I am the official who reffed t-bone three out of his four matches at Topeka. When he stepped onto the mat for the first time he had a clean slate for I did not know who he was at all. He flat out beat his first round kid. Somebody did make mention of the fact he did push off the other kid's face after the pin. I said to him that action was not needed in the sport of wrestling. He would have to have move his hand six inches to push off the mat and it would have big deal.
In the big match of Johnson vs. Rhodes, it had all the making of a match meant for the finals. The calls were close, BUT FAIR. When I blow the whislte the wrestling is to stop as they are going out of bounds and there is definitely not to be any steamrolling of any wrestler. As to the mention of all the coaches at matside, it was more than enough to be the just the ref for the match at hand. There was one point in the match that I did tell the TOHK coaches there was to be only two coaches at matside. So the other five it seemed like backed up five feet to continue caoching. A big match does draw the crowd and it was difficult to contain them. A point that has not been mentioned was that I wiped blood off of t-bone's wrist. I wanted to keep the pace of the match going, it was a great match. The blood time incurred really slowed down the match.
T-bone's last match went well until I warned him for stalling. Yes, he did say f*** y***. That was my final straw. No one should have to accept that kind of language anywhere. After that match t-bone came up to shake my hand. He also said "Nice job B*tch." I later found out he spit in his hand before comming up to me.
That next day I had a lot of coaches and fans tell me I handled the matches with t-bone well. There is a point where I as official stood up to the unsportsmanlike behavior and made my call. My number was 299 and if you liked the job I did for the two days "Thank you", if you disagree with me then please sign up to be an official next year and you can be the next topic of conversation. My email is thormaxx@hotmail.com

First off, the whole arguement of "if you don't like it, you do it" is totally wrong. You signed up for the position. You agreed to work the tournament. You were getting paid. This is a job. I often tell my wrestlers that there are two jobs that you can get into that people hate you just by the clothes you wear - law enforcement and official. Everyone is a critic, you knew that going into the profession. This is a lame defense.

Second, if in all honesty you do not know who Thomas Rhodes is, you should not be anywhere near a state caliber wrestling tourney. I'm not saying Thomas is bigger than the sport, but as a fan of the sport, I knew when I arrived that there were certain matches that I wanted to see. I knew it would be an awesome match. As fans and as coaches, we know who to watch and what matches would be huge as well as entertaining.

Third, the issue of the crowd around the mat and the issues of coach control. This would be a problem everywhere within the facility, it's just more extreme because of the fact that the 15/16 year olds have no wooden partition whereas most mats do. The same problem occurs with the little kids on the far end as well. It's not a TOHK problem alone, it happens with other clubs as well. When one club does it, it's called spirit. When another club does it, it's called intimidation.

Fourth, I should state that I do believe Thomas was wrong for saying what he said. He should have been kicked out.

I guess I shouldn't be upset (which I'm not), I'm just stating the obvious. I find it very troublesome (as others may) that an official uses the "then you do it" defense for some sort of moral justification of the removal of Thomas from the state tourney almost a month after the fact to gain some sort of acceptance from the wrestling community. Especially considering the fact that it was requested that another official officiate the match and was denied. Add the fact that the same official tried to kick one of the coaches from TOHK off the wall he was standing behind to watch a match that was about to start, then going to the head official to see if he could actually do it, thus delaying the tourney for a simple grudge that had nothing to do with the task at hand. . . .

Please, this is an old topic, already forgotten. To have you come into a wrestling forum to validate yourself a month after the fact is wrong. Especially considering the fact some of your actions later in the day were retalatory in nature (removal of coach from mat).

I'm smelling a dead horse....
Please don't respond.

gibby

Gibby, you were a little harsh on this ref. He is still learning and obvious has some wrestling experiance with the way he anticipated the action in the matches. As for Thomas, My son wrestled with him in Colorado last summer. He had nothing but good to say about him. He would sacrafice his weight and wrestle where ever needed. Coach Harris enjoyed him also. I hope Thomas gets his act together as far as sportmanship cause he is a very good wrestler. As for this official, I think we need more like him. I don't think any official wants to cheat a kid out of a match but the rules are the rules. "Blood time is blood time", no matter if its a spot or not. Good luck to Thomas and you as an official.

Send my thanks to the ref. He did his best. None of us agree with EVERY call made...some of us complain-or cheer-loudly in response. The rest of us just let the "mouths" do the talking and we sit in the shadows and watch the entire show. Personally, I'm just glad there are refs who WILL officiate this sport. And most of them seem to care about helping the kids to grow in skill and sportsmanship. I think it's more than fair to say "then you do it"...Those who squawk the loudest rarely find themselves in an official's position--probably because they don't want to deal with jerks or have everyone second guessing their calls. As for Rhodes, he has a lot to learn on and off the mat. But then, don't we all?

Gibby,

I think the dead horse we smell is your comment. Kids state refs are very often young men getting their feet wet trying to work their way up to the high school state tourny. In hindsite he probably should not have made any statement on the forum but he will learn from that, especially when someone like yourself runs him into the ground. Before we rip someone who is doing what they think is best, maybe we should look at ourselves.

Your self-righteous opinion is the only old topic here, as from time to time you add it to a post.

i think u people are being a little to harsh on t-bone. i have wrestled with him im pratice and he is a great guy. he helped me out with moves and everything. he does cut alot of weight and i see him and he is suffering but he does it for the team. he does have a little additude probelm but that is just the way it is. thank u for ur time.

First of All m299 did a good job. I didnt watch every match but I got the chance to watch this particular weight. The crowd on this match was quite large and probaly distracting to the official. Ive known and have had the chance to see m299 officiate college duals, tournaments, and high school tournaments. He was very qualified. He had a call overturned the match before so im sure that frustated him a bit. But he handled everything very well.

Why does everyone come down so hard on Thomas. I've wrestled with him for 11 years I think and its been the same all 11 years. It seems to go like this: "It's Thomas Rhodes lets go see what he does wrong and boo him." Or it Hard Knox lets see what dirty moves they taught them this week. Well u r all wrong. The coaches in there are all experienced in the sport of wrestling. Back 2 t-bone now: He is a good wrestler who is very aggressive and the last i knew that was a good thing. Just think if u guys got 2 know thomas as a person instead of only an athlete. He has a lot of respect and is likable. U may disagree with me but thomas has respect but doesn't put up with all the bs that is thrown at him. Just think about that i have wrestled with him for at least 11 years and know the person he is.

Josh Clark

i have seen a lot of t- bones matches and when he losses he makes a scence which is pointless and immature. like when he lost last year at the sity league finals and he ran off the mat crying and stuff he needs to grow up and get ready for next year.