I don't mind AAU weekends, in fact I kinda enjoy them. I do maybe a half dozen or so over the spring & summer. I don't know why but I have very little trouble with the coaches or players, but I do see some officials just get eaten alive during these things. Maybe it just takes a while to get used to the atmosphere to be able to roll with it, or maybe most of the AAUers recognize me & know what pushes my buttons. Who knows. And you always learn something at AAU games. For instance, today I had some pretty good games. There was a woman in the stands who might have played college ball or something, she was offering me all sorts of advice about how the game should & shouldn't be called. I called a travel on a player after he grabbed a rebound & went down on the floor, turns out according to my friend you can only call a travel on this type of play if the player sets himself on his feet *before* falling down. Live & learn
Seriously, I think the secret might be to separate the players & coaches who inhabit the AAU world into 2 parts: the jerks & the good guys. Work with the good guys. Keep the jerks on a very, very short leash. Anyway, that seems to work for me.
BTW, not to sound like an obnoxious jerk or even a sanctimonious blowhard but isn't there something...errr..I dunno, ironic or maybe poetic in you T'ing a coach because he said you have rabbit ears?
