So, I found myself looking into Shawn Smith, the NFL referee, the other day. It wasn’t for any big reason, just kinda got curious after watching a game he was officiating. You know how it goes, you see a call, or maybe a few calls, and you start wondering about the guy making them.
First thing I did was the usual stuff. Just typed his name into a search engine. Got the basic bio – when he started, that he wears number 14, came into the league as a side judge or something before getting the white hat. Standard procedure.
But that wasn’t really scratching the itch. I wanted to get a feel for his style, his reputation on the field. Is he one of those refs who throws flags like confetti, or does he let the teams play? So, I started digging around a bit more.
My Process Digging Up Info
I spent some time bouncing between different sports forums and fan sites. Just reading threads about games he worked. It’s kinda funny, opinions are all over the place, which I guess is normal for refs.
Here’s what I mostly did:
- Looked for discussions specifically mentioning his calls in big games.
- Tried finding any stats sites that might track penalties called by specific referees or crews. Found some data, but it’s often kinda generalized by crew, not just him.
- Searched for articles or blog posts analyzing his performance over a season or in playoff games.
It wasn’t like finding some huge secret. Mostly just confirming he’s been a ref for a while, moved up the ranks. Saw mentions of him working some important games, which makes sense for an experienced ref. Found some clips of controversial calls here and there, but honestly, which ref doesn’t have those?
The stats part was a bit tedious. Some sites had penalties per game for his crew, others didn’t break it down much at all. I looked at things like offensive holding calls, pass interference, roughing the passer – the flags that usually get fans really worked up. Didn’t see anything wildly out of the ordinary compared to league averages, maybe slightly different trends year to year, but nothing that screamed “this guy’s totally biased” or “totally incompetent” from the raw numbers I could easily find.
What I Took Away
Honestly, after spending an afternoon clicking around, my main takeaway was pretty simple. Shawn Smith is an experienced NFL referee. Like pretty much every ref, he’s got moments where fans think he nailed it and moments where they want to tear their hair out. Trying to pin down a definitive “style” just from fan comments and basic stats is tough.
It was an interesting little dive, though. Satisfied my curiosity for the moment. He’s just out there doing his job, making tough calls in real-time. Sometimes you agree, sometimes you don’t. That’s just football, I guess. Didn’t uncover any grand conspiracy, just learned a bit more about one of the guys in stripes. Time well spent? Yeah, probably. Kept me busy for a bit.
