Originally Posted by BillyMac
This reminds me of a game that I did very early in my career. It was a fifth, and sixth grade, Catholic school, girls game, way back when Title IX hadn't fully kicked in yet, and girls were just starting to play competitive basketball. One team was horrible, and the other team was a little bit better. Near the end of the third period, the horrible team was losing 12-0. I overheard some players, and fans, muttering that they were going to get shutout again. So, as a young, inexperienced, "bleeding heart", official, I decided that they were not going to get shutout in my game. I put some players on the foul line after some slightly less than incidental contact. After missing a few foul shots, including some in which I ignored some slight going over the line by the shooter, they finally scored a point, and everyone in the gym cheered. I was happy. My good work was done. But we still had a six minute period to play. In that last period, the slightly better team suddenly couldn't throw the ball in the ocean from the beach. The horrible team started making some lucky shots, from farther away than where the three point arc is today. I looked up at the clock, and with a minute to go, the score was 12-8, the horrible team had a chance to win this game. That last minute seemed like an eternity, but the final score was 12-8, the better team won, as it should have. I will never, I mean, never, try prevent a shutout ever again. That's not my job as an official.
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