[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

I've been giving this a little more thought since posting earlier today.

Forum members will usually question whether, or not, a technical foul charged to the coach makes the game better.

In my case, it definitely did, but not for the usual reasons that I "Whack" coaches.

When I "Whack", which is very rarely, it's because a coach's complaining is distracting me, and the game is difficult enough to officiate without distractions. Last night, the coach wasn't distracting me, he was irritating me. Wasn't swearing. Wasn't inciting the crowd. Didn't make it personal. He was just irritating the hell out of me.

You know how it is when you get a pebble in your shoe, and it's not really a big deal at first, just slightly irritating? Eventually, it does become a big deal, and you have to take off the shoe, and remove the pebble.

Well, that's exactly what I did last night, I removed the pebble, and he didn't irritate me any more for the rest of the game. "Whacking" him did make the game better.

What makes the game better is subjective and there are no absolutes anyway. So if what you did made you happy, honestly that is mostly what matters. I ejected a coach with 8 seconds on the clock about a week ago. I felt better and it made me happy for the moment for a guy and I did not let the guy get the last say. The coach wanted to make it about me and he got shown the door for it. And the incident overshadowed the rest of the game, but a message needed to be sent.

Peace