[Welpe]

Thanks for posting that grune. That was my experience and Billy's mechanics are what I have read when preparing for this season (this is my first season officiating basketball). They really helped me get through these games.

Incidently, I was scheduled to work two freshman boys games the Friday after the triple-header of 8th grade games I did.

I have had the visiting teams before so I know that both their coaches and fans are card carrying members of the cheese and whine club. On Friday morning, my partner e-mails me and our assigner saying he hurt himself during his games on Thursday and won't be able to work the games. That afternoon, a couple hours before my games, my assigner notifies me that a replacement has been assigned. Whew.

I get to the gym and meet my partner, who is a veteran official and even works college. As we are going over our pre-game, he tells me he can only stay for the first game as he has a varsity game at 7 nearby. I figure one game with a partner is better than none. The first went well with nothing notable to report. My partner makes his exit and the next game starts. Lots of hard contact and sloppy play in this game. Home coach starts out early by trying to count along with my closely guarded count. I nip that in the bud quickly and he is fine the rest of the game. The visiting coach had a few mild complaints about calls that I quietly addressed but nothing out of line until I called an offensive foul against one of his players in the third quarter. The coach flew out of his chair and is screaming at me about his perception on the quality of the call while I am reporting the foul.

After I finish reporting, I look over to the coach and see he is screaming at me while about 5 feet on the court. I look him in the eye and WHACK! him. The coach is still screaming at me as I tell him in no uncertain terms to sit down before he needs to find himself a replacement. Coach still standing, I tell him this game doesn't start until he sits down. Home team fans are clapping, visiting fans are booing. Exchanges of "horrible call", "excellent call" are ricocheting back and forth from the stands.

Lots of fouls called that game, which ended in a blow out and the visiting coach was about 2 seconds away from getting a second technical and packing his bags early for that one. The funny thing is that I had a great look at the team control foul I called that set the coach off. The offensive player set a legal screen, then when the defensive player tried to go around the screen, the offensive player moved with him and ended up tripping him.

The joys of working by yourself.