I actually ran the clock!

[Mark Padgett]

Went to see one of my granddaughters play in her first basketball game ever this morning. She's in 7th grade and it's a park district league. The officials asked around to get volunteers for the clock and book. One of the officials knows me and virtually pleaded with me to do the clock. She said they had not had anyone on it who knew what they were doing all day. I said OK and took my seat.

The weird thing was that the other official is in his first year and he had no idea why I would hit the horn for a substitution. Oh yeah, he didn't understand the possession arrow's purpose, either. Fortunately, he (and the other ref) called a really good game, especially for that level. The veteran came over twice during the game to ask me about rule interps (once on a DOG and once on a backcourt violation which wasn't one - dribbler didn't get both feet and the ball over first). My granddaughter's coach knows I'm an official but the other coach didn't and we got funny looks from him whenever I was consulted on a rule.

Bottom line, my granddaughter's team won 28-4. She scored 5 points including a free throw. She was thrilled, as was I.