This being me last intramural season, I'd thought I reflect on some "gems" from this past year, which I had my worst game ever last week in the playoffs:

Both teams are running their mouths from the start, as well as one team's fans in the breezeway watching the game. A1 is driving to the basket and B1 jumps in front and bodies into him then blocks the ball and I call a push. As I report my foul I then goto trail (2-man)opposite table (we use the old high school mechanic here) when I see a player A5 on the bench rubbing his fists in front of his eyes as if cleaning them then glares wide eyed at me. He then proceeds to repeat this a few more times...WHACK!. The game calms down for a bit then we goto half time. 2nd half and team B is blowing out white be about 20, player B7 is called for a foul and then proceeds to yell "GOSH DARN IT that not a foul!" then looks over and goes "FINE give me a technical foul!"...WHACK. Before I can report the foul he flips me off...WHACK 2nd Tech and inform him he is ejected. He then proceeds to stand on the sideline as our supervisor is arriving and lets loose a loud, long string of profanities "THIS IS MF BS...this is BS...etc." WHACK. We give him a 3rd Tech and he quiets down and the supervisor arrives and begins filling out the ejection paper work for this player. Later, the ball goes out of bounds off A so I call "B" and as a player for team B comes to take the ball for the throw in A7 looks at me and goes "Are you sure?!" in a sarcastic tone then proceeds to give me a 'you're dismissed' handwave and starts heading back down the floor to get on defense...WHACK! A7 goes to the sideline and begins to put his street clothes on. The fans on the breezeway begin laying into me harder than before when the supervisor tells them if they say anything else he doesn't like, they're out of the gym; they quiet down. Then, with 50 seconds left to play, I hear the player A7 say, "HEY, what time do you get off work!"...WHACK. I report the ejection and then look at the clock to see 50 seconds left and B up by about 20 and call the game.

After the game, a man in a suit who was watching the game came up to me and said "Hey, I admire the b*lls you have to call all those. No one deserves to take all that."

And because of their low sportsmanship ratings, neither team advanced in the playoffs.

6 Techs, 2 Ejections...I don't think any game can get worse then that.

Man, do I miss doing intramural games. I mean, where else can you have that much fun and get paid $5.50/hr? My favorite was one time during a women's game when, after a call, the fouling player came up to me after I had reported and took off the eyeglasses she was wearing and offered them to me. I had to whack her, but I got a pretty good chuckle out of it. Someone could do a great documentary on the world of college intramural officiating.

At Tennessee, once a team picks up three technicals in a game (with at least one being for unsportsmanlike conduct), the game is over. A game would never have to get to six technicals.

Still, I hear ya on having to toss people. Like I said in an earlier post, I've run 4-5 this year (and probably could have run more).

Third round of our playoffs is tonight, hope everything goes fairly smoothly.

Playoffs begin for us tonight. I sincerely am worried about having to call too many technicals lol. I called about 20 (out of about 80 games) during the regular season and thats when nothing is really at stake.

Luckily, like bigwes, here at UMD if there are three technicals on a team, they forfeit, to avoid exactly what you had to go through.

Usually one or two technicals and a team knows when to shut up. Only had one game this year when a team had three technicals and to be honest, I didn't even know the rule at the time. So I let the game keep going because my supervisor didnt get over with the ejection papers till a few minutes later. Now I know to hold up the game upon an ejection as well. I've only ejected two people, which I'm hoping is where it stays. Lets play basketball, not moan :)

I know the how you feel, I had a mens rec league game last night and I had to eject a player. The first "T" came when he reached throught the sideline plain on the throw in a slapped the hand of the offensive player. They he go really upset. Then he was on the bench cursing me out and thats when I whacked him up! The games didnt restart until he left the building. Had two more games afterward and had center court meeting before each of the last games warning the player that I am not having any more junk. The rest of the games went smooth. Is it really worth it?

$ 5.50 an hour? You are working in the wrong area. I Wouldn't put up with anything for that amount of $$

Well we get $20.25 per game.

LongIslandZebra-

1) I did intramural games at The University of Delaware. As an employee of the school, you get screwed becuase they pay you by the hour. I was the only student that also officiated high school ball, so most of the people really don't care about the pay. It sucked, but like I said, it was never boring.

2) On another note, where are you from on Long Island. I was born in Port Jeff and lived in Manorville for the first 7 years of my life.

Makes sense now. I'm in Massapequa, lived here my whole life and love it. The pay around here keeps going up and up, its great!

I was just talking with my Dad about that. He said that when he was coaching high school in NY, they paid the officials $75 a game. That was in the early 80's! We work three man crews where I am in VA and get $55 for varsity. Of course, if I told you what I pay every year in taxes, you wouldn't believe it, so I guess it all evens out in the end.

2 man crews $ 103 for varsity. Junior high 5 quarter games get $ 90 its unreal. But the taxes here are a killer. Most rec games pay between 35 and 50 depending on age group. its a great part time job, but the best part is i am doing something that i love

I know this post will be met with strong criticism, but....

I have learned that sometimes if you let the first offense go (unless it's totally overboard), everyone will get back to playing hard. Even if I have to call a T on a team that feels as though they are being cheated, I am careful about my body language when I give the T. No storming to the table, glaring at the player, yelling out things like "I've heard enough". I try to use the technical foul to diffuse situations, not incite them.

Is there another way you could have handled any of those situations so that the game could have ended positively? Okay, you tried the 6 technical way and that didn't work. It is possible that nothing could have worked, but we've got to manage the game as best we can. What if you just looked away instead of giving the T for the eye-rubbing?

Keep in mind that I ref intramural (and rec league) games differently than high school, simply because there are no coaches to calm players down and the games have less meaning for players so they are quicker to do something crazy.

That does the officials following you a great dis-service imo. Technical fouls are simply a <b>reaction</b> to an unsporting act. We don't commit these acts, and it's our job not to allow those unsporting acts.

Very bad advice. Officials who purposely turn a blind eye on unsporting acts should find another, less-stressful avocation. Officiating isn't for them.

I can understand your point, but are you saying that you've given a T for every unsporting act that you've ever noticed?

[Edited by lrpalmer3 on Mar 3rd, 2005 at 06:00 PM]

Generally speaking, the sooner you start penalizing unsporting acts, the sooner they stop. The longer you let them go unpenalized, the more difficult it is to get them stopped.

It's classic adolescent behavior. They feel entitled to push the limits. If they feel around for the fences and don't find them, they begin to feel that whatever they're doing is okay. Then when they later get whacked for it, they feel their rights have been violated. It's a lot easier to establish the boundaries and defend them than it is to get them back in line once they've gone beyond the boundaries. So show them where the fences are the first time they reach them.