Last night I ref'ed the March Madness of our Girl's Basketball Clinic as a favor to a friend. 6-, 7-, 8-, and 9-year old girls played their first game with clock, scoreboard and officials, with parents and family cheering them on. Not one argument, not one parent complaining about calls or playing time. The girls all got trophies (basketball bobble-heads) and snacks, the parents and coaches thanked me after the game, and a sea of smiles surrounded everyone.

Every now and then, we get reminded of what we love about basketball.

Wake up, Jim. Time to go to work. You were dreaming about refereeing again, weren't you? ;)

Sounds like a lot of fun.

I just appreciate your putting the words "girls' basketball" and "heaven" in the same header. Not too often we see that !

Was this why I was expecting some kind of sarcasm when I clicked on the link? :)

Actually, I worked a 7th and 8th grade girls tournament a few weekends ago. Of the seven games I worked I only had problems with one coach who insisted on standing up to argue calls/non-calls. He got whacked. Rest of the day was quite pleasant, even when i worked with a kid who didn't know what side of the floor he wanted to be on (he'd cross during a live ball).

--Rich

Vehicular Assault
 

Well for every good one, there's a bad one and this is it. One of our rookie officials was officiating a girls grammar school playoff game a couple of weeks ago, and two girls collided. One girl remained on the floor and immediately the mother came running out on the court with the typical, "You should control the game! I knew someone was going to get hurt! Blah...blah...blah" Well the girl got up in a minute or two, nothing serious. After the game as our rookie official was leaving, guess who is waiting for him in her car? Tries to scare or intimidate him by almost running him over as he was going to his car! Well he got the license plate number and she has received a registered letter from our association banning her from all game sites for the rest of the year. He is also persuing legal options and we'll see where it goes.

Primordial!
 

After working for 27 years and approximately 2000 varsity games I have been verbally attacked after a game where someone has come out of the stands to make a point with me or my partner about 20 times and 18 out of the 20 have been mothers. I think it is primordial instinct and they are defending the young. Vehicular assault is a whole different matter!

Re: Vehicular Assault
 

I hope she get's punished to the full extent of the law. According to the parents their doing it for their children, but their children are embarassed when their parents act in such a childish manner.

That lady is sick, she needs help, it doesn't matter how much you disagree with someone, you don't run them down with a car.