[Corndog89]

This past Friday night I worked the 5th place game in the Hawaii girls HS DII state championships. Yet another great thing about Hawaii, the boys HS season runs from mid-December to the end of February and the girls season from March through mid-May...6 months of HS hoops!

Anyway, it was my 3rd game of the week, I ran R working with one partner for the first time ever and the other for only the second. Our communication, teamwork, and chemistry was among the best I've ever experienced. The game went double OT...a most improbable 3-pointer with 3 seconds left in the 1st OT sent us to the second. It was a terrific, very well-played game...you would have thought they were playing for the state championship, not 5th place. The players were pumped, the coaches focused on the game, and the crowd was small but loud and raucous.

The irony is that this came just 1 week after probably two of the worst HS games I've ever called, a pair of foulfests in the league tournament, working with partners I've worked many, many good games with. I was embarrassed working in front of my peers who were waiting for their games. It was so bad I told my assignor, only half jokingly, that he should pull me from the state the following week because I was so bad. He basically told me to get my head out of my a$$ and just officiate the way I'm capable of. I love that guy!

The topper, my older brother who has called basketball, football, baseball, and softball for many years flew in from the mainland, getting here just a couple hours before tipoff. It was the first (and still only) game he has ever seen me call. He said we did good. All-in-all, a satisfying end to a long season.