I had an all timer last week. Dude was chatty in pre-game, lots of words about nothing at all, so I guess I should have seen it coming. Volunteers to be the R. He and the third guy are similar, just small talking about all manner of nonsense as we got dressed.

So we get out there about 20 mins prior. He says let's get the captains at 15 mins, which is fine (girls JV btw). Right at 15:00 he makes eye contact with us and we beckon the captains from each side.

They gather pretty quick as they were stretching, so I'd say we start the conference at about 14:40 or so. I'm not exactly sure, but close enough. Indeed, we start with the infamous 'black line all around', but that's just the beginning of the warmup of the great oratory to follow. It was a classic, play with your feet not your hands, listen to us we'll try to talk you out, the POEs about handchecking from last year (half of these girls probably weren't even playing last year, but whatever) are still in effect. If I had a pre-game bull##% bingo board, I would have cashed out in the first minute.

But wait, there's more. We went into a detailed explanation of the new rule about a violation if you enter the free throw shooter half circle. And not only the R got to chime in, but our other chatty cathy partner had words of wisdom on this too. The nuances of foul if you contact vs violation if you just cross were analyzed and contrasted. The girls were giving it all the attention you'd expect 16 yr old girls to give on a lecture about, say, accounting principles or something.

Other items I learned in this soliloquy were the speaking captain's name (it was Bethany), her number - because of course the R had her raise her warmup shirt to reveal the number, the fact that the R's daughter went to school just nearby their school too - but she didn't play basketball. Also, the blonde mom in the 3rd row had a really cute sweater and great curves - no, wait, that was me as I drifting off into la la land. I'm sure there were other fantastic points made but I found myself surrounded by a fog of words, lazily hanging in the air like smoke from a windless July 4th fireworks display.

We broke this interminable huddle at 11:26 left on the clock. OVER THREE FREAKIN' MINUTES OF THIS!!

Yet another item not listed in the current year rulebook that we are supposed to enforce!

Coaches and captains are required by our state to attend pregame conference

All that said, I ask to see the jerseys. Then I know for certain that we don't have both teams in white (mainly an issue in neutral site games) and I know what additional color is legal on the visiting team's headbands, etc.

That said, we get captains at 12 and I'm at the table before we reach 11:00.

At a tournament yesterday and a ref was bragging about a game a couple weeks ago where he had the captains meeting, asked who the speaking captain was, asked to see their jersey number under their warmups, and they were not wearing jerseys under their warmups. He told the coach they were not legally equipped and made them stop the warmup and go back to the locker room to put on their jerseys.

Smh.

Well, that's a new one. Just when I thought I heard em all....

When's Visiting Day At The Prison ???
 

Was this a girls tournament?

They were not wearing jerseys with numbers under their warmups, to clarify.

That incident happened a couple weeks ago in a game, not sure if boys or girls.

The tournament yesterday was boys.

If they detailed everything about how we are to call the game, the book wouldn't fit in your game bag.

Well shit, at least publish some PDF memos or something. The only place I have seen that has past years Rules Interpretations and POE's is the sticky thread in this very forum.

As I have said before, as a new official how can I be expected to know all these past interpretations and POE's if they are not readily available??

What's A Mother To Do ???
 

Amen. A good example is the point of emphasis from a few years ago about elbow fouls above the shoulders; stationery/swinging/excessive swinging; player control/intentional/flagrant. That never made its way into the rulebook.

Gee, I wonder if we know anyone somewhat close to Indianapolis who could stop by the NFHS offices and lobby for the concept and arrange personally with those in charge in order to make it happen.
:rolleyes:

Three-whistle for JV girls?!

We work 3-whistle for JV Girls -- if one of the officials carries a spare in their pocket.

3-whistle for JV games??!! Oh how I envy you.

MTD, Sr.