[icallfouls]

I was working a game a couple of years ago. It was the last home game for one of the local HS's, so it was also senior night. Meaning that there was higher than usual turnout for the impending blow out.

Midway through the second quarter, the visiting team makes a subsitution. Just as my partner is about to put the ball in play (has handed the ball to the offense). The visiting coach is going crazy and screaming for a timeout. Now this coach is known to be very calm and not prown to such outbursts. As I am blowing my whistle, out of the corner of my eye, I see a player colapse in a heap to the floor. Fans were already calling 9-1-1 and there were a couple of shouts. The paramedics arrived 12 minutes later and started to perform CPR, injected adrenalin, and quickly headed for the hospital. It was said that the young man died on the way to the hospital, but it was clear that he passed right there in front of a couple hundred people.

What a terrible night for everyone. The young man had many friends in the 10 schools that make up the league and it was quite a blow.

Sometimes we get caught up about why we didn't get selected to work such-and-such game, or why we aren't going to work a playoff/state tournament game. I don't think of it that much any more, but every now and then it comes up and helps to put things into perspective.