[rpirtle]

Pat, as I was coming up through the referee ranks, I also gave coaches (and to a lesser degree players) more latitude than I should have. And I often paid for it either by having a game like you had or by having to use more punitive measures later in the game (hard to tell what might have happened if I HAD taken care of business). But I can tell you now that what everyone is saying above is absolutely true. Take care of business early and set the tone for the rest of the game.

It's your responsibility to enforce the rules...all of them (I think I read that somewhere...Rule 2, I think). If you let the players and coaches know early what will and will not be tolerated then everyone can get to the business at hand and a basketball game suddenly appears. Forget about the liability issues related to what might happen if the player you DQ'd had been allowed to play again and he ends up injuring another player. That's a whole other can of worms.

As you work the higher level games you will hopefully see that you do less and less teaching to the players and coaches as to what type of behavior is acceptable. But even now, from time to time, I still work lower level games (part of my attempt to give back to a game that has helped me so much) and I have to take care of business early when it comes to coaches. Depending on the level of play and whether it is a recreational or competitive league I try to help the kids as much as possible with verbal encouragement. And sometimes the tournament director will allow some latitude in how strictly you should call the rules. But your job is still to enforce these rules.

OK...getting down from my soapbox. Good topic...thanks for letting me participate.