Rec leagues are just the most fun, aren't they? Two Saturdays ago, I'm doing a 6th grade boys game in my local league. I've been on the Board of the league for 12 years, so I usually don't get any flak from anyone. The game was really close and both teams were 6-0 going in. Of course, coming out, one team was going to be 7-0 and the other 6-1 - duh.
Immediately after the game, a parent from the losing team came up to me and asked me if the reason I "didn't call any fouls" was because I wanted to get the game over with quickly. I just stared at the moron and then told him it would be in his best interests to leave immediately without saying another word. To his credit, he did.
This Saturday, I had the same team. This time, they won by about 12. In the last minute, one of their players with the ball was bumped near the sideline and I called the push on the opponent. It wasn't a huge bump and the dribbler had a fairly clear path to the basket (although you never know at that level what may happen), but I had been calling less contact than that a foul the entire game, so the whistle just went off instinctively.
Their coach said, "Mark, you could have let that one go." I knew he meant he thought his kid was going to get an easy layup. I stopped and stared right at the fan from the previous week and said in a loud voice, "Yeah, normally I would let that one go, but I didn't want some moron in the stands to think I just wanted to go home early."
Everyone turned to look at the guy. When the game was over, he just walked quickly and directly out of the gym. The coach came over to me and said he knew I would never put anything above player safety and that in his 5 years in the league, never had any problem with the level of contact I called, including the previous week.
I just said, "OK", because I very rarely take anything a rec coach says with any validity, even compliments.
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Yom HaShoah
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