Im doing a Saturday night game at a small town school 60+ miles from home. There are several country inns/restaurants in the area so the Mrs. came along so we can have a nice dinner after the game. While the game is going on she was hitting the outlet mall located in the town.
Got to the school in plenty of time and was having a relaxed pregame with my partner. Should be no problem as it is a freshman game and the home team is, well lets just say that they show-up. This night there are 2 games going on at the same time. My game is in the small gym, full size court, and the JV in the main gym. Who walks in to do the JV game, the associations assignor! He announces that he wants my partner to work the JV game and he will take me.
Right off of the tip things go wrong. Im U, so I am standing there waiting for the throw and saying to myself over and over, White to the left, Red to the right. White gets the tap and I start to the left. Over my shoulder I see the white guard turn around and head the back toward the division line. Oh my, did I do this wrong? is going through my head. I turn to race the other way. After I have taken a few steps I see the guard turn again to setup a play. I am then across court but face to face with my partner. As I sprint back, I run into a kid.
Things are going OK until a ball goes OOB right in front of reds bleacher. Small gym so the kids are sitting on the first row. Hand goes up and I yell red ball but point in the direction of whites basket. Red coach goes ballistic. Kid does step in and tells the coach that I said red.
During or halftime talk my assignor tells me that he would not call the little touch fouls that I have been calling. (I dont really thank that they were touches but I am not going to disagree as I really respect his judgment)
The 3rd quarter has become very intense as the home team has taken the lead and is pulling away. Red is shooting bricks, even from under the basket. Fourth quarter starts with white up by 15. Fans, and there are a lot of them are going nuts.
In the 4th quarter red finds it range and is sinking 3s from all over the court, that plus several beautiful fast breaks. White is hanging in there and the game is getting very physical. Both teams are in the double bonus and I realize that I have called only one of them. I did freeze on one call, foul or OOB? Partner reaches and calls it OOB. I then realized that he has done so on several others. Im just not processing things...
Red won the game by 1 with 2 seconds left on a shot from the top of the key.
Thanks for the shoulder. Its back to doing rec ball for me...
Oh, the meal was great and the wife could not find much to buy.
|