Two brief stories.
The only ovation of my career occured when no one came to the officials' locker room to get us for the second half. There was no clock and we finally realized that we'd better just back out. When we got to the floor, both teams were on the floor, the clock was ready and everybody was just waiting for us. The crowd applauded wildly, and obviously sarcastically. Not a good moment.
A couple years ago, I was at the same high school several times. During my final game of the season at that site, I said to the cheerleaders, "I've been here about 5 times this year and you guys are really good. You cheer for the players, for the other team's cheerleaders, but never for the refs. Got anything for us?" Next TO, sure enough. . ."Give those refs a hand! Let's give those refs a hand!" That was a good moment
Chuck