Truly Embarrassing Moment ...
 

Forty years, never did this.

I toss jump ball to start game. Something felt unsettling, didn't feel quite right, about the toss, but I can't figure it out, so play on. Ten seconds later a foul occurs, I came up with my fist to only then discover I had no whistle. Left it in my jacket pocket at the table. Figured out what was unsettling about the toss, I didn't sound a whistle. Partner bailed me out with a very late whistle.

Luckily, after a loose ball, we had a turned around wrong way shooter to start the second half (who missed), so I wasn't alone in doing something truly embarrassing in the game. Misery loves company.

With no whistle, I once had to delay a jump ball to get a site director to open the locked locker room door so that I could get a whistle. And, of course, it was long walk.

I once started a second half with no whistle in my mouth due to discussing something with a polite coach during my partner's throwin administration (as the umpire, right in front of the coach), only discovering such seconds later when I tried to make an out of bounds call without a whistle in my mouth, also bailed out by my partner before I could get the whistle back in my mouth where it belonged.

But I've never started play without a whistle on my person.

Now, where are my car keys?

Hasn’t happened to me yet, but if I do it for a lifetime, it probably will eventually.

I have blown a whistle clear out of my mouth a couple times. One of those times, without even thinking about it, I yelled “Whistle, whistle, whistle!” That got some good laughs.

Then there was the one time several years ago when I forgot to put my spare whistle in my pocket. As Murphy would have it, that’s the night my Fox 40 went lame duck on me, and I had to sheepishly run into the dressing room to get my spare, which probably took 30 seconds but felt like an eternity.


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Sans Lanyard ...
 

Second year I officiated, I tried to go without a lanyard like the "cool guys". Spit the whistle out onto the floor several times in the first period. Between the first and second period I got the site director to open up the locked locker room so that I could get my lanyard. Quoth the raven, nevermore.

Kiss Of Death ...
 

I haven't had anything like this happen.... yet.... but I had a partner go without a lanyard and drop his whistle while running and proceed to kick it all the way down the court.

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All The Way Home ...
 

Forty-five years ago, fiddling with my wedding ring at Sunday mass during a quiet prayer time while we were sitting in a pew to the right of the central aisle of a church with a tile over concrete floor (no carpet), with me closest to the center aisle. Sure enough, my ring popped off and went bouncing down the center aisle toward the altar, "Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding ... ", with me chasing after it. The sound is still etched into my brain as if it happened yesterday.

Ouch. [emoji23]

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