Playoff CRAZINESS

[tmp44]

And I thought my Double OT game last week was nuts....

Class A girls varsity playoffs, district quarterfinals. Team A I have had 3 or 4 times over the course of the season. This school has the reputation of having some of the most brutal fans in my district. As the first quarter progresses, some of the fans, sitting in the first row of bleachers no more than 2 feet from the far side sideline, begin saying very derogatory remarks towards our R, who was a female. Before I really had a chance to do anything about it, we had a rotation and got away from that sideline. Fast forward to second quarter, as we are shooting a foul shot (I am C, far side), same fan now begins beating my ear about the other male official I am with. However, he went way to far, proceeding to call him several homosexual names. I immediately stopped play and had game management remove him from the game. Needless to say, we got booed of the court on the way to the locker room at the half.

After the removal of the fan, game progressed fairly smoothly. A lot of fouls, but really no complaints; at the same time we could feel the game starting to slip and get ugly, so we really started to crack down on the fouls. Then, with 6:06 remaining in the game (37-35 Team B), all hell breaks loose. I am L when a scrum for a loose ball between two players from Team A and one player from Team B occurs. I have a foul on A#20 for holding B#24 on the loose ball. As the C and I move into the pile, B#24 swings at a member of Team A. WHACK--flagrant technical on B#24. After we get the situation sorted out, Team A coach wants an explanation. I go over to explain, and he immediately starts on me about the common foul on his player #20. I stopped signed him after he wouldn't listen to my explanation, he continued to argue, and finally does a spin move on the floor while flipping his hands in the air...WHACK! We shoot the 1-and-1 for the common foul, then the 2 for the flagrant T, then back down the other end for the other T on the coach. Went to the arrow and cracked down even harder than we already had been the rest of the game---total of 57 fouls when it was all said and done.