Had a wild one Friday night, I would say my first "big game". Varsity contest between two district rivalries and both have very good teams this year. The home crowd is known for being very loud and boisterous, they did not disappoint. Visitors win the girls game in a tight 5 point game. Boys game was wild, 61 to 60 and right down to the last tap. My partner was across from the table in C and had the last shot, we had pregamed it and talked about it during the last timeout with :03 left. Visitors inbound and get a good look, a contested layup that rims out. It bounces on the rim and comes out, they jump and tap it back up. Only while the kid is got his hand on the ball for the tap, I hear the horn, which we could barely hear it was soooo loud. My partner had froze or couldn't hear it at all, I closed in blowing my whistle and waving it off. Luckily, it didn't go in so it was a moot point, whew.
I had a couple of weak points in the game, lost my fouler once. Had a double whistle on a block, L(me) and C had same call. I was in question on whether it was shooting or on the floor. He gave up the call immediately to me, but I asked him what he thought, I was leaning towards on the floor but he said shooting so I went to the table and said "red, 2 3, signalled block, two shots". The table guy says we don't even have red 23. The foul was on white 23, but my mind went exactly blank at that point and my partner was no help.
I finally got it right, explained to the coach what had happened and on we went. It probably took me two minutes to get my mind fully back into the game, I hate that. I also had a bad night calling the travels, think I called two that weren't, and missed at least two that were. I had three or four conversations with both coaches, really think it helps to explain a call every now and then. I had a laugh once, a player went to the floor trying for a steal. It wasn't even in my area and I didn't see it but I was the nearest official when play was stopped for a foul. His coach said "hey, what happened there?" , "coach, I was watching out here, didn't see it", "he is all-state in football & basketball and doesn't just fall down on his own", (with a smile) "coach, I'm sure he's good".
[Edited by devdog69 on Dec 17th, 2001 at 10:44 AM]