[Mark Padgett]

Final weekend of our local kids rec league. Friday night, I was on "hall monitor duty", wearing my Board shirt specifically to monitor some clown parent who let some people know ahead of time he was planning on "being very vocal" about the officiating at his kid's game. Well, he was just that, for about 15 seconds. I went over to him and told him to knock it off. He told me to "shut up and go away". WRONG! I told him he was ejected. It was during a timeout and so I called both officials over and said to them that I might need some help carrying this guy out of the gym. He said "Are you serious". I replied, "Do I look serious?" He stared for a moment then got up and left. Both officials thanked me and patted me on the back.

Saturday morning, second 8th grade boys game of the day. My partner calls a charge and the kid it was called on throws the ball hard against the wall. Partner calls a T. As he goes over to report, kids gets the ball and kicks it. I call the second T. Buh-bye. Coach says to partner, "That was no charge. Clean your glasses." T on coach by partner.

But wait - it gets better.

Final game of the morning, 6th grade boys. Green coach is chipping a little from the start. I give him stop sign and tell him to knock it off. Middle of Q2, I call a travel on one of his players. Coach throws his clipboard and yells, "That's bull$hit". I go to table and report a flagrant T and ejection on green coach. I then address him and tell him that the league rule is any profanity by a coach or player is automatically a flagrant technical which brings an ejection and he must leave the building. He folds his arms, sits down and says, "I'm not leaving". I tell him the following. "Coach, if you don't leave immediately, two things are going to happen. First, this game is over and we'll tell all the boys and their parents the reason they can't play any more basketball today is because of your behavior. Second, under Oregon state law, if you are directed to leave a sports facility by an official and you don't leave, you are guilty of trespassing, so I will call the police and have them come out here and cite you. OK, your choice. What's it gonna be?" He looked somewhat frozen for a moment, then he got up and left. He didn't have an assistant, so we had to get a parent to come and sit on the bench (league rule).

That was the most fun I had in weeks. I can hardly wait until next season.