Hello all. Long time visitor, finally registered. Thanks to all who have posted before. Now to the news...

Had an 8th grade sectional last night. Two great teams, packed gym, good crew. Everything looked to be a great night. Then, the main scoreboard went out. We had the smaller one, but the one with the fouls, et al was inop. My partner and I gave a minute or two to try to fix it, but to no avail. So, we tossed and went through the 1st Q. At the end of the Q, I was T and could barely hear the horn. Oh, great. A close game, loud fans, and I can't hear the horn. No shot, so no worry. But, I went over to the bench and said "We can't hear the horn, so be ready to help us out on good/no good (table officials were not affilated with any team playing, so no worries there)

Long story short, the game finished on a great note. Hard play, and a comeback that made it interesting. Never had a buzzer beater, but every time we were on the far end, we always had to look back real quick to see the clock. We finally said that the Lead would have some say in the matter as well, since he could see the clock, but the final decision was Trail. But, never happened, so no problem.

The best part was, and didn't really realize it until it was over, we had a lot of fouls on one team and not the other, however, the fans couldn't see it!!! Not once did we hear "Even it out!" The only catch was making sure on bonus, or when close, and fouling out. The Table did a great job on that part.

The conclusion is that a great table crew is as good as a fancy clock. Don't ever worry when one goes down.

Sounds like a good game. And it sounds like you took care of business and had it handled. Well done.

Agreed. A good table crew is WAY more important that what the clock looks/sounds like. Good job of reminding the table to be ready to help when, and if, necessary. It sound like your crew did a nice job all the way around of adjusting to the circumstances.

Welcome to the forum!

A hunnert years ago, my last game as a high school player in an Ann Arbor high school had no clock and had no horn.

End of period was a white towel thrown onto the floor.
Both Class B teams were then rated #1.

They won.

You can always give the table one of the extra whistles in your bag with instructions to blow loud and long. That will usually cut through a noisy gym.

My first year I had a jr. high game in a practice gym with no clock or horn. Girl (probably HS) was timing it and I gave her a whistle to blow when play ended. She couldn't blow the whistle very loud at all, so I told her to run on the court if we didn't hear the whistle -- thinking she would continue to blow it.

Well, end of the game (score isn't a factor as I recall), she blows the whistle and we don't hear it. She runs on the court taps me on the shoulder and says, "Mister, mister. The clock went off." Just before she tapped me, a shot went up and went in.

I counted it because the shot was definitely released before she touched me!! Everyone had fun with that one.