I watched a game where one of the (male) refs had a zipper break. The really bad part was that one corner of the bottom of his shirt had worked its way around, and was sticking about two inches straight out from the... uh... zipper area. I still can't figure out why he didn't notice out of the corner of his eye. He left it like that about 3 minutes.

That sounds about right...
 

Three minutes is about the right time for it to disappear after making an appearance. My humble opinion!

Had one of the varisty guys tell me this last night. They often send the new varsity guys to the more rural schools to get some experience and get evaluated. The evaluator was famous for showing up wearing his farmer clothes and sitting in with the students. You'd never know he was there unless you were looking for him.

This official grants a time out request, and the player tosses the ball to him. He, in turn, tosses it behind him and trots off to report. When he comes back, the ball is gone. He's looking all around, shooting help me glances to his partner, and generally starting to panic. Then he sees the evaluator in the stands. With the ball.

Maybe he's used to something more....errrr....substantial making an appearance through that particular portal.

Or maybe he's not & kinda enjoyed living life as "Mr Big" for those few moments.

nothing worse than when you're looking at the table to report a foul and a player innocently bounce passes you the ball. You never see it coming or if you do you're thinking it'll surely hit you in the leg or stomach, but no...it hits you right in the twins, squarely, it hurts and you gotta play it off in front of a full gym.

Break...
 

Mine was last year.

Second to last game of the summer season (recreational league). Right after tipoff, I'm trail. There's a quick change of possession about 10 feet from me, so I begin to backpeddle (I know, I know).

I feel my heel hit a player's foot....and I knew that was all she wrote. I feel backwards, caught myself...but broke my wrist doing so! The next week I had a big cast on my arm!

Aye yi yi....oh well, the parents got a kick out of it. Of course, by the way, it was my right and....and I'm right handed.

Juulie - did this ever happen to you? :p

Mine was my first game last year. I was wearing my black jacket (a windbreaker with the state symbol and my name on it) while the teams were warming up. I had been to the bathroom just before going out on the court. At one minute left on the clock, my partner and I took off our jackets. I had zipped up the tie string in my pants. Had to unzip and pull out the string in front of everyone. Looked at my partner and said, "Oh well, the season has to get better from here." The fans had fun with that one.

I'm new to this forum and it's been a few times I see Mark Padgett talk about this Juulie... Can someone tell me who the heck is she??

Weasel, you're new here so I won't punish you for setting me up for this particular fall. But please, don't do it to me again!

Juulie is the rainmaker. Been reffing in Portland Oregon about 6 years, just breaking into varsity. I've worked rec leagues with Padgett, am in an assocaition with Camron Rust, Tim Taylor, icallfouls, and probably a couple of others that post here occasionally. I've been evalled at camp by rockyroad. And I seem to get a fair number of hits here from Chuck, Dan and Woody, although I put up with it, cuz I get in the odd slap back every now and again.

Now, how's about you return the favor, and tell us a little about yoruself?

Here's a recent picture.

http://amigraphe.com/Wallpaper/Anime-4-800.jpg

I can tell you for sure, that didn't come out of a video about me! Rocky is feeding you guys a very large truckload of stink!

Rocky??!

Nah.

I paypal'ed "the other Mark" $5 for this picture of you.

My worst moment was a few years ago,
We were working two whistle, I was the lead as we transitioned on a rebound.
I took off hard as I could go to beat a very good fast break.
As I got to the end of the court, the offensive team shot the ball into the corner far side of the court.
I was making a button hook over to get closer to the play and stepped on a piece of candy that had been thrown on the floor by some little kids.
I have seen the video of the game and you can actually hear my head hit the floor after my feet slid out from under me and I flipped.
Slid into the end wall and craked a bone in my ankle.

I was ok with all of this until I woke up on a stretcher on the way out.

Whenever I visit people in that area, I regularly hear, "Hey, aren't you that ref that........"
Yup, its still funny now.

Yeah, who the heck am I, right? :D

Well, first of all, I won't do it again. Promised! ;)

I officiate in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada and surroundings. It's my first season as a basketball official (and I really enjoy it!) but I've been scorekeeper for 2 years during High School (I'm in my first year of College). I've also been a soccer referee during the summer for 5 years now (and growing!). Well, that's all for my officiating history!

I won't make you get mad again, Juulie! ;)