I yelled at a somewhat innocent man surrounded by rednecks in the goonies of Washington, and it was not satisfying. It was a state game, and our soccer team travelled out to the middle of nowhere. The green and yellow field was bumpy and hard, making shots that came at me unpredictable. The parents and siblings of the opposing team wore bedazzled jeans, and knock off Prada sunglasses. They were loud and obnoxious, not to mention, stereotypical rednecks. They yelled at the ref for making fair calls and ‘cleverly’ insulted one of my best friends by screaming “she could win an academy award for the best supporting actress, ref!” That line sticks with me today, months after the incident; it rings in my mind like a bell on the last day of school. We were up 3-0 and each time we scored, the parents would get more brutal with their insults, which started to rub off on their daughters. Towards the end of the game, a girl from the opposing team tapped a ball out of bounds, which signified a goal kick. Instead, when the ref pointed at the goal (signifying a goal kick), the girl started to yell at him and was soon followed by the rest of her team, swarming him like bees. I had the ball in my arms waiting for the ref to shake of the girls, and suddenly a girl broke from the swarm and ran right at me, only to pry the ball out of my arms. Nobody steals a soccer ball from Rebecca Hasle, just like nobody takes candy from a baby. I was furious that the ref was bullied into changing the call because of teenage girls. After arguing with the ref, Hannah, one of my teammates just shook it off and walked away. I still had not said a word to the ref, and I had my opportunity before the corner kick. I thought that yelling profanity at the ref would ‘teach him a lesson’, but after a short period of time Dux yelled from the other side of the field “Rebecca, you are not the ref let it go!” It was difficult to watch the opposing team get away with something so ridiculous, given my competitive mindset.

Before I had the opportunity to actually yell profanity (to this extent) at a ref, I would yell at football refs on the television, and join several thousands of other fans yelling at the refs at sounders games. Though, the refs could not hear my loud opinion though the television, and at the soccer game, every fans voice was over shadowed by all the other thousands of fans voices, which created sounds of unclear jumbled mumbles throughout Century Link Field. Before that day in the goonies of Washington, I immediately took advantage of the refs in sports areas who seemed to never get anything right. But while I screamed at the ref in my soccer game, I could see the hopelessness in his eyes; getting yelled at by teenage girls should not be on anyone’s agenda. After that game, I went up to the ref, shook his hand, and apologized because no one trying to do his or her job should be condemned for it. From that day forward, with few exceptions, I accept and respect refs who are trying to their jobs without breaking down from the countless insults they receive.