We have a HS girls tournament here this weekend with 48 teams. The opening round games were tonight. While working a well contested game between White and Red, I had the opportunity to have some fun with one of the fans.
With about five minutes to play Red leads by five and we give a held ball to White. The scorer forgets to change the POSS on the scoreboard; there is no arrow at the table. After about thirty seconds of play the ball goes OOB and a father seated in one of the top rows starts yelling, "Switch possession to Red! Switch possession to Red!" At this time, White asks for a TO. During the TO all that can be heard is this father yelling about the possession. Well, being one of those guys who keeps track of the arrow in his head, I know that Red has the next held ball, but I decide to have some fun with our father who is just a little too concerned with the outcome of his daughter's summer ball games. So I come together with my partner and tell him that the scorer forgot to switch the POSS, but we know that Red gets the next one. He asks if he should have the scorer fix it, and I tell him with a smile to just leave it where it is.
Now I meander over in front of the stands where this guy is sitting. Sure enough, here comes, "Hey, Ref, possession should be Red." I calmly say back, "You're right. I sure hope they fix that before the next held ball." Then walk away just as the horn goes to end the TO.
He is now about to have a seizure.
With just over 2 minutes left and a four point game, we have the next held ball. I happen to call it. I purposely delay signaling who will have possession to see what I can get out of this guy. Yep, he starts screaming, "It's Red ball! It's Red ball!"
Now I say loudly, "We're going to give this one to Red. Somebody make sure that guy doesn't explode."
The spectators seated near him had a good laugh.
And the poor guy was just trying to be helpful. :)


[Edited by Nevadaref on Jun 26th, 2004 at 01:08 AM]

I don't tend to think it's smart to interact much with fans, but this is too funny to pass up! Thanks for sharing.

Don't forget this one. When you give the ball on an AP and the opposing coach (or fans) think you gave it to the wrong team, tell them they might be right and to make up for it, you'll give them the next two out of three. Usually that placates them. They almost never get it.

I used this one a couple of nights ago with the coach of 12-year old girls AAU team. This guy thought he was going for the national championship. He thanked me for giving him "the edge".