Think it really has more to do with the more and more responsibility that gets put on officials during the game. In addition to simply calling the game, refs are now essentially babysitters, amateur doctors, detectives, and video analyzers. And with all these added responsibilities, they’re still essentially part-time…

I always feel like Heinlein gets mischaracterized a lot as a right-wing nutjob b/c of Starship Troopers, when that’s very far from the truth. When you think about it, it’s pretty amazing that the guy could’ve written essentially both the right-wing bible (Troopers) and the left-wing bible (Stranger in a Strange Land)…