[Smitty]

Originally posted by bigzilla
It is nearing HS playoff time here, and I would like some advice from others, especially the senior refs. As background, we do not use assignors. So, throughout the regular season, you generally call with one or two partners. However, once playoffs begin, the state association makes the assignments, and you can only submit the name of a preferred partner. The schools list ten refs they prefer.

Last year, I get my first playoff assignment, and am assigned to call with a ref I have never met. So, not only is this my first playoff, this will be the first time I have ever called with someone I didn't know.

I show up at the site, about 30 minutes before the required time, as I want to be early rather than chance being late. My partner shows up about 15 minutes after the required time. We introduce ourselves. His first question is "How many years have you called?" I say three. He says "I have called for over 20 years, done 10 state tournaments and 3 state championships. That's why they put you with me. Let's do a little pregame." He breaks out the board, puts the magnetic L and T on it, and I expect we are going to discuss rotation and so forth. He says, "This is the L. That stands for lead. This is the T, that stands for trail." He then goes on to discuss what area each official has, what free throw line extended means, what the coaches box is, the mechanics of reporting, etc., etc, etc. We never discuss things like, let's get the handchecking early, over the backs, make sure your first foul is a good one. We instead do Referee 101. I bite my tongue.

We take the court. It is a girls game. As in many first round playoffs, it is a fairly decent team vs. a team that knows it will be a huge upset to get past this round (first round loser eliminated). Both teams are pressing to start. After about 2 minutes of the first quarter, during a timeout, he tells me "if they get close to each other call a foul". I said "Even if its not a foul?" He says yes. I said "I'm not going to call a foul that isn't there". He says nothing, turns and walks away from me. He then proceeds to call about 4 very questionable, IMO, fouls in the next minute and a half, and the better team calls time out. He then comes to me and says..."see, this team only has one good player. They can't afford her in foul trouble. That team knows they are going to win if they don't lose their starters, so they can't afford foul trouble. Now, they are both going to get out of that pressing..THAT'S good game management". He again turns and walks off. A few minutes later, I have an out of bounds call on the baseline from his side of the court, I blow it dead, and ask for help. He just stares at me. I ask for help again, he just stares at me. I walk out towards him, he meets me halfway. I ask for help and he says "I'M not going to come in here and tell you who that went out on" and walks off. Next time out, he comes to me and says...you missed that foul over there, and actually points to the place on the court it had just happened. I say I didn't miss it, I passed on it. He then makes a fairly obvious rolling of his eyes and his head, shakes his head and walks off. My wife, who is a D-1 ref, is in the stands. After the game, she says it was obvious that he was showing open disagreement with my call.

Unfortunately, he is my parter the entire tournament. So, the next day I arrive, and he is sitting in our dressing room with the head coach and asst. coach of the one of the teams we are going to call. I walk in, no one acknowledges me. I start getting dressed, and they are telling him what great calls he made the night before in their first round game, etc., and he is asking who they play next, which of course depends on whether they win the game we are about to call. He starts talking about how they will match up with a certain team, who they will play only if they win. I finish dressing and go stretch in another area. After about 20 minutes, the coaches come out and I go back in. He proceeds to tell me how "that was good game management" on his part, they understand where he is coming from, etc. My thought is, if I am the other team's coach, and I find out they had this conversation in our dressing room, I am going to be po'd.

After all this, I talk to our local association president, and two other more experienced refs. They all tell me the same thing. You can report it if you want, but if he is connected enough to be getting that many state tournaments, you might be cutting your own throat, plus he is going to deny that he said it. So I did nothing.

With my next playoff assignment coming this week, I will be calling for the second time with someone I have never met, and I accept that the person will probably be much more experienced, but we are supposed to be the third team on the floor. Has anyone found a way of dealing with an arrogant, condescending partner, short of doing what I wanted, which was to grab him by his pencil necked geek throat and face slam him on the dressing room floor? I think that once I refused to follow his lead on the floor regarding calling phantom fouls, he retaliated.

I assume, despite his antics, that everyone would advise not to have it out on the floor, but I was tempted to when he did the rolling eyes and shaking head. Suggestions?

As someone much wiser than me once said:

Get in. Get done. Get out.

Stuff happens. Keep all that happened in your memory banks for when you are a seasoned vet, and make sure you don't treat any 3-year officials the way you didn't like being treated. What else can you do?