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Kalix -- Here's a true story. My daughter played hs basketball a few years ago (craven attempts to impress assignors with my youthful athletic ability prevent me admitting how many years!). When she was a freshman and playing varsity, her team was very, very good. That year, the player of the year for the state of Oregon was on her team. They won their first game at the state tournament (of course!!) and we excitedly went back the next day to see them cream another poor defenseless team. Unfortunately, the refs were racially prejudice. As a parent, I could tell just by looking at them that they weren't going to favor my daughter's all-black team. Many of the parents were uneasy about it. And sure enough, they threw the game. No, they really did. My suspicions were confirmed years later when I was talking about that game to a state official. Many, many people suspected it when they saw it happen, and they were right. It was any sports fans' worst nightmare.
Here's what my daughter's coach said to those girls in the locker room seconds after the game was over. "You girls just got punched in the stomach because you're black. There's no question about what happened out there. But you know what? I don't care. You played hard, you showed a lot of people what backbone is. You should have won. And that's all that matters. The only people that got hurt out there were the girls from XXX School who now think they're better than they are. They're being set up for a fall. But you girls know how good you are. You're great, and you know it. All of you seniors who are going to college are getting scholarships, and coaches from those schools won't change their minds about you because of this. They saw what happened just like everyone else did. You are all big, talented, wonderful girls who deserve to have the very best in life, and you'll get it. No prejudiced, small-minded referees can take that away from you. Period."
All those seniors who went to college DID get scholarships, two at D1 schools. And action was taken to see that the refs weren't quite so far out of line from then on.
The point to this is that a good coach doesn't let a bad set of refs faze him (or her). You must rise above it. Be better players than that. And especially don't earn yourself a T, just because the refs aren't very good. It isn't going to help anyone.
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