I had a discussion tonight about officials cleaning the floor with a towel after a player leaves a wet spot. If the game has no game management to clean up a wet spot on the floor do you feel the official should get down on his/her knees and wipe it up.

Heck no, that ain't my job. "Coach, there's a wet spot here, we cannot play until it is cleaned up."

Not a chance. If it's a small wet spot, I'll try to clean it by wiping it with my shoes. But no way am I getting a towel and getting on the floor. If you do that, you're not watching players/benches, etc.

I don't consider this to be a matter of pride. It's a matter of needing to officiate the dead-ball periods of the game. It's the same reason that I never chase the ball after it goes OOB.

If you ask one of the players to get it, s/he will. If you tell the bench somebody needs to wipe the floor, somebody will.

It's also a matter of liability. If you do it & miss a little and someone falls, they could sue you. I've got a supervisor that will fine you if you do it during a game. Let the managers, players or coaches do that. Like it was said earlier, you have dead ball responsiblities.

I would much prefer it if game management does it. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that smooth at the high school level. I have had a coach hand me a towel. I'm not going to going to stand there in the middle of a game and refuse to wipe it up in that situation. I'll just look at my partner to make sure he sees what I'm doing (so he'll watch the players) and then go use my foot on the towel to clean it up. After that game, I'll make sure to make a mental note to have our local association talk to the school about whose responsibility that is next time.

Z

I dunno about that Z.

If a coach hands me a towel to wipe the floor I aint taking it. In fact, I aint going near him to tell him we need a towel and if I happen to be there I'm already walking to the opposite sideline by the time he finds a towel to hand me.

As they say, it aint my job.

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I dunno about that Z. If a coach hands me a towel to wipe the floor I aint taking it. In fact, I aint going near him to tell him we need a towel and if I happen to be there I'm already walking to the opposite sideline by the time he finds a towel to hand me. As they say, it aint my job.

I generally go to the scorer's table to let them know when a towel is needed - hard to not be close to the bench area (I.E. coach) when you're at the table. Sure it "ain't my job," but I'm not going to make an issue out of it. 95% of the time a gym admin takes care of it, but it doesn't always work perfectly at the HS level.

Whatever works for each official. I learned a long time ago that asking for a towel and pretending to wipe up a wet spot is a great way to address a player without embarrassing them.

Z

Hmmmmm,
I may need to re-think this one.
I've always done it like Z, as do most of us around here.
In fact, if some players have been on the ground and I see that it is wet...I will even ask the bench for a towel and quickly wipe the spot up using my foot and the towel.

I like the points about keeping an eye on the players and the liability thing.

Soooo, maybe we will discuss this topic at our first association meeting to make sure we are all on the same page with this.

Jog to the table
"Need a mop under that basket"
Turn & walk away.

But I was going to let this go until I saw your last sentence.

How do you talk to the kid while you're bending down wiping the floor with a towel? I mean without embarrasing him.

Can't you just wander over to him for a few words while the janitor - or even the coach - is mopping the floor?

Originally posted by Dan_ref

Jog to the table
"Need a mop under that basket"
Turn & walk away.


Sounds good Dan.. and I'm all for it. But sometimes at the high school level (especially sub-varsity) that might result in nothing... or someone finding a towel and holding it up towards me to come and get it. I won't make an issue of it (at the time). I'll go get it to keep things moving. Then later, I'll make sure that schools A.D. gets addressed by our association so it never happens again.


How do you talk to the kid while you're bending down wiping the floor with a towel? I mean without embarrasing him.


Simple. As you are wiping the floor with the towel using your foot (not bending over), you just talk to him without looking him/her in the eye. Works best while we're lined up for free throws.


Can't you just wander over to him for a few words while the janitor - or even the coach - is mopping the floor?


Sure could, and that might be best in some situations. However, there are situations where you might want to talk to a kid without letting everyone in the gym know you are addressing him/her.

Z

Sometimes at games, especially during the summer, the coach will just toss a towel out towards me. As I say, I never take it, I don't even look at it. That's just me, some folks I know are hapy to take it & wipe up the floor, I just don't do it.

Quote:

How do you talk to the kid while you're bending down wiping the floor with a towel? I mean without embarrasing him.

Oh. Nevermind. ;)

Quote:

Can't you just wander over to him for a few words while the janitor - or even the coach - is mopping the floor?

Yep, we agree here, there are lots of times when you can talk to a player without anyone else knowing about it.

As Bullock said, it is a matter of being liable. I definitely would not want to be on the wrong side of a lawsuit, because I failed to cleanup a wet spot on the floor.

I hate to by cynical guys, but an official being afraid to wipe up a wet spot on the floor because he/she is afraid of being liable is a cop-out. If you don't want to do it fine, but come on. You're no more liable if you do it then if someone else does it and you don't notice that they didn't do a good enough job.

If that's your worry, then you'd better not ever get a towel to wipe off the ball because if you don't get it all dry and the ball slips out of someone's hand and causes an injury you are liable. If someone trips over their shoelace and gets hurt you are liable because you did not immediately stop play when it became untied.

A little common sense please.

Z

OK, I just don't wanna do it either. I'm with Dan.

<i>"You the home coach? There's water on the floor over there that you need to get wiped up. Give me a shout when you're done; I'll be over at the scorer's table getting a drink of water and checking out the gabonzas on the mother in the 4th row".</i>

Is that a pea in your pocket or you glad to see me?

http://www.turismo-navalcarnero.com/...s/garbanzo.gif

Now <b><i> that </b></i> is court presence. :eek:

Z

Zebra, IAABO puts a magazine called Sportstorial and in a article by the Attorney from IAABO, It stated that officials could be held liable if something were to happen. It stated that cleaning up a wet spot on the floor was the responsibility of game management not officials. Now I know it is quicker to do it yourself and I have done it as have many others, but If a kid was to hurt himself/herself, you could be at fault, it you were playing janitor. So I am not trying to "cop-out" of anything. I was stating what has been passed down to me by IAABO. Does anyone else remember seeing this in the Sportstorial?

I will be interested to see exactly what the article says. "Officials could be held liable if something were to happen" is about the most vague statement I have ever heard.

Z

For the official, or for the mom?!?!

For the dad maybe?

yuck..
 

I don't touch any bodily fluids on the floor with or without a towel.
But it wasn't always that way.

This happened when I first began officiating.
In a high school boys game, after some aggresive rebounding action in the key, and after a time out, I noticed a small wet area near the baseline.
I stuck my toe in it and tried to rub it out. Well, the more I scuffed my toe at the spot the bigger, and gooier, and stickier it got. What the he#@ was it? And why wouldn't it go away?
Later, the home coach informed me that half of his team had bad colds.
Never again!

Re: yuck..
 

So did you end up with a cold?!?

Re: Re: yuck..
 

Nope. Toemaine poisoning!

She was lucky that it didn't develop into kneemonia.

At least she didn't have to worry about dicktheria.:eek:

Re: Re: Re: yuck..
 

Sheez, Woody. Get some sleep!

Re: Re: Re: yuck..
 

Actually,
toelio, and I didn't have to worry about smallcox either. ;)

Hey JR....the mother with the big gabonzas in the 4th row asked if you cold wipe the floor so her son doesn't get hurt....she'd be forever indebted...

Re: Re: Re: Re: yuck..
 

hmmm...

http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/...p/squirrel.jpg

It happened to me one time someone took my towel at the scorers table to wipe the floor while I was at the far side. I was so upset about that guy