn't throw a flag on?
I would have loved to have answered just as politely too. We're so excited to have Gene Sterritor back on the show. You now see him on CBS Sports. He's a rules analyst, but he spent years and years as an NFL referee.
And also I didn't see double a basketball official it's after hours on CBS Sports Radio. Something that wasn't the case when I first started following football. So my career now going back 20 years is that we didn't know referees names nor did we have this affinity for some of them. Like I remember Ed Hockily and his big biceps, right?
And now his son is in the league. Everyone knows who Gene Sterritor is now and Dean Blandino and some of these others. And it's almost as though you all have become central figures too. It's become that familiar where we actually know names and personalities.
Yeah, and I think through the evolution of my career there's two decades that I really think that came to the fore a lot. Now look, nerdy official families like mine. We knew who the refs were all along. So I go back to Jim Tunney who was phenomenal.
Red Cash in with the classic first down announcement and Jerry Markbright in the way that Jerry Markbright stood in did games. So we have our Hall of Fame kind of in our little nerdy world of officials, but I do think you're right. And I think, look, social media explodes now, right?
Accessibility to information is so quick get on our phones in the heat of the moment. So it was something that I felt became much more noticeable. And I would say truly, although I've been accused of not shying away from the camera at times or maybe not being short of words at times, you never really seek the camera when you're referring or when you're officiating, because I can assure you that most times if the camera's looking for you it's not because you just caught a 30 yard pass and made a great leaping grab in the sideline or something like that either. So you didn't seek that attention but you also understood, especially in the NFL with the white hat on. You become part of the production of these shows now a little, you know, a little bit of information to the talent from on the field does allow those and now just to get a little insight as to what just happened or what you did. And there are those brief moments where I think I realized that in football much more than basketball as a referee administering the game, getting the pertinent information concisely finished waving your arms slow enough when you're going to time out so that you don't ruin the commercial time that's so precious to a production.
But there are many crossovers like that when you are a referee in the NFL. So you are cognizant of the recognition that you're going to get in the attention that you're going to get in that three hour window of that game. And then naturally the efficiency of how you administer the downtime on the field, it makes for a much better experience for the players and coaches as well.
So we are now seven weeks in, and of course I have my questions, but before I ask them Jean, how would you describe from an official's perspective these first seven weeks and what it's been like? You know, I don't, I wouldn't ever get hyperbolic and say it's worse than any other year or it's much greater or better than any other year or anything like that. I see it does truly, I do truly feel like every year it becomes a little more scrutinized than I have to honestly admit, you know these rules, analysts positions, where now we do have someone of some knowledge that is that are, you know, right, right in the real time moment to kind of elaborate a little more on something. In some ways that's also drawing a little more attention to some of the judgment. I think what I've noticed from the officiating part of it, we've had roughing the passer situations over the last couple of weeks, right? Ironically enough, roughing the passer is down, you know, around 30% and a total amount of roughing the passer is called this year. The types of roughing that may have been called or may, you know, may have not been called. Most of the ones we've talked about here that have been called. What happens in the officiating world and it's a process through this journey of a season and into the post-season.
And it's something that the crews talk about week in and week out, I'm sure as a group of officials on a crew. If you have a play that you miss that's a rather obvious type of a mistake that you hope you don't make but the game's fast and these mistakes do occur. When you miss what I used to call with my crew and probably because of my crossover between both sports, when I would tell my football crew, look, we can't miss layups, right? You can't miss the layup. If you miss the layup as an officiating crew in a game, that miss layup is truly, you're going to lose any kind of hope in gaining any credibility on the 50-50 plays that are gonna have to throw up the rest of that day now because you missed the layup. Right, so you have to be aware of that and that's how fine-tuned and aware you need to continue to stay because one mistake like that in a game causes skepticism for these other really hard, great plays. You're not gonna get any love either.
That also grows to the stuff, right? So if there's two or three of those plays that happen in a week or two weeks in a row, unfortunately. Now the collective is before this game starts, right?
We're already thinking because of this attention on things that we have seen and thought, this is pretty obvious, they should get this. Replay doesn't need to come in or we don't need to watch this in slow motion. That starts to happen again. So really, it's a long season. These things happen.
I think we went through a little bump like that here in the first month and a half or seven weeks of the season. And now the goal for the staff, for the game, each crew is, listen, let's calm the waters, become less apparent here. And let's get the big stuff and get back to the game. But inevitably, you know, it rears its head and it's part of the process. When you have to call rough in the past or when these moments are in the spotlight, what is it that officials are looking for? Well, that's even gotten more specific even in the four years since I've been gone, I'm used to it, but really what you're looking for in real time, which is, I can't emphasize that enough. I know we say that a lot on TV and naturally, you know, the people that really don't like the men and women on the stripes always say, oh, here he goes again about his fraternity. The speed of this is really of a nature that it's extremely difficult to explain that unless you are within 10 feet of that action and the speed of that action.
It's not even close. If you're sitting in rows four or five, you think where you're close to this and the way it feels different and it does, but it exponentially grows from the fifth row to the field field now. So in these windows of this two second timeframe that happens from when a defensive player gets at least within two yards or so of a quarterback who's in a passing posture and you're taxed with a pass fumble situation as the ball gone, all these other elements come while you are trying to officiate about two yards ahead of this individual that has the ball because you have to see that defensive or that action prior to when it gets to that quarterback, there's body weight involved. It does this person, this human being moving very fast, very large person, coming to a postured player who's the only player on a football field that ever gets hit standing still.
Everyone else is moving when they get hit, but not this player. I know we hear a lot of the little phrases about how we're protecting this position. You have to remember that and put the human element in that.
That's why these protections are in there. And I can honestly say when you are very screwed into the game and aware, the game does slow down just like the players. It's one of the beauties of officiating. You get that same rush that an athlete who is really tied in and full focus gets.
You also have to be very schooled on all the nuances that occur and that concentration level can never lapse in. It just can't stop for a second. You don't blink between a play.
There's no reason to. It's five seconds, don't blink your eyes. It could be a difference between a pass fumble or where that hit occurs. But you also feel it, right? I mean, we all see it a little slower, but then there's a feel, the timing of it. Was it two steps or was it a step and a half?
Now I get to do the beautiful thing now and rewind it and count one step, two. Oh, I can't believe he didn't call that or she didn't call that. Can't you see the second foot just landed before the contact occurred and everybody goes, you know, we go crazy on TV and the viewers that are unhappy with, you know, the call or the non-call. But a lot of that's a feel.
It's what makes the craft something that's extremely, you know, hard to do and very hard to continue to do for a long period of time, which is why you fall in love with it and you become a ref nerd like me. We went through this process where the NFL overreacted and instituted replay for pass interference. And we all know what happened to that gene. It was very short-lived because it was not a good idea as a judgment call. Would it be a bad idea then to try to install some type of review for roughing the passer?
I think we'd go down the same place, Amy. Gotcha. You know, we're in the judgments. We're in the areas where a little bit of gray called or not called at times. There's also very good for the game.
And I believe that as well. This game can't be officiated by the letter of the law in every specific nuance. It can't.
The game would not be good. There is holding that's taking place, some restriction. Does it materially affect the play? Does somebody gain an unfair advantage as a result of it? In that art of those types of questions that officials answer in their mind at rapid succession comes the game.
And you must keep that to where it is in my humble opinion. I think down the rabbit hole, I think we're opening up the same can of worms. Yeah, well, we saw what happened with PI. It was a disaster and the NFL quickly and quietly did away with it. Gene Steritor is with us now with CBS Sports, longtime NFL ref, and of course NCAA basketball official.
Not that far away from the new season tipping off. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. In your opinion, what are the most challenging calls to make as you mentioned speed of the game and flow of the game? They're all specific to each official, right? I mean, referees aren't going to call pass interference because their actions are on the interior line and actions on the quarterback and on the kickers. So referees live in that world of those types of plays in the game.
Each official has their own levels of I'm sure what they would think. Boy, that's a harder play for me, although it's not one that I made decipher. To me, I was the worst running into or roughing the kicker referee, I think, in the history of the NFL. Because I think again, yes, some of the basketball would go into, you know, I always felt punters were flopping. You know, it was like I wanted to just call a blocking foul. I wanted to go to the line, shoot two, and let's play on, you know? But then I would always have every once in a while a coach told me, Gene, you know, running into the kicker is a penalty too. That's the coach, he just did his leg a little, but he spun, he was wetted, he went down on the ground, it's nothing.
He said, no, that's called running into the kicker and it's five yards, you know? So for me, I think that was probably my biggest challenge was I needed to quit thinking, look, you did get contacted, although why are you embellishing it? I'm not giving you anything, you know? So I got, I did, I made a few of those mistakes. I honestly could admit that. Now all of the plays are as hard as you make them and truly none of them are extremely easy, easy. When you really become a 300, 400 level official, what you realize is it's more about how you positioned yourself prior to the action taking place. I was just bad on the kickers and I apologize to all of them. No one apologizes to kickers, Gene, I like that.
Good for you, breaking some new ground. What happens to an official? Is there any type of penalty when an official gets a call wrong and the NFL points it out? Oh, most definitely, I mean, there's a punitive mark on that game specific and on your year's final grade and truly going through an NFL season if I felt like I had six or seven or eight misses in a season, it was a really, really bad year and rightfully slow and that's the truth of it. And they're graded in an extremely meticulous and high level.
The NFL has very quality people and a lot of them that are viewing each one of these games and watching each play four or five times so that they can watch each official's responsibility for each individual play every week. So the detail of, and I think what you have to do in those situations, Amy, and that's one of the things as well that an official has to mold a new and younger official in, not just what we spoke to earlier and that's just this unbelievable fishbowl that you live in, but this level of scrutiny that's going to take place on a human in the most meticulous ways in this environment is also another challenge to the human individual, right? It's on your downtime for the six days and you're going to be meticulously graded to the highest detail on Tuesday and Wednesday, right? Every week.
So that's where they're living today. Their final grades are coming out on a midweek grade here from last week's game. You also need to be preparing mentally and emotionally for what's going to happen 72 hours from now as well. But it's also within that that starts to develop what I think is what makes you a great official and that's the ability to critique yourself at that same level and be that meticulous with how you are striving to work the perfect game with the acceptance and understanding that that is not going to happen. But how do I navigate the imperfections of that contest? But you also have to have that mentality that when that plays over, that plays over.
It has to be put away. Very easy to say. I can assure you, very, very difficult, very difficult to do in real time on a field and even much more difficult when the decision you made on Sunday at 2.30 in the afternoon is still being spoke about the following Thursday and has been for 72 straight hours in every media vehicle outlet that there is known to man. Interesting, and especially these days when we focus more and more on mental health for athletes themselves because of the fishbowl they live in, I can understand how it would be important as the leader of a crew.
At least you're prepared for the media. I mean, that's similar to what we go through in the media too where every mistake is amplified and now I understand even more so why officials need to have that time with their families and for you, it's gene number four, which I know you've got a date with gene number four coming up, so I will let you get to that. But it's always a gift for us to be able to have you on the show.
You can follow Gene on Twitter at Gene Steritor and he's never far away from a CBS NFL broadcast near you. Gene, you are the absolute best. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. Thank you so much, Amy, and take care of your mom. I know it was her birthday the other day and enjoy the family.
We know how precious it is. Thanks so much. What's up, everybody? Guess who's hosting a new podcast? No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith. Listen as I pull back the curtain on everything beyond the world of sports. Interviewing influential guests, outspoken celebrities and thought leaders across the political, financial and social spectrum.
You know me, I'll give you my unbiased opinion. A No Mercy episode drops every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith, a presentation of Cadence 13 and Odyssey Studio available on the Odyssey app or wherever you listen to your podcast.
What's up, everybody, guess who's hosting a new podcast? No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith. Listen as I pull back the curtain on everything beyond the world of sports. Interviewing influential guests, outspoken celebrities and thought leaders across the political, financial and social spectrum.
You know me, I'll give you my unbiased opinion. A No Mercy episode drops every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith, a presentation of Cadence 13 and Odyssey Studio available on the Odyssey app or wherever you listen to your podcast. What's up, everybody, guess who's hosting a new podcast? No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith. Listen as I pull back the curtain on everything beyond the world of sports. Interviewing influential guests, outspoken celebrities and thought leaders across the political, financial and social spectrum. You know me, I'll give you my unbiased opinion. A No Mercy episode drops every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith, a presentation of Cadence 13 and Odyssey Studio available on the Odyssey app or wherever you listen to your podcast.
Whisper: small.en / 2022-11-06 01:24:16 / 2022-11-06 01:30:22 / 6