Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Soccer No posts yesterday. I lost control of my agenda. Nothing starts a day off better than a phone call from an athletic director saying there's a referee he never wants to see at his school again. In one fell swoop I went from almost having all my soccer matches for high school covered to having five more openings. Then followed a question by an irate parent/referee who didn't like a decision at his kid's match. Followed by a long teleconference with the office to design the October cover. Then the results of a day of rain started to filter in as high schools started calling off games and moving them to days that might be convenient to them, but are busy days for referees. More open games. I'm earning my assigning money this year. But then we had a nice mens match at Ohio Nothern University, with ONU over Defiance College 3-0. In between I finished my work on the 2007 Editorial Calendar. So those of you who are interested in such things can see one soon. Oh, the soccer question "Facts" from the parent: Player dribbles ball from corner into the penalty area along goal line and passes the ball up to the 12 (player and coach should be commended for good play here). As recipient of pass is about to shoot point blank defender throws elbow at the attacking player who had just passed. Attacking player does two-handed shove tactic on offending defender. Referee blows whistle before shot is taken. (By the way, dual system for high school. Ref is on goal line and out towards the corner.) Parent wants to know if this is "denial of goal scoring opportunity." Parent wants "blood" in the form of red card. Answer, no. Foul was not on the shooter. After awarding cautions to the two players, restart was indirect free kick outside the area. Parent wants to know if restart was correct. What do you think? I have not talked to the referee, but, I'm assuming that he awarded restart based on the high school rule of team being in possession when there is a stoppage not for a foul, etc. So indirect free kick would be proper in that argument. Spot of the ball is problematic. Based on parent's facts, I think the spot should have been somewhere around the 12 where the ball was when the whistle blew. For those of us with more experience refereeing, what do we think we'd do. Best would have been to delay the whistle for the shot. If ball goes into goal, clock stops, cautions awarded, life goes on. But if you think there is going to be a fight, then you'd better stop things immediately. As for the restart, I could argue that the first thing was a "penal foul" by the defender and the restart should have been a penalty kick. (After the two cautions.) I know there are a few referees reading this blog (and probably players and coaches). What do you think? 7:55:50 AM    comment []

ARC Forum ARC Advisory Group has formally announced its 11th Annual Manufacturing Forum. Playing off Thomas Friedman's popular "The World is Flat" book, this year's theme is "Collaborative Manufacturing Strategies: Driving Performance in the Flat World." Returning to the usual venue of the Rosen Center in Orlando, the gathering will be from February 12-15, 2007. Emphasis this year is on "best practices." The agenda is fairly vague at this point, but the formula over the past few years has been a technology supplier company (I presume an ARC client) and one of its customers. Each gets a few minutes of presentation followed by a "panel discussion" and a limited Q&A session. There are some premeetings on Monday, with the heart of the Forum on Tuesday and Wednesday. The usual day devoted to OMAC meetings (Thursday) now has the morning devoted to "Emerging Technologies" in three areas: packaging, networks and field devices, and machine control and safety. OMAC meetings follow in the afternoon. Tuesday's topics are "Flat World Drivers and Requirements" and "Performance Strategies for the Flat World." Followed the next day by best practices discussions for managing change, meeting government regulations, managing cyber security and implementing Lean and MES solutions. I'm looking forward to my 10th visit. Hope to see you there. 7:20:48 AM    comment []