[BillyMac]

Girls varsity game. Blowout, late in the game. A1, winning team's best player, by far, get fouled in the act of shooting, the ball doesn't go in, I'm the lead on her free throws.

She misses the first free throw, nothing spectacular here, so far, and as I'm about to bounce the ball to her for her second try, she's not looking at me, but is looking at the floor, at a small pool of blood, from a scratch on her arm, not gushing blood, but it was a steady drip. We escort her to the bench area, where the trainer attends to her.

Meanwhile, I'm asking the site director to get some paper towels to clean up the small pool of blood on the court. Site director disappears out a side door. I advise the players to go to their bench areas. Eventually home, losing, coach, puts on some gloves, and wipes up the blood with some paper towels. Now my partner and I are getting ready to get the game going again when a custodian shows up, very upset that the coach took care of the blood, explaining to me that school rules dictate that only he can handle blood, as he proceeds to spray the area with some disinfectant, and then towels the area dry.

This has now taken about five minutes, and A1, remember her, is taped, and ready to go. I inform coach of Team A, winning, late in a blowout game, that either A1 needs a substitute, or he must take a timeout to allow A1 to shoot the free throw. He replies that he shouldn't have to take a timeout because it was blood, not an injury. I explain that the rule is very clear, and that he has the choice of a substitute, or a timeout, so he starts looking down the bench to find a substitute, when A1 tells her coach, that's right, she tells the coach, that she wants the timeout, and she wants to take the free throw. Not that I should of had one, but my opinion of her dropped a notch, she seemed selfish, because the free throw point wasn't really needed in this game, and she seemed kind of bossy to her adult coach, and I remember saying to myself, what a lot of nerve for a kid to say that to her coach. He says he'll take the timeout, which I found hard to believe, but that's not my call, and it's not really any of my business.

Now a few more minutes have passed by, and we get all the players back on the court, and lined up for the free throw by A1. After all these distractions, I announce two shots, which my partner, coaches, and fans, have no problem with. A1 says to me, "I only get one shot sir, remember I missed the first one". My opinion of her went back up a notch. Most kids would have taken the extra shot.