[BillyMac]

I just got home from officiating a great boys varsity game tonight. Big crowd. Loud cheerleaders representing both teams. Two very good teams. Great partner. Good table officials. Challenging but respectful coaches. Players that just wanted to play and didn't whine about calls. What was "odd" about the game was we had some real "weird" calls:

1) Two teamates collide on an throw in play. Head to head contact. Both removed from the game due to blood. After being bandaged, one had to be removed a second time due to continued bleeding. I've only had one player removed from a high school game due to blood since the rule first first came into effect. My partner never had one. Tonight we had two.

2) My partner called a violation for an offensive player deliberately going out of bounds to gain an advantage. I've never called this violation. This was a first for my partner.

3) I called a violation for excessivly swinging elbows (no contact). I used to call this a few times a season many years ago when it was only a violation. When the penalty changed to a technical foul, I never called it, because I thought the penalty was too severe. Since it has changed back to a violation, I hadn't called it until tonight.

4) I called an intentional foul for a defensive player grabbing opponent #12's jersey. No big deal until #12 makes his foul shots, at which point the scorekeeper, as well as the visiting scorekeeper, inform me that there is no #12 in either book. Team technical foul. Two technical foul shots and the ball for the team that originally committed the intentional foul.

I've never had so many "odd" calls in a high school game before. Just thought I'd share my experience with the Forum.