Okay guys, just got back from a JV game and here is what happened. during the game which was a close one i hear a parent *****ing about calling the game fair, both ways etc. I ignore it and continue on. At half time myself and my partner are sitting on the bench as teams are in the locker room, the stands are on the opposite side so a parent comes up to us and says are you guys paid for this or is it volunteer. I told him we were paid and he continued to say "then that explains why you are not calling the game fair" etc.

I told him his place is in the stands and if you cannot act like an adult then maybe you should leave the gym, he told me to "go to hell" so i told the athletic director and the AD escorted the parent (nice role model) to leave the gym.

Did i do the right thing, should i have ignored it??

Any thoughts

Its ok to ignore what happens in the stands, but the parent approaching you changes the whole complexion of the encounter. You were correct to notify game management, but I would have been satisfied with a warning to the parent and an understanding between him and management that a recurrence of that type of behavior would certainly lead to his eviction from the facility.

How bout this response..."I am definitely not getting paid to answer your questions"!

Or, "What difference does that make?

I just thought of this one, "you paid more to get in the game than I get to have to listen to you".

Yeh, I'm in one of my moods.

How bout since he is on the floor and in your face, you just punch him or body slam'em to the ground. Hell, fans do it to officials and the courts slap them on the hands.

hmmmmm. I wonder if.....

Nahhh...Officials have way too much integrity to do that!

[Edited by thumpferee on Jan 18th, 2005 at 08:57 PM]

You did the right thing, you didn't talk back to the fans and you let game management kick his a$$ outta there. Good job.

I'm with Ref18. If they stay in the stands, fine. If they come after you, get them the hell outa there. One Pittsburgh was enough for all of us. You never know what these morons are gonna do.

It's nice to see that Pittsburgh has become the Alamo of officiating.

Unfortunately it's only one of the Alamos. Just the most recent one.

At half time myself and my partner are sitting on the bench as teams are in the locker room.

Can't help thinking, that if you were in the locker room you wouldn't have had to deal with the idiot!

That's true. But in none of the games in football or basketball that I've ever worked have my partner(s) and I gone to another room. We have usually just stood off to the side.

But I agree - from the stands, whatever. It p!sses me off, but I'm trying to learn to ignore it. But if you feel the need to approach me (and God knows what you're going to do then), your a$$ is mine. I'm going to get you removed, and if you make a threatening move in my direction, you're going down.

I believe it's true that the perfect officiating gig would be in an orphanage league.

Sometimes when you are doing underclass games the locker rooms are too far away to go to for half time. Many times you have no choice but to hang out by the table. Never had a parent approach me (I guess I've been lucky so far) like that at half time. I have arranged for game management to eject unruly fans. Fortunately it has only happened a couple of times.

Agree.

Disagree. Somebody comes out of the stands to tell me to go to hell and they get a one way ticket to the parking lot. Bye.

I agree....

I was looking at this post and thinking that there has to be SOMEWHERE close to the court that the officials could go at halftime. Sitting on the bench at halftime is too tempting...

Not always. Did a middle school game last night where the only thing near the gym that was open was the boys locker room; shared by boys from both teams (only the home team used it at half time.)

I did two JV games last night and the officials locker room was about half way across the school from our gym. To get there, we would have had to walk through the fans milling around in the halls (and by the concession) and cut through the gym where the varsity games were taking place. Much easier to sit on the bench. However, there was a city police officer standing at both ends of the court to make sure nobody tried to get on the floor.

After the game one of them walked with us till we were out of the area where fans we moving freely.