Horror stories from Church Basketball

[icallfouls]

I have a couple of Church League stories to relate, one as a player, the other as a ref.

As a Player:
I was just starting my officiating career but was still playing ball because our team really needed the help. Most of the officials were guys from the previous game (one player from each team would officiate), YIKES! I spent most of my off time telling the officials to call something before someone gets hurt. Since there was no formal training, guys either didn't care, or spent too much time watching ball. I would be telling the ref's to get on top of this game and get into position. Nothing worse than a ref who plays ball, except a coach who ref's.

As a Ref:
I show up a few minutes early for my games and the game underway is a tight game. The table is a little slow after a made basket. The team that scored has a bench player screaming to get the score right. I tell the guy to calm down and give them a chance. He's ready to throw down then and there. Finally the team calms the guy down and we move on.

Now I have the next game. The first half went pretty well, everyone seems to have settled in to the flow. The second half we call a couple of early fouls on both teams (nothing different from the first half). A few minutes later players are chipping at us and each other. I blow my whistle and shout that "it is time for players to play and referees to referee. There will be no mixing of responsibilities." Play goes on for a few minutes and nothing really changes. After an obvious line call, some guy goes crazy. I blow my whistle and ask game management to deal with this. They were unwilling to do anything, so I gathered my belongings and left. I have not done a Church League game since.