Good-bye, Mark Padgett!

[rainmaker]

I hope this is not too personal, but I have done a little asking around here, and discovered that Mark Padgett is hanging up the whistle, which is why we haven't been hearing from him lately. I for one will miss him tremendously. His rules knowledge, experience, and cynical wit were always incisive and helpful, but I will miss the Davisms the most. I will try to find out someone else who can help pass along the Dave, but I'm wondering if he only got Dav-ish when Mark was there.

Since Mark hasn't been posting, I've never had the chance to thank him for the encouragmeent and advice he's given me, and I don't have his e-mail, but if the Admin of the board could pass this along, I'd appreciate it. (Is this a run-on sentence, or what!?!?) Thanks!

[bsilliman]

Click on Members Search, then Expanded Search and type in Mark Padgett and you can send him an email.

[Mark Padgett]

Thanks for the kind words, Juulie. I had no idea this was posted until I received an email telling me about it. Yes, it is almost true that I am retiring after 22 seasons. The only officiating I plan to do is very limited in our local rec league. I have been on their Board of Directors for 12 years and I was just reelected to start my 13th. This is a youth league for 3rd thru 8th graders and we use mostly high school kids as referees. I will spend most of my time training and evaluating them, and might get in a few games on Saturdays if we are short of refs (or if we have a problem coach - heh, heh). Since the league only goes for 10 weeks, the most games I would do in a year is 30, although I plan on doing only about 12 or 15. This is quite a change from the 327 I did in 2000!

I still wouldn't mind exchanging emails about rule interpretations or theory from time to time. My email is [email protected].

Personal to Juulie - yes, it's true that The Hoop in Beaverton is closing. I was over there the other day to get my final check for March and the place looked like a tomb. The snack bar, the TV lounge and the store were all cleared out. It's too bad they are closed. This takes 6 courts out of circulation in this area.

[BktBallRef]

Mark,

First, sorry to hear that you're hanging the whistle up. But there's no need to stop reading, posting, and replying. Your experiences and knowledge can still help a generation of officials with a thousand questions.

But now the real issue. Is Dave a real person or do you suffer from a multiple personality disorder?

Good luck to you!

TH

[Mark Padgett]

Strange as it may sound, Dave is both a real person and a composite. I first worked with Dave about 11 years ago in a rec league. We used to try to top each other with how sarcastic we could get with coaches and still get away with it. Over the years, I worked with him off and on and we still tried to do this. As other refs made remarks, I would think along the lines of having to remember that remark so I could top Dave next time. Eventually, all the other refs who did this "became" Dave, because I always thought of the "one-upsmanship" contest to be between me and him. When I started posting, it was all from the real Dave. After a while, it seemed that everyone was so much looking forward to his next remark, I just decided to post all the remarks I heard as if they came from one guy. I guess I was holding up the remarks to the standards set by Dave and me and if the remark was of that high a level, I just called it a "Dave".

I'll try to post from time to time, but since my participation level is now much lower, I know I won't have the same presence and visibility as before.

One project I am working on, however, is to try to bring the NASO convention in two years to Portland. Bob Still of NASO contacted me about that possibility and I have put the wheels in motion with the Convention and Visitor's Bureau. We would hope to bring the convention here during our annual Rose Festival and maybe we could stage a basketball tournament of some kind with the help of the Trailblazers and Nike. There is a local sports authority that tries to bring sports related events to Portland and they are going to help also. So - maybe I'll see some of you in person someday.

As to those of you who have contacted me and asked why I am finally retiring, here's the short answer. I'm getting too old to do 300+ games a year. Even 200 or 100. I have had some medical problems and my body just can't take it anymore. Combine that with the increased level of crap and abuse from parents and that's the answer.

I invested in a treadmill, but it's not the same. Oh well - we all get old someday.

[paulis]

it was mentioned that the Hoop in Beaverton is closing. Same for the Hoop across the river in Vancouver, WA?

[williebfree]

A possible solution: Have some of your friends record (On a cassette) all the obnoxious things that clueless "fans" yell and they could include some "Dave-ism" responses....

You can listen to it as you workout on your treadmill!
Hey, maybe we are onto something here....

Happy Retirement Mark!

[Mark Padgett]

Originally posted by paulis
it was mentioned that the Hoop in Beaverton is closing. Same for the Hoop across the river in Vancouver, WA?

No, and not for The Hoop in Salem,OR either. According to the local paper, once they expanded their services beyond basketball and some ancillary services to the point where they were operating as a health club, their building usage moved up into a different category and that required them to provide a lot more parking spaces. The Beaverton Design Review Board told them they either had to build more parking spaces (which they cannot do because the land just isn't there) or scale back their services. The Beaverton City Council upheld the ruling. The owners of The Hoop felt they could not be profitable without the added services, so they felt they had no choice but to close. It is my understanding that they stopped operating about 2 weeks ago and locked the doors for good on Good Friday.

It seems to me that something could have been worked out, and there could have been some kind of a variance granted. I am on the Planning Commission of a neighboring suburb, Tigard, and we would have explored "shared parking" with adjacent businesses (The Hoop has some and this theory is very common in these situations) or perhaps some other avenue if it had happened in our town. The Hoop also provided teenage dances on Friday nights with great supervision and losing this plus all the other youth activities seems to me to be a greater net loss to the community than worrying about a few parking spaces. I know our regional government (Metro) is very strict about making cities enforce parking rules, but I think they could have been more "creative".

This decision shouldn't affect their other properties.

[Richard Ogg]

Originally posted by Mark Padgett
.... This is a youth league for 3rd thru 8th graders and we use mostly high school kids as referees. I will spend most of my time training and evaluating them, and might get in a few games on Saturdays if we are short of refs (or if we have a problem coach - heh, heh). Since the league only goes for 10 weeks, the most games I would do in a year is 30, although I plan on doing only about 12 or 15. ....

Mark, I certainly hope you will continue to visit this board on a regular basis. I too have profited from your insight.

I'm intrigued by your rec league. It is our church league, with separate divisions for boys and girls, ages 8-14, that got me into the ref'ing business. When my son out-grew my knowledge and coaching ability, I started helping with the refs. We too use mostly high school kids as referees. There were a couple of local ref's who helped me, and eventually I joined the association to learn better what I was doing. We begin each season with a 3-hour clinic for the high schoolers, and go on from there.

I would like very much a separate discussion board for just such leagues. How do you train your kids? How do you incent them? With this type of ref'ing skills and ages, how do you teach them to handle the occassional upset parent (coach)? What rules modifications do you use? Etc. etc. We can do this on this board, but a separate one might be better. I'm sure there are others in our same place of service and a good regular exchange can only help. What do you think?

Thank you again, and I'll be in touch!

[Mark Padgett]

I'd be glad to help others involved in youth leagues. Our league, Tigard Basketball Assn. (TBA) has been in existence for over 20 years. We have well over 100 teams and approx. 1300 - 1500 kids each year in grades 3-8. It is run by a volunteer board elected each year from among the parent members. We are funded solely through registration fees and do not have sponsorships. We do have a financial assistance program funded by penalty fees for late registration. In addition to our rec division, we also have a classic division with about 20 teams in grades 5-8 that play in a competitive league and tournaments. We do not provide the refs for that division.

We recruit from our local high school, and get the help of the school coaches in recruiting. They encourage their players to ref for us. We pay $11 per game for rookies, $13 per game for intermediate (at least one year's experience and a recommendation from the evaluator) and $15 per game for "senior" refs. Usually, refs work 3 games on Saturdays and if they work a weeknight, it's a 2 game shift. We have the refs sign an independent contractor agreement, and our Board automatically considers them "members" of the association so they are covered under our state referee assault protection law. We pay at the end of each month of the season. We also recruit from local colleges and from ref associations. Some of our refs are former TBA players who want to stay close to the game. In fact, my son is the only person in our association who has played, reffed and been a head coach. We hold at least three, 2-hour training sessions and only senior refs can miss up to 2 of them. We also hold bi-weekly meetings during the season to discuss problems, and a mid-season meeting with all the coaches. Part of our training is on how teenage refs relate to adults when the teenager is in a position of authority. We usually don't have too much trouble, since we try to pair an experienced ref with a rookie as much as possible. However, at the lower grades, this is not possible as most of the senior refs don't want to do the lower grades. We do have a board member present at all games and that helps. We have a zero tolerance policy about yelling at refs and that includes parents.

I would be more than happy to discuss our program and give suggestions, plus make available a copy of our game rules via email to anyone. My email is [email protected]

[mikesears]

Mark,

Sorry to hear you are hanging up the whistle but I understand and respect your reasons. I, too, have appreciated your serious responses and I have laughed myself silly at some the Davisms. Sometimes, I think about a Davism in a tense situation in a basketball game to keep myself calm. It's hard to get angry when your smiling Try explaining to a coach why your smiling when he's riding you!

Good luck in your endevours and please keep posting here!

[rainmaker]

My understanding about the Hoope in Vancouver is that they will still have a combination of activities, but that they will have fewer. They are going to try to increase their income by upgrading their basketball stuff. They are going to try to attract a better quality team, charge more, pay more to get better refs and make it more of a prestige thing to be involved. This is the summer league I was recruited into as mentioned in a different thread. I have to admit it gave me a head rush to hear my work and the phrase "better refs" spoken in the same sentence!! Of course, this is all still theoretical and we'll see if it is better or worse than the previous Hoop experience. No, wait, it couldn't get much worse....