He added that, in hindsight, he regrets the decision, because as a military veteran, he knew that he had a duty as a referee and did not live up to his commitment. BS!!! his duty was to respect the flag and that is exactly what he did. good on him
Posted on 10/20/2017 6:39:28 PM PDT by markomalley
An Air Force One veteran turned Indiana high school referee was slammed with an 18-month suspension for choosing to walk out of a game he was refereeing after he saw an athlete kneeling during the National Anthem.
Jim Saddler, 67, said he couldn’t help himself when he saw a volleyball player taking a knee during the “Star Spangled Banner.”
He said that he was barely able to contain his anger when he saw fans “sitting on their butts” during the anthem, but seeing an athlete kneeling was what pushed him over the edge.
“What they did just upset me so badly that I just could not stay there,” Saddler told IndyStar.
He added that, in hindsight, he regrets the decision, because as a military veteran, he knew that he had a duty as a referee and did not live up to his commitment.
“In the Air Force, you have a duty, and you do it,” Saddler, a retired Presidential Flight Attendant on Air Force One, said. “The same with sporting events. I guess I went AWOL. I feel bad about it.”
He also said that, after much thought, it was the athlete’s “constitutional right to do what she wants to do,” regardless if it offended or upset him.
”(But) I know it’s her constitutional right to do what she wants to do,” said Saddler. “And it wasn’t fair to the other girls who were standing and respecting the flag. After I thought about it, you know, sometimes it takes you a little time to sit down and think about stuff and what you did. And after I thought about it, I would never ever do that again. I would never break a contract.”
A few days after the incident, Saddler received a letter from the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) suspending his license for the rest of this school year and until winter sports begin next year.
He said he expected to be reprimanded or maybe suspended for a couple games, but getting suspended for a year-and-a-half seemed excessive to him.
Saddler told IndyStar that he’s never been in trouble with the IHSAA before and considers himself a well-respected official in Indiana, an account the North Central Athletic Director Paul Loggan confirmed as true:
“He’s a very well-respected official and man,” said Loggan. “He’s been a volleyball official here and a softball official here, and we’ve never had any issues with him.”
Saddler petitioned the IHSAA commissioner, explaining why he did what he did and promising never to do anything like it again.
“But it fell on deaf ears,” he said.
"I don't think the IHSAA (cared) about what I said or what I did or that I said I wouldn't do it again," Saddler said. “Here I am a retired veteran, you have to see my point of view of what I did. Right?"
His suspension stands because, according to the IHSAA, his license is “a privilege and not a right” and he violated his contract.
Sorry about my messed up post, I think it was 36. Working on a laptop and I must have made a mistake. :(
Why, exactly, do government schools have extracurricular sports when the deleterious effect that sports has on academics is well known? We should kill off all taxpayer funded sports at any educational level until and unless every single school can show it is achieving academic excellence.
Sorry folks. OUR America is becoming a distant memory.
If I dared to make a spectacle of myself at a Game like the Kid who kneeled, my Old Man would have made sure I would never ever think of doing it again.
Anyone here know how to post this to breaking news
STEVE Bannon is going to speak at the CAGOP dinner in a few minutes.
Live on ABC.
http://abc7.com/live/23340/
Our son is a high school football player. When the anthem plays every player and every fan (as far as I’ve seen) stands facing the flag. While hurrying to the bleachers last Friday, we stopped and faced the flag during the anthem. I noticed that all others around us did the same. We all continued on our way when it was over.
This is rural Minnesota, I imagine that most rural areas are the same way. Like a Twin Cities radio personality says, “The closer you get to the tallest buildings, the more likely you are to find....”
Don ‘t forget those in the stands who were sitting on their butts!
Obviously the school has no standards of decorum.
A high school volleyball referee? He probably got paid a whole $30 per game.
He added that, in hindsight, he regrets the decision, because as a military veteran, he knew that he had a duty as a referee and did not live up to his commitment. BS!!! his duty was to respect the flag and that is exactly what he did. good on him
Sue the organization that suspended him and get the parents of patriotic students to raise hell all over the place, including taking their kids out of sports. Let the teams collapse/lose from a lack of skilled players.
Don’t contribute to the any school’s athletic programs until Saddler is reinstated. Don’t buy ads in school yearbooks. Boycott school events, esp. athletic ones.
Let the schools put the pressure on the referees’ organization or just drop out of any organized league and form a new one without them.
Hit hard now or knuckle under forever. And get rid of any administrator/coach who puts up with the blacklisting.
Some protesters are more equal than others.
Sue the organization that suspended him and get the parents of patriotic students to raise hell all over the place, including taking their kids out of sports. Let the teams collapse/lose from a lack of skilled players.
Don’t contribute to the any school’s athletic programs until Saddler is reinstated. Don’t buy ads in school yearbooks. Boycott school events, esp. athletic ones.
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“THEY” are saving that one for when the ‘Marys’ take over girls sports - maybe not because they are better but for the same ‘reason’ when the ONLY Black Girl in town shows up for the Volleyball or Swim team she will HAVE to play lest the whole lot of them get branded for life.
The ‘Girls’ standing in solidarity when ‘Thomasina’ is allowed to play with them don’t realize that HE is just the first one.
Sort of like the ‘girls’ in Europe standing in bus & train stations hold ‘Welcome Muslim Refugees’ and then ‘complaining’ when 6 months later the very ones you are ‘sponsoring’ are raping EVERYTHING in sight and the powers that be just shrug their shoulders while your fathers and brothers just tsk! tsk! and explain diversity and the like to you.
MAYBE the fathers and brothers will ‘wake’ up when marauding bands of ‘them’ start raping the men to ‘show them who is in charge’.
BUT I doubt it.
Maybe do it this way.
For the kneeling team all close call “in balls” are out.
All other “close calls” benefit the non-keepers.
I would never compromise my personal integrity and do such a thing.
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