I broke my rule recently, talking to fans....
Juco game at a local school, during a timeout I'm walking to the sideline opposite table with the ball. There were a bunch of kids (kids = students) sitting in the front row & one of them catches my eye and says "Hey ref! How about calling a handcheck!" Normally when a fan catches my eye (can't always be avoided) I'll actively ignore them, but this kid caught me by surprise and he had a big smile on his face (maybe I know him??) so I played along - "Handcheck??? What's that, somethin' new?" I said with a wink. Got a big laugh from the folks who heard it :shrug:
And while I'm at it...I broke my rule (again!) at a HS game a few weeks ago. Same sitch, but this time a mom says to me "Hey ref! The scoreboard is wrong!" We already suspected this (operator missed a recent 3 ptr) and my pard was at the table checking it out, so I just gave an exagerated shrug and said "I don't care about the score..." and she says "Oh...what DO you care about?!" to which I answered "I just care that I get out of here before 9 o'clock."
Also in the stands was a fan (obviously a parent) who thought he was part coach, part "color" announcer, part team drill insructor and overall loudmouth obnoxious putz...I gotta tell you, I feel for you coaches out there who have to deal with these types on a daily basis.
