I must be getting mellow in my old age

[Mark Padgett]

Last night, for some unknown reason, I didn't T a coach when he probably deserved it. Maybe it was because he was just mad at my partner and not me. Here's what happened.

This happened out of my area, so I didn't see it. I was trail. 3rd quarter of a close game and apparently, A1 got bumped while driving to the basket and she then traveled. My partner called the travel. He's usually pretty good so the odds are it was the right call. He certainly wasn't hesitant about it.

Coach A jumps up and yells, "WHAT!!! We don't get the foul and we get a travel! THAT'S BALONEY!!! (yes, he actually said "baloney" - I thought it was quaint).

I was closest to him and turned and looked, however I didn't give him my patented stare. Maybe that's where I went wrong. He said "baloney" a few more times. I said "Coach, he didn't see a foul, he saw a travel and that's that".

He said "baloney" a few more times so I gave him the stop sign and told him that was enough. I combined this with the stare.

He froze, shut up and sat down. No trouble the rest of the night (team A lost by 4).

After the game, my partner came up to me and said, "OK, who are you and what have you done with Mark Padgett?"

Actually - I thought it was a pretty good question and I kind of asked it of myself, too.