Help with Ruling on Fight/Forfeit

[BillyMac]

Forty years. Never had a fight. Never had multiple intentional fouls.

I'm having a charmed officiating career.

Boring, but charmed.

On the other hand:

Originally Posted by BillyMac

... middle school game ... Just in the past two weeks: Ball stuck between backboard and ring (coach jumps to get it loose and misses), jumper catches ball before the ball touches floor or nonjumpers, illegal numbers (two games), backcourt with only ponytail over division line, coach comes onto court to check injured player (best player) and has to use his last timeout near the end of a one point game, tape over earrings, intentional foul (for no rhyme or reason), player attempts shot at wrong basket (misses), and six players on court (like a hockey line change).

[BigT]

Originally Posted by mechanicguy

well, who won the fight?

roflmao

[deecee]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

I am reminded of the saying: Third-world plays happen to third-world officials.

I am NOT saying it's true all the time, or applies to anyone in this thread -- but I've found it worth considering when these plays happen.

100% agree.

[ilyazhito]

Not sure what that means. I do work some games in inner-city and majority black schools, so that may account for some odd occurences.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

Not sure what that means. I do work some games in inner-city and majority black schools, so that may account for some odd occurences.

Probably not reasons to have odd occurrences.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

not sure what that means. I do work some games in inner-city and majority black schools, so that may account for some odd occurences.

smh.

[SC Official]

Weird s*it can happen to any ref, in any game, out of nowhere. Just look at the KSU-KU brawl - and those are not third world refs.

That being said, there is definitely truth to Bob's post. Most fights don't start out of the blue. There are certain HS officials I have worked with and we always seem to have issues or strange situations whenever I'm with them. Of course, I guess they could say the same thing about me, but I rarely have issues in my games when I'm not with those particular partners.

[LRZ]

Weird occurrences can arise when officials "officiate by the book, rather than with the book," as the saying goes. Common sense, situational awareness and game management go a long ways in avoiding crazy issues.

[ilyazhito]

I haven't had any weird things pop up in scholastic games in majority white schools (or mixed schools). Most of my games have been uneventful, whether in mostly-white or mostly-black environments.

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by LRZ

Weird occurrences can arise when officials "officiate by the book, rather than with the book," as the saying goes. Common sense, situational awareness and game management go a long ways in avoiding crazy issues.

"The rules should break you out of jail, not into jail."

[Rich1]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

I haven't had any weird things pop up in scholastic games in majority white schools.

I do not know you but am assuming you are trying to state a broad fact rather than come across the way this sounds. Even though things have gone too far in today's highly charged climate of political correctness it is still wise to choose your words carefully.

Now, if you are working a game that you know has a likelihood of having weird things happen it is important to officiate them out of the game. For instance, if the schools are known to be unable to control their emotions, call lots of fouls early and get the bad eggs sitting on the bench. I have also noticed that most of the time players and fans react similarly to the way the coaches react so address poor behavior quickly and some of these problems may also go away.

Good officiating is as much about what you do to prevent problems as it is about how you handle them!