Battlefields to Ballfields: How Veterans are Helping Solve the Sports Officiating Crisis

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There may be no more thankless job than referee. At best, your existence is completely invisible. No one notices when you do a terrific job. At worst, you become enemy #1 for fans or coaches or in lower levels, angry parents. Combine that with low pay and high pressure, and it's no wonder why officiating is undergoing a crisis at the moment. Not enough people are willing to do the job…a job without which, the games quite literally can not go on. But, today, on Veteran’s Day, we bring you the story of a solution. And it’ll make you think differently about what this job actually is. And the people who really would love to do it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ready?
0:02.0	This is Jameson interview.
0:04.0	Take one, Mark.
0:10.0	It was 2015.
0:12.0	April 1st was my retirement date.
0:15.0	And it was the week before Thanksgiving
0:18.0	was when I realized that I needed help.
0:25.0	Pablo, that's the voice of Jameson Pilgrim.
0:28.0	He served 18 years in the Army.
0:32.0	Started off with a tour of Bosnia.
0:34.0	He ended up doing six tours
0:36.0	between Afghanistan and Iraq.
0:40.0	The wheels kind of fell off of life, so to speak for me.
0:44.0	It overdosed on pain meds.
0:46.0	Most of the relaxers in alcohol, which I hadn't known.
0:50.0	I had taken that much alcohol.
0:52.0	I was dealing with moderate,
0:56.0	sometimes occasional severe PTSD, anxiety, depression.
1:05.0	Now, Jameson's story is unfortunately not uncommon.
1:09.0	He's trying to figure out what his life is like now.
1:13.0	What his life is like after his service.
1:15.0	And that's a struggle for so many veterans.
	...

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