[M&M Guy]

Ok, this one's easy for me.

Once upon a time, I was in my third year of officiating, and a fellow official asked if I wanted to replace him in a girl's varsity game. I said, "Sure!", especially since I was experienced, having done one other varsity game earlier that season. I was excited because I knew I would be working with a good, veteran partner, and he would keep me out of too much trouble. Well, I get to the gym that evening to find out a few additional things: first, the home team was ranked 7th in the state, the visitors were ranked 10th, and both teams were tied for first in the conference. Second, the gym was packed with fans from both schools. Oh, yea, one other thing - my partner had to get off the game and I was working with a first-year official. So, all of a sudden I'm the senior member of the crew!

Needless to say, things didn't go all that well. (Understatement Alert!) For, example, the home coach threw a clipboard during the game in reaction to a call, but because neither of us actually saw him throw it, neither of us issued the T. I had what I thought was a good call on a home team player who drove the lane, released the shot, took one more step, and crashed into a defender. The foul was straight-forward, but the table didn't like the fact that I was awarding bonus FT's to the visitors. The scorekeeper even shook his head at me and told me it was a terrible call, as I was reporting. Of course, I just walked away. Later on, as I'm administering a FT to a player, someone in the crowd yells out, "So ref, is she giving you favors after the game for that call?!?" There were a few other incidents as well.

The home team finally loses by 12 or 14, and we limp back to the dressing room after the game. We stay there a long time, hoping the gym is cleared out. When we finally come out, there's still 4 or 5 people standing around, and as we walk past them, one of them says, "Are you guys from (the visiting team's town)?" We just say, "No" as we walk quicker to the front door. We're almost to the door, when we hear this lady running up behind us going, "Refs!, Oh, Refs!...". We stop, and wait for her to catch up. She looks at us and asks, "Are either of you guys married?" We look at each other and tell her no, so she says, "Cause I sure hope you f*** better than you ref!!", and turns around and walks away.

Well, I get out to my car, and just sit there for a while, trying to figure out if all this was worth it. I even got home and called my buddy who got me into officiating just to talk to him about it. A couple of things I learned: if you think you're ready for the next level, you probably aren't. Game management issues should not be ignored. And, no matter how hard tonight's game was, there's always the chance to do better at tomorrow night's game.

Oh, yea, the guy I worked with - I never saw him officiate another game.