[fullor30]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

My favorite part is driving 90 miles, walking into the gym, and having all the local eyes follow you to your seat on the bleachers, all with the "you ain't from around here, boy" look to them.

Oh, I could've gone on. Byron collars (only on one of the two officials), pea whistles, black (faded to grey) cotton dockers with a woven brown belt, white socks, no hustle, letting coaches stand during JV games (forbidden here), letting coaches do whatever they want without repercussions and most often every little bump (or perceived bump) is called as a foul, usually with no fist, just a whistle and a point. Or an open hand for fouls and fists for violations, blah, blah, blah.

Frequently we see both teams in the double bonus in the third quarter, which is wonderful for game flow and for our (grrrrr) starting time. There are many times I'll turn to my partner (or he to me) and say, "I can't watch any more of this" and we'll go get dressed early.

And as for us "giving pointers" to these guys, they don't think there's anything wrong. They'll frequently sit in the stands for the varsity games and openly root for the home team and scream at us. It's a real culture shock for someone coming from somewhere else.

Rich............where are you from? This sounds horrible. Not to sound condescending, this would not be acceptable in Illinois.

That said , I had a partner years ago in a boys sophomore game who had a byron collar that his wife had cut off, now he had a Neru ref jersey "why should I spend the extra bucks" was his response.