Should Intramural Referees Be Fired for Poor Performance?

by npatano on March 31, 2022

The Scowl

Providence College Investigates: Intramural Sports

Big Baller ‘24

Intramural Professional

Yes, They Stink

The question is: Should intramural referees be fired? The answer is yes. Intramural refs technically aren’t even qualified to be referees by the state of Rhode Island. According to state law, “All Rhode Island referees and umpires must register yearly. Rhode Island sports officials are required to complete a background check by the Bureau of Criminal Identification.”

To become an Intramural referee at Providence College, the tasks are simple. You have to run around campus with a backpack full of bricks, flunk out of Civ, and give Ed Cooley a high five. The only thing about these tasks that are somewhat justifiable for becoming a referee is the fact that running around with a backpack full of bricks is a test of endurance and stamina.

In each intramural sport thus far, the referees have magically messed up every single call they have made. Here are some of the things that have occurred due to the referees so far in this intramural season:

In basketball, there was a pair of referees who participated in the game as if they were players. On top of this, they were also trying to ref the game in favor of whichever team they were ‘playing’ for. This caused a riot among the fans, which then led to complete and total chaos.

In badminton, the players were not given a traditional birdie to hit. They were given a stuffed bird because the referees thought it was a legitimate birdie meant to be hit with the badminton rackets. So these badminton games were played with a stuffed animal bird going back and forth over the net.

In ice hockey, the referees made all the players play in figure skates instead of ice hockey skates. The players were not given much of an option about this either. They left with the feeling that they were figure skaters rather than ice hockey players, all thanks to the incapable intramural referees.

And lastly, the referees turned cornhole games into a tailgate. They brought grills, coolers full of beer, footballs to throw around, and even their cars to open the trunks. While cornhole was still being played, the referees enjoyed and focused on the ‘tailgate’ more than the actual cornhole games.

The instances above explain pretty clearly why PC intramural referees should be fired. They tend to care more about themselves and their fun rather than the job they were hired for.

LeBron James ‘23

One Shirt Away From Immortality

Yes, They Suck

The answer is clearly yes and there is no question: volunteer intramural referees should be able to be fired. To their credit, they are volunteering their time and effort to police a bunch of college kids who still think they are playing in a high school state championship game.

However, most of the time the referee is friends with one or more of the kids on one of the teams which automatically makes them biased.

Statistically, intramural refs know one player on any given team 89 percent of the time. This means that 89 percent of the time that an intramural game takes place, it is already an advantage for a team.

This has to change. On top of that, the team that has one or more players who are friends with the ref wins the game 60 percent of the time. That is completely unfair, outright awful, and must be combated in some way.

The solution? Make people who have no friends ref intramural games. That is the only way for an intramural sports game to be unbiased and fair to both teams. People with no friends are statistically 99 percent more likely to fairly ref an intramural sports game compared to a person who has friends, and that 1 percent missing is due to some people liking one color better than another.

Since this solution is not possible, because everyone has friends, another way to combat the bias of the current intramural referees is to have a questionnaire of who knows who for each team and then schedule the referees around that data. If another team reports that a member of the opposing team actually knows the ref and the ref lied on his or her questionnaire, then the ref will be terminated upon investigation.

In general, intramural refs are terrible at policing each game and make calls that they do not always agree.

When a freshman decides they want to become an intramural ref and are assigned to referee a game with seniors who are trying their hardest to win that t-shirt to prove to themselves they still have it one last time, they are treated like a second-class citizen by one team if they make a bad call.

That ref will not want to make any call that would get them yelled at again. But they will definitely make a terrible call again. That freshman should not continue to ref and should be fired. This kind of event occurs all the time, and anyone who has played an intramural sport will agree that intramural referees should be fired.

PC Introduces Intramural Beer Die and Pong

by npatano on March 31, 2022

The Scowl

Fran (Ray) ’24

One of the many fascinating attractions that Providence College offers its students is our wide variety of inclusive sports and activities provided by Intramural Sports. For many years, PC has been ranked as one of the highest graded and most competitive college intramural programs in the country. This comes as no surprise, given the extremely active student body, many of whom played varsity sports in high school and want to continue to stay active into their college years.

Within the list of sports and activities offered by Intramural Sports, one can participate in hockey, basketball, tennis, and even more casual “backyard games” such as Cornhole or KanJam. These more relaxed styled games give all types of students the opportunity to play intramurals, even if you haven’t had much experience with more traditional sports like the ones offered by high school varsity programs.

That being said, even if you weren’t a traditional “athlete” growing up, you can still compete and have fun when you come to Providence College. Recently, there have been many complaints to the intramural staff claiming that a certain type of “athlete” is not being fairly represented within intramural sports: The Weekend Athlete. The type of athlete that gets out of bed every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday ready to indulge in ice-cold beverages and go to battle across a 6-foot plastic table.

The most notable event in this showcase of party skills is Beer Pong, something that I’m sure most of us have become familiar with by this point. Among this staple drinking game are Flip Cup, Quarters, Beer Ball, and most notoriously: Beer Die. Having recently come into the party scene, Beer Die is a game unlike any other. Some call it the ultimate test of athleticism, but I know it as a graceful and methodical art form.

For the readers that have not had the experience of playing or witnessing a game of Beer Die, the rules are simple. The game is played 2v2, with each player occupying a corner of the table. In front of each player in their corner is a cup filled with the beverage of their choice. Each player will have the chance to throw a 6-sided die at least 6 feet in the air, trying to land the die somewhere on the opposite half of the table or in the opponent’s cups. When the die hits the table, the defending team must try to catch the die before it lands on the ground. If a player throws the die and it bounces off the table and then hits the ground, their team is awarded a point. Like any other college drinking game, there can be a variety of additional rules added to the game out of personal preference.

I, as well as many other Providence College students, believe that this game would make a fine addition to the list of activities offered by Intramural Sports. Although this would not involve any real consumption of alcohol while being sanctioned by the College, the spirit of the game and all its facets are still present. There are many students at PC who quite literally think of their weekend as a game in which they must perform at the highest level.