Diminutives at Work

[canuckrefguy]

How about "two shots, baby"...especially if it's a guy...

[ChuckElias]

Originally posted by canuckrefguy
How about "two shots, baby"...especially if it's a guy...

Believe it or not, I work with a very experienced NCAA D2 official who calls the guys "baby". First time I heard it, I almost laughed. Then he did it again and the player seemed to like it. I thought to myself, "I could NEVER pull that off." But it works for him.

[ChuckElias]

Originally posted by mick
I still don't know who is being impolite, or telling you, or anyone else, not to be polite. Color me gone.

Ok, you're gone, and after this I'll let it drop too. I guess by calling a player "Blue 23" you are not being impolite. Fine. But neither are you being particularly personable. Also fine. All business. Ok, I can see that.

But in my everyday non-basketball life, I express respect by addressing a person as "sir". It's just habit, I suppose. I carry this onto the court with me. I think it's nicer and makes me more personable than merely not being impolite.

And the guy who says "we don't ref boys or men" is saying not to express respect in that way. And I just think that's going too far in order to be professional.

Again, just my opinion. And now, I'll be gone too. I know we all agree to be respectful to the players. We're just discussing appropriate ways of doing it.

[Junker]

Of course, I have been known to call a player "Beavis".

[Edited by Mark Padgett on Nov 1st, 2003 at 08:18 PM] [/B][/QUOTE]

Does this mean we can refer to some coaches as "Butthead"?

BTW, I use ladies and gentlemen almost exclusively and have never had a problem.

[ChuckElias]

Originally posted by Junker
Does this mean we can refer to some coaches as "Butthead"?

Coaches are usually "Brainiac".

[Dan_ref]

Originally posted by canuckrefguy
How about "two shots, baby"...especially if it's a guy...

"Two shots BAAAAABEEEE!!! OK son, now put that Rock in the peach basket!"

[DownTownTonyBrown]

Whatever you call a player has got to be either a statement of respect or a statement of indifference.

Numbers are indifferent. Baby, Stud, Ladies, Gentlemen, Girls (to the boys), Wrestlers (to the girls) can be respectful, lightening and cheering. The determining factor is how and when do you say it. There are absolutely times (the vast majority of times) when "son" is condescending - especially if it came from a woman, Juulie. There are other times when I could see the use of the word "son" as an excellent choice and very consoling.

Personally, I never think about these terms, and therefore never stress them. Perhaps that lack of stressing the term or its importance is what keeps me from the problem.

I use Ladies and Gentlemen all of the time. There is a facet to this no one has yet mentioned. Yes, these terms can be seen as an admonishment to the player who is not acting the part of a lady or a gentleman... but these terms also set a standard that you are expecting of them. We want them to act like ladies and gentlmen. Call them such and you set that standard for them.

The coach that complains about an official calling his/her players ladies doesn't have anything else to complain about. You've done a great job. Let that coach remember the location of that stick and who put it their by laughing it off. The official that takes that tidbit of a childish situation and expands it to enforce/instruct it upon other officials is a dingbat and didn't understand the situation. I swear some camp instructors... if all they can find to complain about is calling the players ladies, they are no better than the coach that did it to him. Again you've done a great job.

Attitude. They don't hear the words you use, so much as they hear your attitude. Whatever you say, say it with respect. Or slight admonishment if it is deserved.

Somewhere I heard a quotation that went something like this, "Your actions are so loud that I cannot hear what you are saying."