In the dark

[26 Year Gap]

Last night during the game we had a couple of light banks go out. We had terrific winds all day and when I spoke to the table about flipping the switch back on they indicated that they had power problems all day. Went to the visiting coach to tell him what the issue was because about 4 lights were off and he said,"The way we are playing tonight, it would be better if they ALL went off."

[basketballen]

Not exactly the same but...we had a fire alarm go off about two minutes into a bjv game a couple of weeks ago. This was in a newer gym and the alarms have a white blinking light accompanied by a intermittant blairing sound. We waited for the offense to complete their possession then blew the ball dead with the defensive rebound. Looked for game management who announced we had to evacuate.

Made sure to record time, score and possession in the book then instructed the bookkeeper to carry the book to safety.

Twenty minutes or so later we got the all clear, gave both teams three minutes to warm up and resumed the game at POI.

[gostars]

I was working a camp at a local HS this fall and the fire alarm went off not once, not twice, but THREE times. Once Friday evening and twice Saturday morning. Each time we had to clear out the gyms while the school checked to see what set it off (all were false alarms). By the third time it was getting rather annoying.

[WooPigSooie]

My senior year of high school we are in a tight game in the second half. I am manned up on the perimeter when all of a sudden, I hear the opposite side guard for their team yell "Oh **explitive**!". He then proceeds to haul tail off the court. About a second later, my teammate who was guarding him did the exact same thing.

Seems that a copperhead had decided to slither its way from the locker room (apparently) to the court. Our janitor, who was not the brightest crayon, goes to the equipment room, gets a rake, and, instead of using the rake to pick it up and taking it outside and doing whatever to the snake, the janitor smashes the snakes head right at the top of the key.

Since becoming an official, I have had to delay a game for HUMAN blood on the court, but I have yet to see a game since that was delayed to clean up reptile blood.

[Dribble]

Remember the Mavs playoff game a few years ago when the fire alarm went off? Imagine having to clear the arena, find out it's a false alarm, wait while the fans get seated and players warmed up, etc.? 45 min. later...

I whistled a play dead once when a gym light went out thinking that either someone turned it off or a fuse blew. Guess with the budgets of some schools nowadays it's becoming more common. That light stayed burnt out for the rest of the season! It was brutal to ref in that gym with that crappy lighting...I'd hate to have to be one of the players trying to shoot.

[lmeadski]

had a game where the scoreboard went down. It was the fourth quarter. Game delayed about 5 minutes when it was decided to manually time the game. We had the score and fouls, but, how much time to put on the clock? I spoke to other ref and we said put 7:12 back on the clock (I was once told to look at the clock for the time at every dead ball). Just as were about to put the ball in play with manual time, the clock came back on and the time on the clock was 7:15. The coaches were impressed that we had been so close on the time. Not a bad word from them the rest of the game.

[Forksref]

Originally posted by 26 Year Gap
Last night during the game we had a couple of light banks go out. We had terrific winds all day and when I spoke to the table about flipping the switch back on they indicated that they had power problems all day. Went to the visiting coach to tell him what the issue was because about 4 lights were off and he said,"The way we are playing tonight, it would be better if they ALL went off."

Back when I was coaching: We had a power failure and lights went out in the gym. We were behind by about 20. The AD asked me how we should handle the power failure. I told him, "Get me some kids who can shoot!"