[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Oh boy, I do not know how to respond to this thread, since I officate in the YBOA Nationals.

I checked my diary and found the following results:

Last year in the YBOA Girls' I officiated 19 games and 4 of them went to running clock and in 3 of those games the team that lost was a over-matched foreign team. In last year's YBOA Boys' I officiated 23 games and 4 went to running clock.

This year I officiated in the Police Athletic League Boys'/Girls' National. I officiated 19 games and 2 of them went to running clock and suprisingly it was in the boys' 16U division. In the first game the teams were really well matched but the losing team got made at each other and then just quit playing, in their next game they mercied their opponent. In the second game the teams were mismatched from the start. The losing coach told me before the game that he expected to get mercied.

Before my knee gave out see Hawks Coach's "noise maker" thread for the details, I officiated 23 games in the Girls' Nationals two weeks ago and had only 2 games go to running clock.

I really do not know what to say. I agree that the teams pay a lot of money to play in these tournaments and the argument could be made that they are not getting their money's worth. But as a parent of boys' who play sports, there are times when you just do not want to see your children embarassed.

And as an official, when the 5th game of the day rolls around, and your first 4 games have been nail biters with maybe an overtime or two thrown in, you really do not mind getting a game that ends up as a running clock game, but only if the winning team earns that running clock. No official should give the game to the better team just to get the game over. Actually, a better scenario for that last game of the day is if one or both teams fail to show. Forfeit and still get paid.