First AAU set of the spring for me. Three hours of driving for 3 and a half hours of basketball.

3 boys games - little kid games 14s & 15s.

2 T's (on players), 2 intentionals, 1 flagrant on a breakaway layup..."but I was playing the ball!" OK kid, see ya...

Worked with a a newish but good guy. A couple of inadvertent whistles, a couple of quick whistles but overall lots of good no-calls, which you tend not to see with new guys working this age group.

Coaches were good. Saw a team from western MA, after the game the coaches & parents stopped by to tell me how nice it was to finally have guys work their games who know what they are doing...they mostly came from a town called Springfield.

Anybody know where that is?

Hey, if they could get big-time college guys like Dan to work AAU out here, then they wouldn't have anything to complain about. Unfortunately, they're stuck with me! :)

:p

BTW, I got done yesterday just in time to listen to the last inning of the game...

Good thing I didn't hear the last inning BEFORE my set...would have been a lot more T's.

Hmmmm. I'd heard that the Springfield guys in IAABO Board #31 weren't that bad.

It was the Holyoke guys that you had to watch out for.

toot, toot, toot

Didn't get the humor, eh?

It's funny when referees want to give credibility to coaches and parents.;)

Maybe we should get these parents and coaches to be evaluators since they recognize when refs know what they are doing.:D

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mick

Quote:

Didn't get the humor, eh?

Apparently not. I don't follow the off topic threads. Sorry.

Wrong track, guy. Dan was just laying a little smack on his bud, the Chuckster , who refs in western MA. Just a l'il inbred humor, is all.

Dan - Springfield is the home of the basketball hall of fame. Worth visiting for just that. Was there back in '94 when one of my sons was playing travel soccer. Big select tournament up there. I lived in Albany, NY at the time. It's on the way to Boston from upstate NY.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by footlocker

Quote:

Originally posted by mick Quote: Didn't get the humor, eh? Apparently not. I don't follow the off topic threads. Sorry.

Well, isn't that special.

http://www.angelfire.com/celeb/edfur...urchlady02.jpg

Last weekend, 14 games, YBOA.

This weekend, 11 games, AAU.

Quite honestly, if this was the only ball I worked, I would probably give it up. But an extra $600 helps out with two kids in college. Say what you will but that's the only reason I do it.

Any official in their right mind does it for the very same reason. You sure cannot only do that and claim you love it. It is that time of year. ;)

Peace

I think there's good news and bad news to AAU. I know two Metro (St. Paul/Minneapolis) Assignors pretty well and thus can request specific courts/games. I have a 15 yr old son who officiates with me and all we do is 16-19 year olds. It's great experience for him. Good news-the quality of ball can be pretty good and a differnt style of play then would normally been seen in HS. Bad news-it can get very chippy very quickly. I personally think there are too many T's given most years-we should be able through preventative officiating and communication head off some of the problems before players/coaches go too far. That being said we've decided to very quickly bang anyone who trash talks and clean up the physical play very early. If the kids want to just play we're happy to never blow our whistles-if not It's been my experince the games get out of hand very quickly.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jurassic Referee

Quote:

Wrong track, guy. Dan was just laying a little smack on his bud, the Chuckster , who refs in western MA. Just a l'il inbred humor, is all.

Thanks, guy.