Am I missing something here? Your statements above seem to be contradicting each other.

It kinda seems to me that you really didn't understand either that "the game is the game". You're saying that a ref shouldn't worry about the moral of any team unless it affects the "rules" part of the game. Then you completely ignore the "rules" part of the game because <b>you're</b> worrying about the moral of his team.

You can't have it both ways.

Now, I've also seen some high school leagues that settle final standings by points for and against rather than playing an extra game for ties at the end of their schedule. If your decision to be "Mr. Nice Guy", even though you were completely wrong to do so- rules wise-, caused a team to gain a spot in the final standings, and a complaint was put in because of that, how would your association then handle that complaint?

Just some food for thought.

oh yea i know it is contradicting, the reason i gave it to him was because i didn't wanna deal with him eventhough i know i would be right rules wise not to shoot the FT's

and it didn't matter at all anymore cause they were out of the tournament.

but i get ur point, thanx for comment ;)

I don't wanna belabor the point and I certainly don't wanna give the impression that I'm picking on this....but....we get paid to deal with coaches. You can't run away from confrontations- you hang in and do what you have to do without taking the easy way out. Granted- in a meaningless tournament it might not be a biggie, but that doesn't make it true for all games.

Also, I think it's a good idea not to place yourself in that position in the first place. At the end of the game, all you should really be doing is getting off the floor immediately while waving at the scorer on the way out. There's no need to look at the book, see if someone is gonna compliment you on the great job that you just did, etc. Just get outa Dodge! That keeps you out of the goofball situations like the one that you found yourself caught in.

Again, just food for thought.

Welcome to the Forum btw.

I make myself very available to the coaches before the game. If I'm the R especially. When I get them to sign the book, I specifically ask "you guys got any questions?"

I dunno. Maybe I am not as approachable as i thought. Shoot, most coaches thank me for being so open. Especially during the game. Not during actual play but if theres nothing going on and I can watch the players and answer a coach I'll ohld my wisthle in my hand and do tilt my head his way to listen and offer as short as a response as I can.