I’d like to hear some input on a situation I had the other night. JH tourney game, last game of the night between two local rivals. Gym was packed. Interestingly enough, earlier in the evening I spoke with team A coach who admitted he knew little about basketball but had to coach nonetheless.

Game starts and team A coach is yapping from the start about everything in spite of the fact I was calling a fair number of calls. His yapping starts to get the fans ire up and they begin to vocally question everything we do. At some point in the second quarter I warn the coach that I’ve heard enough. In the third quarter as I report a foul and walk past his bench, a fan sitting right behind the team stands up and yells “you s*ck!” I asked for the game administrator and told him this individual used profanity and had to leave. Things quieted down for a while, but there were several instances in which team A’s players went to the floor in the frontcourt area which resulted in quick baskets for team B and the coach and fans for Team A becoming very boisterous.

I need to point out that, at this point, the reason I was the one always dealing with this is my partner decided to swallow his whistle during the game. There was a lot of contact and sloppy play which necessitated officiating, which he chose not to do. Finally, I called a shooting foul on team A and as I was reporting it, team A’s coach got in my face about his concern for HIS kids (his kids, btw, were bigger and stronger than the other teams, but less athletic. If anyone had a complaint about kids getting the worst of it, it would have been the other coach who never complained even though the number of fouls was close until the end). I listened for a few seconds and gave him the T. He chose to escalate his argument further and I walked away but he followed me and I gave him the second and he was gone. Needless to say, things were out of control.

The game went on without any major incidents other than the catcalling from the stands with team B wining by a half dozen or so.

In looking back, I am looking for input as to how I could have handled it differently. I need to take responsibility for what was a mess; however, my partner’s lack of engagement certainly caused a lot of the problems. I am pretty confident however, that this coach was going to be a butthead anyway. I have officiated for several years and have never felt so alone on the floor. When I say he swallowed his whistle, I mean that literally. One example, fast break, play right in front of him as the lead, player comes from the right wing, classic blarge, bodies flying. I am just crossing half court following the press break. He calls nothing! BTW he is not a new official.

I would love to hear some comments from fellow officials.