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Tony --
I'm like Smitty -- I can't do the forgetting thing. Start over with a clean slate? Not me.
What I've been working on instead is being prepared. Give yourself a little talk a day or two ahead of time about how you'd like to handle certain situations. In the sitch you described, you probably should have T'd earlier. Okay, practice hearing the coach, giving the appropriate response to the first question, then hearing some more and giving the warning, and then hearing some more and giving a T. Think about how the scene would go so that you'd feel like you handled it well. Okay, where are the lines for you? Set yourself some guidelines for when to give the warning, when to give the T. Don't just recite the pat answers, really investigate what's going to happen in the game, and in your brain that will be a clue to what you do next. If you become quickly angry, how will you handle it? Practice calming yourself down, if that could become necessary. Do you need to adjust for a case of indigestion, or a fight with your wife? Set up some variations, and consider how to handle each. Run through some scenarios. Then, when you get to the game, just live into it.
Here's an interesting situation that I got into. The summer before last, I was assigning some summer league games. One evening I was going to go out to watch a few refs, and see how they were doing. I looked at my schedule and realized that I had put the two weakest refs in the whole league onto the two worst coaches who were playing against each other. On paper, it looked like a nuclear bomb on a short count. I got out there and watched the rst of the game. Neither coach complained once about anything. I'd had both coaches before and seen others who had lots of trouble. This was just a totally happy situation. Weirdest thing I've ever seen in my life. So it's at least possible that you'll have no problems at all. In this business, you just never know!
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