Referees

Four Pop Warner football fans who assaulted two referees whose officiating they did not like, sending one to a hospital with a broken jaw, were booked for investigation of assault and battery, La Habra police said. The angry fans charged onto the field after the game and attacked the referees when their team, the visiting Long Beach Bears, lost 7-6 to home team La Habra Pee Wee Raiders at Estelle Park, police said. One referee, Robert A. Sims, 43, was taken to St.

Having been lambasted in print and in person for the entire Major League Soccer season, MLS referees have chosen the weekend of the league's first championship match to strike back. In a stinging, four-page letter written to the U.S.

Calling for an end to "one of the last remnants of the political spoils system here in California," state Controller Kathleen Connell on Wednesday proposed eliminating the state's probate referees--the appointed officials who evaluate estates for the probate courts. Connell pledged to press for legislation needed to abolish the current system, which she said was kept in place by her predecessors despite criticism that the appointments were used to reward cronies and for political paybacks.

Rams' tailback Cleveland Gary was puzzled by the referees' decision to reverse a pass interference call on a third-down play at the Falcon one-yard line in Sunday's 20-13 loss to Atlanta. The flag was picked up because the officials met and decided the pass from quarterback Jim Everett, lofted on the right side of the end zone for Gary, was uncatchable. On the play, Gary seemed to have a step on his defender, was bumped as the ball was in the air and celebrated when the flag hit the ground.

As anyone who has seen me will attest, I'm long and strong. Because my heart is so pure, I have the strength of 10 men. Sure, one leg is longer than the other. But that's only because I do a lot of stop-and-go driving. Gas. Brake. Gas. Brake. Brake. Brake. . . . But even a specimen like me has to stop and admire what has become of the NFL referee. They've become bigger than the players. Bulging biceps. Barrel chests. Little striped Schwarzeneggers with whistles around their necks.

David Stern reacted harshly five months ago when he was asked about point shaving in the NBA. The commissioner can't dismiss it anymore. With his league facing its biggest scandal, Stern plans to hold a news conference this morning. The first question he must answer is what, and when, the league knew of former referee Tim Donaghy's gambling habits. Donaghy officiated the last game of his 13-year NBA career during the San Antonio-Phoenix second-round series.

Police had to intervene to save a boxing referee from being hanged by angry fans in the southern Yugoslav town of Titograd, a police spokesman said Monday. Enraged by referee Miodrag Bozjak's deciding vote Sunday in the defeat of a local boxer, the fans stormed the ring and began dragging him out of the sports hall. A rope had been strung over a nearby tree branch when police, arriving by helicopter, saved the referee. Police detained four people but later released them.

A high school basketball referee collapsed while working a freshman girls' game Tuesday at Troy High School and later died of heart failure at St. Jude's Hospital, school and hospital officials said. Frederick "Tim" Randall, 67, of Anaheim collapsed early in the second quarter of a game between Troy and Santa Fe. Paramedics were called, and Randall was transported to the hospital, where he was treated for 13 minutes before being pronounced dead at 4:15 p.m.

Gary McKnight's face, as red as his crimson sweater from tipoff on, just about burst with 1:21 left on the clock. "You should be ashamed!" McKnight screamed. "That is sinful!" "I hope you can sleep tonight!" McKnight stomped his foot and uttered an expression not normally heard in a Mater Dei High School religion class and shouted at Southern Section Commissioner Dean Crowley, seated at courtside. "Who said he was qualified?"

When it comes to special plaudits I recommend one for Paul McLeod for his column on referees (Oct. 17). The guy did one terrific job of elevating the role of a referee who is very seldom, if at all, thanked for a job well done, or even looked at as you walk off the field. Of course, if you make a mistake, no matter how close a call, you get the evil eye or worse. NORM BRADY Los Alamitos