I do the mouthwash soak with my whistles as well, ( learned that one during soccer season from an experienced ref).
Keeping a small bottle of hand sanitizer in the bag also helps with "degerming". You think a sweaty basketball's bad, try realizing that you just shook hands with a soccer keeper with his gloves on. ( they do all sorts of nasty stuff in those gloves). Now, it's strictly "fist bumps" a la Howie Mandel.
