Another Dave

[rainmaker]

Had a lot of fun this evening with a partner named Dave. This isn't the Dave of Dav-ism fame. But almost as much fun to work with.

The games were JV girls, and lower, so the ball was well within our control. Dave was very good at talking to the players, and calming down when they were upset. He's a nice guy and a decent ref, and the games were pretty non-important, so we were really goofing around quite a bit.

At half-time he'd go to the table and check on things, and then he'd stash a quantity of M&M's in his pocket (the table people were nibbling along). He kept putting them in his mouth throughout the second half. At one point, he was administering a throw-in, but had to wait, since he hadn't quite finished his mouth full. The girls couldn't figure out why I was laughing so hard.

He'd shoot the ball at timeouts, but he wasn't very good. THe parents got to teasing him, and he got them laughing -- with him, not at him!

All in all, I decided, it's nice to have at least one of the following at a game:

A great hour or two of basketball
A nice little paycheck
A really valuable learning experience
A fun, interesting partner (who can carry his own weight)

If you know for sure ahead of time that you're not going to have any of these, don't take the game.