[ace]

Thought I'd share this story - seems appropriate. I call foul on a kid. His teammate starts flappin his jaws. I told very quietly to let me do the officiating and get ready for the free throws. Walked away- I hear my partner jokingly tell the kid - I'd leave him alone he's in a bad mood. I reported the foul. Jogged back to trail the kid turns around and says "That really wasnt a foul." WHACK- I gave him his warning - my partner even gave him a formal warning. Coach said... I'll sub him as I was reporting the tech. So i said come on in sub. As the kid walked infront of me he looked me striaght in the eye and mouthed m***** f***** at me. I stuck him again. His dad came charging out of the stands across the court and let him have it. Grabbed him by the jersey apologized to me and walked him right out of the gym giving him a speech on cursing and repsecting. Quite an interesting chain of events if you ask me. Finds out kid was coming off a one game suspension. One coach told me I demanded too much respect from the players. I said I'm sorry you feel that way and walked off. But Sportsmanship is a BIG thing to me. I dunno why but I feel like the NBA has had TOO much influence on high school/middle school basketball unfortunatly. The younger they get, the more respect I require. I've mentioned to a coach that he might wanna talk to #XX before he gets in trouble and the coach usually subs him next ball... Thats my grace. If I have another problem with the kid consider him t'd up.