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Last night during half-time one of my partners tells me that he's going to take a prescription pain-killer for some severe discomfort (I knew that he was hurting before the game, but he did not elaborate on the nature of the ailment). The margin was 16 pts, game's going fine, so despite my reservations, I keep my mouth shut.
Well, the game got tight. Overtime tight, as it turned out. With 45 seconds left in regulation, he calls a non-shooting foul. It's the 8th team foul. I was at trail for the free throws, and I saw the administering official hold out two fingers to the shooter. I quickly glanced up at the scoreboard to make sure the 8 was in the defending team's column, then I hit the whistle to turn around to the scorer and confirm the team foul total. She stated that the scoreboard was accurate, so we correctly went with the one-and-one. At this point I'm just thinking that my partner looked at the wrong side of the board, since the other team had 10 team fouls showing.
FF to 7 seconds left in regulation of a tie game. TO is called, and we huddle. Rather than talking about what's going to happen next on the floor, he asks me why we only awarded 1-and-1 on the 8th team foul! Rather stunned both by this egregious lapse in rules knowledge and his refusal/inability to move on and focus on the moment, I reply, "Because they were only in the single bonus. Double bonus doesn't kick in until the 10th." His reply? "No, 7 is one-and-one, eight is two." At this point I'm speechless. He turns around to go ask the clock-keeper, who is a registered official, what he thinks. The clock-keeper straightenes him out.
Long story short, we made it out of the game alive. But in the locker room after the game, I could tell by looking at the partner-in-question's eyes that the medication was having a significant effect. He also joked that he was "feelin' good."
Regarding the rules gaffe, this is a decent official who's been working varsity ball for three or four years. I've worked with him before, and have had no major complaints/criticisms. All of this is to say that I think that it was the meds that screwed up his game in the second half, not simply being a bad official. Obviously, he should've known better than to take prescription-strength stuff before or during a game. To compound the lapse in judgment, this was a tournament, where any one of three or four officials were available to step in to take his place if the pain was not something he could deal with without the meds.
My dilemma is this: this official is popular in the association, and understandably so; he's quite an engaging, easy-going fellow. Furthermore, this is my first year in this association, and I would certainly prefer not to make waves if I can avoid it without compromising my integrity.
I've considered two basic options. 1)Report the incident to our board, which would likely result in a significant suspension for the official, or 2) Talk to him one-on-one. As I see it, the problem with the latter is that I really feel some sort of punishment should be meted out, and this option certainly would not accomplish that. I also don't want to come out with the upscale-prep-school-type "I'm giving you a chance to turn yourself in" line of sanctimonious bull.
I'm 98% sure what I'm going to do here, but I'd certainly appreciate your input.
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