Player and Referee Brawl

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by IUgrad92

No, you count on your partner(s), coaches, and other sane and decent adults 'in the room' to assist you in disengaging from the chaos. Then you get video of the situation, if possible, get police to the scene, file a report, and deal with it legally. That would be realistic. The picture you painted with sarcasm and satire is not.

I would also lay odds that my 'picture' would be suggested and supported by a lot of law enforcement individuals, and likely most basketball assignors.

1 kid pushed him down. The 3-4 other kids could have easily made it a dog pile, but didn't. The official got up and engaged/charged at the player (in legal terms likely a MINOR). The official COULD have gone the opposite direction preventing the majority of the chaos that ensued.

But to some I guess that means he would have been 'less of a man'....

Since when are these free-for-all tournaments known for having "sane and decent adults" around?

This was not a high school game with administrators and cops standing guard.

[#olderthanilook]

Originally Posted by SC Official

Since when are these free-for-all tournaments known for having "sane and decent adults" around?

This was not a high school game with administrators and cops standing guard.

Even more reason to immediately distance/remove oneself from the fray.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by #olderthanilook

Even more reason to immediately distance/remove oneself from the fray.

So what do you do when you are followed to the parking lot? Yes that happened to me when walking away.

Again we can play the holier-than-thou card all day, but not every situation is as easy as you are trying to make it.

And even if we do not agree with every action, I understand why it happened.

Peace

[#olderthanilook]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

So what do you do when you are followed to the parking lot? Yes that happened to me when walking away.

Again we can play the holier-than-thou card all day, but not every situation is as easy as you are trying to make it.

And even if we do not agree with every action, I understand why it happened.

Peace

Easy?

Nothing we as officials do in preparation or on the court, relatively speaking, is considered "easy".

My comments are about doing what is right. And, most of the time, as life has taught us over and over, the right thing to do is rarely ever easy.

[#olderthanilook]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

So what do you do when you are followed to the parking lot?

What do I do? I keep walking at a fast pace, get into my car and drive away.

What do you recommend?

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by #olderthanilook

What do I do? I keep walking at a fast pace, get into my car and drive away.

What do you recommend?

You can do whatever you wish. I am just saying that you can run but might not have a place to run to as easily as you claim you do. You might not have a locker room or a secure room if this is not a very organized situation. If you have noticed, I never told you to do whatever you wish, just pointing out that your solution in many venues is short-sighted. Because if stuff goes down and you are cornered, you might do all kinds of things or have to. Again, easy to judge sitting on a computer.

Peace

[Raymond]

There is a point after the first attack that the situation could have ended without further incident.

That being said, I believe some here are holding these basketball officials to a higher standard than they hold any other people, professions or people in positions of authority. We are still human; the stripes we wear aren't some magic cape that make us impervious to human emotions and reactions.

[SC Official]

Quite frankly, I just think it's laughable the way some of us claim to be holier-than-thou while sitting behind a computer screen. Who's to say none of us would have reacted the same way?

And again, I just don't really think the normal rules that we think of in our avocation have to apply when it comes to street ball like this. If an official wants to stand up for himself in a crapshoot tournament, good for him. And if a punk player or coach wants to take a swing, I applaud you for defending yourself even if it was a little over the top.

[IUgrad92]

Originally Posted by SC Official

Since when are these free-for-all tournaments known for having "sane and decent adults" around?

This was not a high school game with administrators and cops standing guard.

Well, within 5-10 seconds I see 5 grown men in street clothes making there presence known on the court and none of them appeared to want to add to the chaos. So I would say in this specific case he would have had plenty of help had he chose to try to escape the situation.

It was, and always will be, absolutely wrong for a player to be physically violent with an official. At the same time, if an official chooses to put themselves in a YOUTH sporting event, whether it is sanctioned or not, whether there is security or not, whether there is gym administration or not, more times than not the correct thing to do is disengage, IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. If the OP video doesn't support that philosophy than I don't know what does.