A young goat is an important first aid item.

LOLOLOLOLOL
Gum, I always have plenty of gum.

Agreed. It's the most important part of your pre-game. Sacrificing a goat to the officiating Gods in the dressing room before a game almost always ensures that the game will go smoothly. When I started out- many, many years ago- the practice was to sacrifice virgins. Nowadays you can't hardly find one though, and when you do they have a tendency now to get right pissed off anyway. Goats are much easier to deal with.

Page 43 of the Manual shows the proper procedure to use.

Let them eat crow, I always say.

I use the kid to run for help when I get hurt.

If the game's being taped by a school or an evaluator, they'll make you a tape if you give them one.

I can't believe this thread made it to two pages with no one mentioning fishnets!

Will wonders never cease......

Nope, first post. ;D ;)I would like to do that. Do you just give them a tape and tell them to mail it to you or what? Or do you bring a self adressed stamped envelope along? This way I wouldn't have to make my Dad videotape me everytime he comes to watch me.

Yeah, I saw you stick a piece or two in your mouth at Marquette. You chew it during the game also? Wouldn't that take some fancy mouthwork?

Whoops....got my coach glasses on today - can't see a damn thing! :D

I take about the same as many of you have mentioned, and I also take spare shoe laces. I one time wished I had an extra, and since I started carrying them, I haven't broken a lace. Who needs a rabbit's foot?

Perhaps we should attribute this to a regional difference, but all of the schools I work at in New Hampshire always provide the goat for the sacrifice.

I've never got my gum stuck to my whistle......yet. Just having the gum in my mouth keeps me from getting cottonmouth and if the game gets intense, the gum helps keep me calm, cool and collected. Also, I have a policy that if a coach has gone to hollerin, I always take 3 chomps on my gum before I respond. This helps me control my sarcasim. Plus the fresh breath factor. :)

I bring gum for before the game fresh breath...

but, since I don't chew gum once I walk out on the court...I have found that those little paper thin breathfreshners, that melt in your mouth, work great!

I carry the little pack in my jacket and pop one in my mouth right before the pre-game coaches meeting...kind of a little ritual I've gotten into. Of course, I offer them to my partner(s) and they usually take one with much appreciation.

I tried gum during a game once, and it got stuck in my whistle. I moved on to those little mints as well, and usually pop a couple in before a game. I guess I want to have that "fresh, minty breath" when I'm discussing a rule with a coach. However, I've always wondered if I chewed on a clove of garlic, that maybe the coaches wouldn't want to talk to me as much. Well, ok, at least the non-Italian coaches. ;)

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This is exactly right.
Have you seen yourself on video? I try to get one every chance I get. It is a tremendous help. Especially when you can go back and forth and see how bad the really bad calls are!!

AAR

Tapes of your own games are the most humbling thing a referee can watch, IMO. You are SURE you did this mechanic the right way, and got that call right, and look a certain way on the court. Then you watch the tape. :eek:

It's also helpful for going over positioning on certain calls - where were you when you made that call? Did you have to reach, or call outside your area? If so, was it necessary? Anytime you can get a game tape, do it. Schools are usually pretty good about making a copy if you give them a blank tape and a self-addressed, stamped envelope. But don't give them instructions, like "Make sure you focus on me". Remember, this is their team tape, so there may be times you don't show up on the screen. But it's still plenty useful.