[rainmaker]

Originally posted by SF
As a half-black woman officiating boys basketball, I am usually very much on my own in the gym. But because of that I've had to deal with a lot more crap from players and coaches, and I find now that I'm much less sensitive to comments from players than my partners are. In a situation like Dan's, I usually mention to the player that it seems they are questioning my integrity, which tends to result in a technical foul, and they usually get the message.

In my experience, I've found officials generally judge other officials by skill - not race, gender or some other category - but those in the minority do have to work harder to get to the top. But race, on the basketball court, is the topic which can cause problems to flare up faster than any other. For me, in the black school/white school games, it seems like I'm expected to be in favor of the black team, which has caused some technical fouls on the coaches of either team. But I will say, as far as racial comments go, coaches get no leeway from me. They should no better than to question an officials integrity, let alone involving race.

Hey, Sara, any woman on this board is very welcome by me, black or white! Let me ask you, in terms of how people treat you, do you think you get more respect from black male players and coaches than from white male players and coaches? I seldom if ever have trouble with black men, and I think it's because in the traditional black culture women get a lot more respect than they do in the traditional white culture. I had sort of concocted this theory on my own, and then I read an interview with Violet Palmer where she said the same thing. She can succeed in the NBA because so many of the players are black and they respect women in ways that white men dont tend to. Has that been your experience, Sara?