The Rant

This is a special sit down with my home Basketball association interpreter, the venerable Don Landolphi. Unbeknownst to him, he has been instrumental in much of my success today from laying down strong roots instilled in me previously from my failures. His encouragement after I failed the written test was everything to me.

Despite a failure to launch, I had no such sophomore slump. For what was supposed to, was my rookie year, and I made sure I absorbed anything and everything to make me the best I can be. Don is attributed.

And so, my conversation with Don Landolphi, along with my co-host Steve Baum: we go over his upbringing and sports, his coaching career, and his long & illustrious officiating career. His second wind as an interpreter; and what’s next in retirement. Something tells me he’ll still. Be. Around.

At the end he has a q&a session fielded by members in the association.

I hope you enjoy.

Episode 10, The Rant - we have a special guest, John Ottavino, championship PSAL baseball umpire, servicing New York City. His son Adam, just signed a 3 year deal to join the formidable set up that is the New York Yankees. In it, we discuss his experience officiating Baseball in NYC, his only experience officiating Adam, and his affinity for the rules - so much so that he sends out a rule of the day via email, servicing 600+ officials. Find out how to get on that list, and my conversation with John Ottavino, now.

Interested in the Rule of the Day? Email John at [email protected]

We stop in the Crown Basketball facility to talk to Paul Diasparra, founder and creator of Crown Refs. The IG page is designed to help basketball officials improve their craft. He is currently a high level high school and division 2 collegiate Basketball official, and going further by the day. This is a treat, as Crown Refs and Referee Rant collaborate for the first time on this podcast. He discusses Crown Refs, The Basketball Shop, Mr. Pink, and more.

* Instagram: [crown_refs](http://instagram.com/crown_refs)

* Twitter: [@crownrefs](http://twitter.com/crownrefs)

[The CROWN REFS Podcast](http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-crown-refs-podcast/id1447147700?mt=2)

We close out another work week with Steve Baum. We discuss sticky situations that transpired from the week that was, and go over a Girl’s Middle School quiz, for you to download. I hope you enjoy. Next week, we will be bigger, and better. We promise.

Steve Kaufmann is searching for that feel, the feel that he already has in Basketball. As he has mastered officiating in the high school ranks, he is trying to double down and do the same with Volleyball. Will Baseball be next? We find out in episode 7 of The Rant. The sit down with Steve occurred after 3 games at Island Garden and we discuss all thing hoops and all things vball. My conversation with Steve, now.

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” - Abraham Lincoln

This special edition of The Rant is a collaboration with SABL - otherwise known as the South Asian Basketball League. Our guest this episode is Kash, with a K. I like to call him the Thanos of the SABL - he’s the commissioner, he’s a player, and he’s even a basketball official. We discuss his experience in wearing all of these hats simultaneously, and discuss how Referee Rant and the SABL will work together now, and in the future. We will be starting a new podcast that will showcase SABL players each week, as well as a docu-series showing a day in the life of an official at SABL. And so, my conversation with Kash, now.

Ray Valeriano, rising star as an umpire, who recently passed the certification for Girl’s Basketball. It’s been a pleasure to share the diamond with him, and now, the hardwood. He wants to be great on his own accord, and he already is, as one of his redeeming qualities is his sponge and absorption of knowledge, and applying it afterwards. He wants to be great, and he will be.

I first ran into him, after we initially took the Baseball class, on the field, officiating a Junior Varsity game. The game was competitive, and that’s when I started was curious to see if he was interested in Basketball. Here’s our conversation with this multiple sport official - who goes to show that you can ref anything, even if you are unfamiliar with the sport, that can surely be determined if you put your mind to it.

Our conversation with Ray, on The Rant.

In this edition of The Rant, Ralph the Ref talks to one of his closest friends Phil Francois who has a unique perspective on Basketball. We grew up playing in our high school days, to his time coaching AAU. He then figured officiating was a good route for some good money, but ultimately stopped when Corporate America came knocking. He currently is back to coaching his son, who has limitless potential. Here’s our Phil’s basketball journey, only on The Rant.

In this edition of “The Rant” Ralph the Ref sits down with Joe “Sauce" Sollitto - former mentor to Ralph and great official in the game of Flag Football. Sauce recounts his times as a hall of fame caliber player in Long Island Flag Football League, and his time as a rookie-turned-veteran official. He discusses his come up, and his abrupt retirement after deciding to stop altogether to raise his 3 daughters. Please excuse the audio, as they were in a restaurant that was hustling and bustling. We assure you the quality of the content is still on par. The Rant is getting better and better, and will improve with each podcast. Nonetheless we hope you enjoy!

Referee Rant sits down with Steve Baum, Dual Certified Basketball Official. We go over how he fell in love with Basketball, his days at Bayside HS in Queens, NY, and his experience officiating Basketball thus far. Finally, he discusses his love of learning and how it applies to his never ending quest for rule knowledge of the sport. Steve and Ralph also discuss their plan to have situations and rule callings that can be hotly debated within the reffing community.

Enjoy.