[A Pennsylvania Coach]

I'm in my third year, and I'm not yet working varsity. I did get my best schedule yet this year, almost all boys JV. The best matchup I have this year is the biggest school in our area at the one city school in our area last Friday night. They are probably two of the three best varsity teams in our 24-team league this year, and both JV teams are pretty good too. So I was really looking forward to this one.

I was in a good mindset because I had what I felt was an outstanding game two nights earlier. For this game, I had a good, experienced partner and we had a good pregame.

We got underway and the home coach was on us from the beginning. The gym was at least half full and it was fairly loud, so he could get away with more volume in his voice than normal because there was a lot of noise in the gym. The first chance I got to talk to him, he was complaining about contact on a rebound and he wanted a foul. I told him I saw it but I thought the contact was incidental and didn't affect his guy. His response? "Incidental huh? Since you are going to use words like that, let's see how much incidental contact you call tonight?" I didn't really understand him but so be it. I felt like I gave him a chance to have a civil conversation about what each of us saw, and he chose to be a whiner instead, so I decided to give up on that.

Later in the first, I am lead. H1 is attempting a three from my corner. V2 is jumping out at him. I can't get deep enough (wall four feet behind end line) so I'm pretty much looking at waist down because V2 looks like he might land under H1. He doesn't and the shot is coming up short as my partner calls a foul. From the trail opposite, probably 50 feet away. Ugh.

Now into the second quarter. Home commits a foul in the act of shooting. We are lined up for a visitor FT. I am lead, and after giving the ball to the shooter (V1), I see something in my peripheral vision. I turn and see V2 and H1 above the arc on my side in each others' face, and V2 shoves H1. I hit the whistle, look at the shooter who still has the ball but has it cocked, give the "no shot" mechanic, and hustle over to V2 and H1. Both guys sort of "squared up" before I got there, but neither raised their fists. H1 pulls up his shorts a little, that "I'm ready to fight if you are" move. V2's teammates pull him away and nothing more happens with me in between. So I start toward the table when I hear my partner hit his whistle. He has a T on H2. So now we are both going to the table.

At first I have enough sense to keep my eyes on the players. I'm trying to think about several things: Do I have a tech on V2 only, or V2 and H1? And if I have one and he has one, do we shoot them and what do we do with the ball? And, was V1 shooting his first of two for the original shooting foul, or the second? Meanwhile the home coach is in our faces as well telling us it shouldn't take this long as we start to discuss. Then the visiting coach wanders in because he doesn't want to miss out on whatever lobbying is taking place. Somewhere in the middle of this H1 has wandered over in front of the visitors bench, but the visitors' assistant coach is shooing him away, highlighting for me the fact that I had my eyes off the players.

I decide I have a technical on V2 only. My partner has one on H2 (fortunately I catch it as he is reporting it as H3 and we put it on the right guy), but they were separate acts about 10 seconds apart. So we decide we have to shoot both of them. He is convinced we then go to the arrow. I think we penalize them in the order they happen, so since H2's tech was last, and therefore the visitors free throws for them are last, the visitors should get the ball. But he is still convinced, and he is the vet and the R, so I defer on that.

So now it is me and V1 walking back out to shoot the original shooting foul. I realize I still don't know if he has one or two shots left. I concoct a brilliant plan: I will say to him, "you have one shot left, right?" That way if he has one he will agree, and if he has two he will object. He says "right" and we shoot one. Then we go to the other end for H4 to shoot a pair for V2's technical, and then back down for V4 to shoot a pair for H2's technical. Lastly, we go to the arrow and give the ball to the home team at midcourt.

There are still 5 or 6 minutes until halftime--long enough for me to screw something else up. I saw a guy enter the lane early on an FT but froze on it for some reason. So I was determined not to miss it again. Later in the quarter, the same guy went in early. However he 1) wasn't my responsiblity as he was in the first space opposite and I was the trail and 2) was an opponent of the shooter but I blew my whistle anyway with the ball in the air. Gah. The shot went in. I said "inadvertant whistle, shot counts" and we moved on.

One last thing from the first half. I report a foul on the home team, and the ball has gone to the opposite end of the floor, with no one moving to get it. I decide to get it myself. As I'm reporting, the home coach is complaining. Just as I turn and run to get the ball, he says "I just want to know if this is intentional", meaning are we intentionally shafting his team. That made me hesitate, but I already had my back to him and had made a couple steps away. I thought it would look bad if I wheeled around and pinned him, rabbit ears or something, I don't know. So I passed and just got the ball.

Halftime. One of the varsity guys, a guy I really respect and have known for a long time, was there for the whole mess. He came in and asked us about it. I laid out the whole mess and he said "so then you went back out to shoot the first shot for the original shooting foul" and I almost punched a locker. Yep, the whole mess happened before V1 shot either of his two shots. I don't know why he didn't object to me telling him he had one left. Grrr. Also, as I was telling the story, I realized my foul on V2 should have been intentional because the ball was live, but with the technical that followed, I guess it didn't matter. He also says he would've pinned V2 and H1 for squaring up, and that H1 had to have done something to prompt V2 to shove him.

We get a moment to discuss the foul on the three, and the varsity guy told my partner he should've passed on that. I'm not sure, but it makes me feel about 1% better that it wasn't such an obvious foul.

Last thing, I ask the varsity guy what he thinks about how much more I should take from the home coach. He says he would've pinned him by now. So now my partner and I go back on to the floor. He says that I shouldn't pin the home coach just because the varsity guy says so. I should use my own judgment, which I of course agreed with.

First play of third quarter, I'm lead. Home misses a shot and a home player commits a foul trying to rebound which I call. As I'm headed up the sideline toward the table, the home coach is complaining and stomping his foot. So I pin him. 13 seconds into the quarter.

Lastly, late in the third, a home player tells me that my call "f***ing sucks" so I pin him too. Now I'm up to three, and my partner's one makes four. Fortunately the visitors have cracked it open a little, up 10 or 11, and the home coach has settled down. Visitors go on to win by 15.

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