[williebfree]

I had an extremely negative fan (Parent of a freshman) "volunteer" for a "Dave moment" last night. Freshman games are normally pretty low key games; however, this parent thought we were playing the Championship game. Constantly ragging on my partner and me.

There was a particular play in the middle of the 2nd Qtr that created a "davism moment"

In this gym, the fans sit on chairs courtside opposite of the players. The parent's team's player attempted to make a bounce pass and the ball BOUNCED off the stationary knee of the opposing team player. Another of Gold's team players attempted to grab the ball, but it slipped through his hands and out of bounds... Right into this boisterious parent's hands...

I signalled "Blue Ball" (His team wore Gold). He started yelling... "That's a kick! He kicked the ball! What kind of call was that?...etc...."

I calmly requested, "Sir, may I have the ball." He held the ball and I again requested the ball.

He held the ball and became personal... "How long have you been officiating? Cripes sakes! Anyone could have made that call!"

Sounded like he wanted to "volunteer". Since he was still holding the ball, I offered a solution.... I reached into my pocket and pulled out my spare whistle and said, "This is my first game, since you know the rules better than I do, I will give you this whistle and you can officiate the rest of the game."

The other parents laughed, (he was about 6' and 300+ pounds). He handed the ball to me and didn't say another word for the remainder of the game.

I am usually more patient. Unfortunately, I have heard this parent too often during the team's games. I am aware there are more professional ways of handling this situation, but I was in the attitude to deal with it this way, this time.