Quite the honor for referee Sue Blauch: She will be one of about a dozen women's basketball referees for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Blauch grew up in Short Gap, W.Va., and has had a basketball in her hands since she was in third grade. In 1986, Blauch graduated from Eastern Mennonite College where she and her team clinched the school's first women's Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship.

"I'd have been dangerous had I been 6 feet tall," said Blauch, who, at 5-foot-7, played forward. "I loved banging around at the post position."

Blauch started working as a referee in 1988 and in 2001 it became a full-time job.

I'd ask those who are wondering how we can improve and expand the women's basketball officiating pool to ponder the realities of those 13 years.

That's over a decade of committing your weekends and evenings to traveling to church leagues, local high schools, college leagues, international venues and WNBA cities -- all while holding a "real" job to put food on your table.

Basically, you get to live the life of a traveling salesman with the added bonus of getting insulted on national t.v. Tempting, no?