I wasn't sure where I would be working today. At first I was doing a military base-level game, then I was offered the regional final from one of the boards I belong to. My final offer - I was called and a message was left before the other high school board - was the Oak Hill/Montrose Christian game. I went with that game and it was all it was hyped up to be. Both teams have great talent but Lawson (Oak Hill now, North Carolina next year) and Durant (Montrose now, Texas next year) stood out from the rest.
Oak Hill led by 11 or 12 going into the fourth quarter and tried to take the air out of the ball. It didn't work and they had two turnovers late in the game (a huge backcourt violation was the final straw - I called it). Durant shot a three from about 24 feet with the score tied at 72, missed and his teammate got the rebound on the baseline. The Oak Hill defender knew he couldn't play aggresively and foul so he played good (safe) defense but it wasn't enough. The shot fell in off the glass as time expired. The crowd rushed the floor, the number #1 team in the country was beat and a great game was over.
The crew was good, but I'm a perfectionist and we could always be better. This guy came into the locker room before the game and basically told us to let them play. That didn't sit well with me because I only like to call the game to the best of my abilities. I don't like the all-star game mentality. The game developed into a high school game, with better talent, early and we had to put air in the whistle. I guess the teams didn't receive the same instructions we received. :D
Anyway, that is it (at least for high school).

I'm about to reward myself with some ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. Great stuff!

This guy? :confused:

I don't know if he was part of the company that put on the event or if he was part of the television crew or who he was. Yes, we have been reduced to independant high schools scheduling, or being approached about scheduling, games that aren't just games, they are events.

Yeah, saw something similiar when Lebron came to Greenboro his last year of HS. Dunking in warmups, traveling that you wouldn't believe, etc.

Oh yeah, that was another thing. He told us they had some leeway and they were going to allow the kids to dunk in warm-ups. For kids that can dunk in a game, dunking in warm-ups is overrated. Maybe there didn't want to, but when we came out I might have saw one dunk.
As far as travels go, we had some. That part was about average for a HS game.

Hey .....
 

Tom, Congrats on your game, It was well deserved & I couldn't think of any other official who should have been on the game.

Not that this is terribly important, but I know the guy who started Cold Stone (lived in my neighborhood in AZ). Nice guy who had been doing it in his home for years until friends pursuaded him to open a shop and sell it. The rest is history...

BTW, it is excellent.

Why do they make them sing those funny little songs?

Peace

That's awesome. I thought that you might like this link, if you aren't already aware of it.

http://store.broadcastmonsters.biz/index.html

They must be too proud (big surprise :rolleyes: ) to sing on the east coast; only one of fours stores I've been to on the east coast sing songs. One store didn't even do the "welcome to Cold Stone Creamery" when we went in.

I have never been to Cold Stone, my wife & daughter swear by it. Guess I don't know what I've been missing.

Thanks a lot. I just ordered the DVD.

I was posting in the "Lost a Sneaker" thread and noticed that this thread from last year was in the related threads at the bottom. Just by coincidence, Oak Hill also lost just last night on ESPN.

Tom, you didn't have that one, too, did you? :)

Does anyone know the crew who did tha game last night, Simeon Vs Oak Hill. Oak Hill came out flat, Jennings didn't start playing until 4th Quarter, he 19 points in that qtr. I also noticed some of the calls the officials were reaching for the calls. I was wondering if it were independant officials or work for same association.

First off, congrats on working a big game like that. I'm sure it was a blast. Personally I don't think high school basketball needs to be broadcast nationally. I don't think its good for the game. There's too much money, hype, etc surrounding athletics already without putting high schoolers on national tv.

Junker, Tom's post was from last season when he lived in the DC area and worked an Oak Hill game. Tom was not in last night's game. He lives waaaaay down south now-a-days.

I'm thinking JRut may know who last night's officials were (and no, not just because they were all African-American :p ).

Yup, you're right. I didn't read it carefully. I still don't think high school games belong on national TV though.

No, and I wish I would have remembered it was on so I could have recorded it.

I can tell you this, the officials were in a tough game. Calling a game like that is the next thing to calling a D1 game. Not only a D1 game, a D1 game with a lot of fans in the stands.

I did record it. The Simeon vs. Oak Hill contest.

The officials were: Paul Mosley, Mau Cason, and Ruben Norris according to the ESPN broadcast.

I don't know any of them.

I know all of them. :D

Peace

I will say this about the officials.

Paul Mosley
He is one of the best officials I have ever seen when it comes to his body of work. He has worked in the CBA at one time and has worked 4 Class AA (big schools in Illinois) State Titles, with his last being last season. He has worked more local TV games than just about anyone I can think of. When I attended Dale Kelley's camp this summer, there were officials that knew who Paul was or worked with him. If there is a big game in Chicago, someone calls Paul to work it. I know he has worked a couple of those EA Sports Round Ball Shootouts that is usually on national TV and with some of the countries best D1 and Pro prospects playing in the game.

Mau Cason
I do not know as much about "Mau Mau" personally other than he works a lot of college ball as well as games in the city of Chicago. He has worked 3 Class AA State Finals, multiple Chicago Public League playoff games and likely did one or two when guys worked two man only in the post season. He does help some with assigning for the Chicago Public League but that involves over 70 schools and has worked CPL schools for years.

Ruben Norris
The oldest official out of the three working the game. I believe he is in his mid to late 60s and he is in better shape than most officials across the state. He once worked in the Big Ten and currently works in some just about all the local area D3 and D2 college in the surrounding areas. At one time he was the NBA evaluator in Chicago (he might still be in that position, I just have not talked to him about this in a couple of years). He has evaluated me at a couple of college camps I have attended and is very fair with is evaluation but firm.

All of these guys are Chicago Officiating Legends. I cannot think of three officials more qualified to work this game in the area with the national coverage. These guys have done more in part of their career than I will probably ever accomplish unless I get the D1 level soon. I did not see the game at all but I worked with Paul the next night (which he was paid more money btw). I would also like to say unless they fly in 3 officials you are not going to get people that are not from the area. The same could be said of other games ESPN has had and Oak Hill always had to play with officials that were from the area of the game site. Unless ESPN is giving a bigger cut of money, I think these guys were the best choice. I can only think of maybe one or two other guys that likely could have handled this environment. I am not sure I could have handled it if asked.

Peace

Sure you could. When the jump ball goes up it's just another game. Just like rec league, only taller, faster and more skilled, and with better cameras. Piece of cake.

Thanks for the insights on the officials. It was an interesting game.

Thanks for post the info, Rut. I found it an insightful read.

I will pick one nit. The last two seasons Oak Hill has come out and played Westchester in the L.A. area. They have insisted on NOT having the local SoCal guys ref the game. They used officials from Las Vegas instead.

tomegun can confirm this.

Well I do not know who they would have brought in. As I said one of the officials was paid less to work that game then the game he worked the next night. So that tells you what they think of our ability as officials. If that was such an issue, then Oak Hill should have put in the contract to bring outside official. Not sure where the officials would have come from, but you would have had to pay more what they paid the officials for that game to get any good officials completely outside of the area to work that game.

Peace

I'm guessing that the team from Huntington, WV will now be #1. They are pretty good - with OJ Mayo (#1 player) and Patrick Patterson (#12 player) leading the way. Add Chris Early to the mix who's already signed at Oklahoma. Imagine how good they'd be if Bill Walker (K State) had any HS eligibility left. Who'd a thought a team from WV would have been the best team in the country?

I'm sure it makes Randy Moss and Jason Williams proud. Isn't the WV team coming on ESPN within the next few weeks?

End of January - play Artesia, CA (sp) at Duke. I think Coach K wants Patterson pretty bad.

Funny you mention Randy and Jason - both are pretty much jerks. Their high school team had 5 pro athletes and couldn't win the state tournament!

Who were the other 3 guys on the team?