My brain must have quit on me. I accepted 3 "adult" games this weekend at a local YMCA. Maybe I'll keep the car running.

Junker, have fun in Iowa city.

"adult" means ....

X-rated? PhD required? No one under 50?

We'll all be feeling your pain. Just remember the mantra:

Get in,
Get done,
Get out.

And don't forget the motto: They'll give you only as much crap as you'll take.

I work a lot of rec. ball and if it's not something you're used to then I can understand your apprehension. Just remember that it's a no-win situation: they're gonna ***** whether you let 'em play through stuff or if you call it tight. But in now way should you ever let them talk down to you or curse you. We're all adults out there and we're only being paid to officiate, not to babysit also.
One line that I like to use in situations when I don't know the players and I'm catching above normal grief from a certain individual is, "Hey, if you start putting the ball in the hole more often then you make my job a lot easier. Why don't you concentrate on that and let me officiate".
Good luck this weekend and I'd like to hear how it goes.....

Enjoy yourself this weekend. I'm sure Iowa City will be good. Terry called me last night about some games so if I wasn't on my way out of town, there's a good chance I'd be there too.

I 'll do a Saturday full of 8&under games before I do one adult game.

If your goal is to move up I don't understand this mentality. If I'm not busy and physically able there aren't many games I'm going to turn down. I don't know what your experience level is but I've been doing this for a while and I still want to see plays.

Youth teams usually have some sort of offense, sportsmanship is usually somewhat important, and sometimes you get goofy situations that don't come up often in real games. In adult leagues, the players do have better skills, but they also have all kinds of bad habits (like carrying the ball and complaining) and they think they know the rules from sitting in front of the TV listening to guys like Packer. Also, there is usually little rhyme or reason to their offense. Just my opinion. I've only worked adults once and it was the longest 2 days of my life. I'll never do it again, it's not worth the time and money to me.

Adult rec-league. It got to the point where my pre-game with the teams was, "you play basketball, we will officiate, we won't tell you how to play ball, you don't tell us how to officiate." This was mid-way through my first and only year.

Here's something to help you on your quest to remain insane:

20 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses On And Point Your Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with That.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone Has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch To Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Sexual Favors."

7. Finish All Your Sentences With "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

8. Dont use any punctuation

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Ask People What Sex They Are. Laugh Hysterically After They Answer.

11. Specify That Your Drive-Through Order Is "To Go."

12. Sing Along At The Opera.

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play Tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

16. Have Your Co-Workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, "Rock Hard."

17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking Lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."

And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity...

20. Send This To Someone To Make Them Smile... It's Called Therapy...

So, Jim, want to come to my clinic this weekend, and help keep everyone insane?!?

Love the list. At least it's a mad, Mad, MAd, MAD WORLD!

Games 1 and 3 went rather well. A good amount of griping, but nothing out of line.
Game 2, not so much. Had a couple of guys square off in the first half, and gave them offsetting T's. 2nd half, called a T when a player from the scoring team stayed oob on the throwin and slapped the ball while it was in the hands of the inbounder. Had to explain that one.
Another player gets a great allyoop dunk and does a chinup on the rim. I'm lead, and still watching for safety and contact. There was a player in his vicinity, but he stayed up their way too long and did the chin up thing. Partner comes in with a T from trail. A player on the other team is pretty ticked at me at this point anyway, and starts giving me crap for not making the call myself. I warn him. He says I suck. He's done (he was one of the guys squaring off earlier.) 5 Ts total that game. Oh, the other guy who squared off was the coach ejected in his last game as a YMCA coach. He plays like he coaches; in the ref's ear. Other than that, he's a good player and a good coach. :)

Wow, best I've ever managed is 3 in one game. What's your secret? :D

This is off-topic, but I have to relate it - my apologies.

Regarding #1 on the insanity list, the hair dryer in the car thing:

A few years ago I went to an auction at an old county courthouse. I bought a real old radar gun for five bucks. It didn't work, so I asked my father-in-law, an electronics wiz, if he could fix it. Luckily, he was able to get it working.

Well, my father- and mother-in-law live on a small farm, off a dirt road, that's off a two-lane county road. To test the radar gun, they drove to the county road, and checked the speed of cars coming by. Imagine driving along the road, when your radar detector goes off. You quickly slow down, only to see your speed being checked by two old people in a Buick Skylark. Pretty funny.

I have to agree with you. My belief is that you have to work harder managing an adult game than a 8yr old game.