Book Review: "Crimes & Punishment: Life as a CFL Official"

While away on our anniversary this past week-end, I brought along "Crimes & Punishment: Life as a CFL Official" to read. I picked this book up while at Value Village awhile back, for the low low price of $2.99, and decided to give it a re-read.

The book is about the officiating story of Neil Payne, a long time CFL official. Payne has served many roles as a CFL official, everything from a "stick man" to an officials supervisor. He holds nothing back (or at least I hope he didn't!) in this tell-all book about the hidden world of officiating.

Payne tells various stories of the sacrifices and less-than-glamorous lifestyle of the CFL official. Staying in the cheapest hotels possible (he tells one story of a fellow official showing up at his regular budget saver to find it has been leveled to the ground), drinking with Polish sailors on their cargo ship, Payne paints quite the picture of the men in stripes.

I picked this book up because I myself am a sports official, though not in football. I am certified to officiate soccer and volleyball, but I figured there would be plenty of similarities anyway. Tough teams, tougher crowds, I could relate to a decent amount of the material, if on a much smaller scale.

I found that on my second read through I was able to keep all of the different officials he mentions throughout the book straight. Referees don't tend to be household names, so you really have to pay attention to who is doing what. I also found that some of his references would be lost on you if you are not a CFL fan (for example, he compared a woman hitting on him on a plane as "Chris Walby's bigger sister", or something along those lines). As this book is a few years old, Walby is one of the most recent CFL stars you will see Payne mention. If you're not familiar with CFL football, you will miss some of those references, as they are not all explained.

One of my favourite things about the book is Payne is actually from Winnipeg. Therefore a good number of his stories deal with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, which I appreciate as a Bomber fan myself.

I did find that the book seemed to meander across different time periods in his career at times, but it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.

If you're a fan of the unseen world of pro sports, this book is great. Payne passes on things you never see or hear about on the news or in the paper. However, if you are not a CFL football fan, I'm not sure how much enjoyment you would get from the book.

3.5 Flags on the Play out of 5. Repeat 1st down.