I was working a 9th grade boys rec league playoff game last Saturday. The league I work for has a building with 14 courts under one roof, so there's not a whole lot of room around the sidelines.

Team A is down by about 10 with a minute to play, when A1 throws a rocket pass across the court that misses everyone. The ball is sailing toward the sidelines, and neither team has a chance to make a play on the ball. However, the ball strikes a little boy on the foot. (He was sitting on the floor out of bounds by about two feet.)

My partner whistles the violation and awards the ball to Team B. I am the trail, near the Team A bench, when Coach A stands up and cries "Hey Ref! That's fan interference!"

I just smiled, shook my head and moved on.

Who else has nuggets of wisdom to share?

JV Boy's game, visiting team kid is holding the ball in his frontcourt very near the midcourt line. Good defense causes the kid to take a step backward, where his whole foot ends up coming down in the backcourt. I'm trail and call over and back. As I'm rounding the corner at the other end I hear one of the Varsity players sitting in the stands yell to me "But ref, he only had one foot in the backcourt, how is that over and back?". He was dead serious. I just looked up at him and laughed.