[BillyMac]

Right or wrong. Good or bad. I don't usually give high school coaches technical fouls. I have a very long fuse compared to most. It's not because I'm trying to stay on the coach's good side. Here in Connecticut coaches vote for state tournament officials and I'm no where near that caliber of official, so I can give a crap about whether they vote for me, or not. Maybe it's because I coached middle school basketball for over twenty-five years and know how frustrating their job can be. Maybe it's because I am so concentrating on what's happening on the floor that I don't hear, or see, what's going on off the floor. Maybe after twenty-nine seasons of doing this my skin has gotten thicker, and I've learned how to "tune out" the coaches. I would rather defuse problems with various game management techniques, including, but not limited to, warnings. My last technical foul to a high school coach was in 2006-07.

When I do charge technicals to coaches, it's usually because they are distracting me, which is pretty hard to do. As I stated above, I usually concentrate on what's happening on, not off, the floor, so when a coach starts distracting me, it's usually time for a technical, and when that happens, I'm more than willing to oblige.

Yesterday. Prep school. Visiting coach seems displeased with some of my foul calls and non calls, questioning why a foul "down there" is not a foul "up here". He's not distracting me, and after several times up and down the court, I'm not close enough to address his questions. All of a sudden he yells loudly, "That's ridiculous", at the same time I'm reporting a foul against his team to the table.

Whack, without ever distracting me, or swearing at me. What was I thinking as I was standing opposite table, at the division line, waiting for my partner to administer the free throws? Believe it, or not, I was thinking to myself, "Well, those guys on the Forum will certainly be pleased that I "took care of business". Seriously.

Also, game management was 100% easier after that technical. It certainly made the game better and smoother. Also, it felt good, real good. I hope that this isn't addictive, because I have an addictive personality.