Referees Women

The Lakers got their first look, exhibition or regular season, at one of the two new women referees when Dee Kantner worked Sunday's game against the Vancouver Grizzlies at the Forum. "She did pretty good," Nick Van Exel said. "Except that bad call she called on me." So the two briefly discussed the foul. "I guess she wanted to test me, to see how I would react," he said. He reacted well. "I had a trick for her."

On the eve of the Women's World Cup, coaches from Australia to the United States and from Brazil to Denmark are focused on the key figures in the tournament. U.S. forward Mia Hamm? Defender Linda Medalen of Norway? Chinese goalkeeper Gao Hong? No. Try Fatou Gaye of Senegal and Jackeline Saez of Panama. Never heard of them? That's because Gaye and Saez aren't players, they're referees. And they're women, as are all 31 officials for World Cup '99, which begins today.

There is a professional referee in Los Angeles who is a stickler for preventing boxers from grabbing and holding one another. Before each bout, the referee visits the fighters' dressing rooms and lays down the law. "I use those visits to establish a rapport with both boxers," the referee says. "I tell them I want them to respond to verbal commands. I tell them if they clinch and I yell, 'Break!' I expect them to break, immediately.

Crystal Nichols stood her ground as 900 pounds of Jordan and South Gate High football players barreled toward her at the goal line. It was a short-yardage sweep. Linemen pulling, linebackers pursuing and a ballcarrier fighting his way to the corner of the end zone. Nichols did not flinch as the bodies tumbled in a heap at her feet just inside the orange sideline marker. She stood at attention and blew her whistle as her hands shot straight to the sky: touchdown.

On the eve of the Women's World Cup, coaches from Australia to the United States and from Brazil to Denmark are focused on the key figures in the tournament. U.S. forward Mia Hamm? Defender Linda Medalen of Norway? Chinese goalkeeper Gao Hong? No. Try Fatou Gaye of Senegal and Jackeline Saez of Panama. Never heard of them? That's because Gaye and Saez aren't players, they're referees. And they're women, as are all 31 officials for World Cup '99, which begins today.

When Maggie Belker walked into a preseason meeting in 1991, before her second year as a high school football official in the San Gabriel Valley, she made the 50-plus men in the room alter their traditional thinking. No one had expected her back, and perhaps the men chuckled a little at "that woman" who had tried to join them the year before. "I walked in that room and I think a lot of jaws dropped," Belker said.

Crystal Nichols stood her ground as 900 pounds of Jordan and South Gate High football players barreled toward her at the goal line. It was a short-yardage sweep. Linemen pulling, linebackers pursuing and a ballcarrier fighting his way to the corner of the end zone. Nichols did not flinch as the bodies tumbled in a heap at her feet just inside the orange sideline marker. She stood at attention and blew her whistle as her hands shot straight to the sky: touchdown.

Breaking a long-standing barrier in American major league sports, the National Basketball Assn. announced Tuesday that it had hired two women, Dee Kantner and Violet Palmer, to work as referees in the all-male league. Kantner and Palmer were among five officials added to the NBA's 58-member staff. Seven other referees, who also worked games on a tryout basis during the exhibition season, were cut. NBA Vice President Rod Thorn said of Palmer and Kantner: "They've gotten better each time out.

Linda Wilcox ran up and down the sidelines at a high school football game, never hesitating to blow her whistle or throw a yellow flag or break up a scuffle between aggressive players. Crenshaw Coach R.J. Garrett yelled at Wilcox, the only woman on the field, as he watched his team lose to Taft: "Damned! What's a lady doing out here? No lady can keep up with those boys!. . . . Geez!. . . . Damn!" He taunted her all night, and throughout most of the game referred to Wilcox as "Mr. Ref."

A new NBA season opens tonight, with two women referees. Women have put up with men whistling at them. Now, they can whistle at men. This has been a difficult year for NBA officials, with as many as 15 refs accused of selling first-class airplane tickets, flying coach and pocketing the difference. It is the NBA's first traveling violation in years. Out here in the Land Without Pro Football, the pro basketball season is beginning just in time. (The men's pro basketball season, I mean.

The Lakers got their first look, exhibition or regular season, at one of the two new women referees when Dee Kantner worked Sunday's game against the Vancouver Grizzlies at the Forum. "She did pretty good," Nick Van Exel said. "Except that bad call she called on me." So the two briefly discussed the foul. "I guess she wanted to test me, to see how I would react," he said. He reacted well. "I had a trick for her."

Breaking a long-standing barrier in American major league sports, the National Basketball Assn. announced Tuesday that it had hired two women, Dee Kantner and Violet Palmer, to work as referees in the all-male league. Kantner and Palmer were among five officials added to the NBA's 58-member staff. Seven other referees, who also worked games on a tryout basis during the exhibition season, were cut. NBA Vice President Rod Thorn said of Palmer and Kantner: "They've gotten better each time out.

When Maggie Belker walked into a preseason meeting in 1991, before her second year as a high school football official in the San Gabriel Valley, she made the 50-plus men in the room alter their traditional thinking. No one had expected her back, and perhaps the men chuckled a little at "that woman" who had tried to join them the year before. "I walked in that room and I think a lot of jaws dropped," Belker said.

Linda Wilcox ran up and down the sidelines at a high school football game, never hesitating to blow her whistle or throw a yellow flag or break up a scuffle between aggressive players. Crenshaw Coach R.J. Garrett yelled at Wilcox, the only woman on the field, as he watched his team lose to Taft: "Damned! What's a lady doing out here? No lady can keep up with those boys!. . . . Geez!. . . . Damn!" He taunted her all night, and throughout most of the game referred to Wilcox as "Mr. Ref."

There is a professional referee in Los Angeles who is a stickler for preventing boxers from grabbing and holding one another. Before each bout, the referee visits the fighters' dressing rooms and lays down the law. "I use those visits to establish a rapport with both boxers," the referee says. "I tell them I want them to respond to verbal commands. I tell them if they clinch and I yell, 'Break!' I expect them to break, immediately.

Only the Galaxy would need a 12-hour plane ride to compete in a three-games-in-five-days tournament to recharge its battery. It has been that disappointing of a first half of a season for the defending Major League Soccer champions. It's really no surprise, then, that Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid sees the midseason Peace Cup Korea 2003 tournament, which begins today for the Galaxy against Uruguay national champion Nacional in Pusan, South Korea, as a respite for his team.