My good friend Jim Kirk runs a great officiating supply company called Ump-Attire.com.  Jim’s trying to raise $2000 for the Susan G. Bowen Foundation. You can see the details on Jim’s blog.

Check it out here http://umpattire.blogspot.com/2010/01/blow-pink-whistle-on-breast-cancer.html

By purchasing a pink whistle Jim will donate $2 to the cause.

Todd

All Football Officials Listen Up! In less than one week, Valentine’s Day will be upon us. I thought it would be nice to take a moment from our Rules Study, off-season fitness focus, officiating camp research,  and occasional couch potato-ness and send some love to those that support us and our football officiating passion (and sometimes fanatical pursuit).

My friend Chip  Etier,Etierphotography, has recently started a new blog focusing on high school and college football officiating.

If you have a moment, drop by and pay his blog a visit. It’s called ZebraTales (appropriately named!) and you can find it at http://zebratales.blogspot.com/

Things I’ll miss as the season comes to a close…I was sitting at home this Sunday watching my beloved Bengals do battle with the Steelers and I found myself drifting off in space thinking of all the great moments I’d experienced this season and how much I’ll  miss certain aspects that could only occur in a Rookie Season.  Here are some of those in no particular order:

1. Mid-South road trips in PJ Doyen’s van to Virginia Wise and Kentucky Christian. The middle of the back seat is highly over-rated but being sharing the ride was all that and a bag of chips. Both times.

The history of the Fox 40 whistle

Ron Foxcroft introduced his Fox 40 Whistle, a revolutionary pealess design at the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis. As a renowned professional basketball referee, Ron had been the victim of many unforeseeable incidents involving faulty pea whistles.