Working Alone!!

[mikesears]

I worked two Jr High games at a school that is known for its poor fans and coaching staffs and worked those games alone one evening. I spoke to the coaches beforehand with the obligatory "won't get everything . . ." speach. During the game, both coaches were complaining about calls I wasn't making. I finally said during the first game "Anyone says another word to me about a missed call will get a technical foul. Consider this a warning to both benches." Didn't have a problem the rest of the game.

Before the second game during the captains meeting, I made it a point to emphasize that I wasn't going to listen to either coach or player complain about missed calls and had a coach say to me in all seriousness "Come on. Working alone is no excuse for missing calls!" I stuck to my word the second game and T'd him up early for complaining about a missed call and didn't have a problem the rest of the second game.