One of the issues of officiating that is probably not discussed a lot is what constitutes a good partner, by good partner I mean other than showoing up in time and having a good pre-game. I had a senario happen yesterday day that I would like your opinion on...
This time of year many of the area high schools are having X-mas tournaments and my partner and I had arrived early to one of them to relax and see some of our collegues in action. What happened next nearly caused a major la-dee-da in the locker room so here it goes...
The coach of team A was obvioulsy not happy with his team and decided to motivate them by yelling or questioning every call the officials made. Finally Rod got tired and whacked the coach for unsportsmanlike conduct which drew some applause form the fans and even a sigh of relief from his players.
As the partner went over to tell the coach about the seatbelt rule, the coach yelled "your partner is horrible, how did he get this game anyway" my partner and I just knew he had just earned his way to the soup line, but to our surprise the comment was allowed to stand and he walked off... a few tirades later the coach was given the second "t" by Rod and ejected. In the stands we heard a few parents comment that it was about time, and something else about that coach always being like that....
In the locker room as we were getting ready for the next game I asked Rod's partner why did he not "t" the coach for that comment, what he said floored me, his comment, "well the coach was not talkig to me so I did not see any reason to "t" him needless to say we got into a discussion about being a good partner and crew integrity all of which he did not seem to have much of a grasp of, the discussion got a little heated but we got our of their because of our game.
I'm interested in what the hoops scholars around the country and world for that matter think, and if you don't mind I may share your comments with him.
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