I've been thinking about starting this thread and esteemed member tomegun pushed me to do it when he said doing so-and-so would lead to yelling in the locker room. He later backed off, but that's not the point...or maybe it is.

Has anybody yelled at a fellow official on the floor or in the locker room? Or been yelled at? Or witnessed officials yelling at each other? I don't mean working-a-gym-so-loud-you-can't-hardly-hear-yourself-think-yelling-just-to-be-heard. I mean angry, in your face, why did you do this or you will do that because I said so yelling.

Me, I've never yelled at a fellow official and I can only remember 1 time where I yelled at a player in anger (gotta admit I've feigned anger a few times with players or coaches ;) ). I've been yelled at once on the floor by a fellow official, he stopped immediately when I told him to & later apologized, again on the floor, walking quite a ways to do so in full view of all.

So...you a screamer?

In my experience, from a coach's perspective, officials have always been very consistent about presenting a united front (at least on the court). I can recall only two times when I caught a whiff of tension and one involved an official contradicting a less-experienced official and explaining the rule in front of the crowd and everyone.

There was no yelling and the experienced official thought he was being a good teacher but the tension was a bit thick.

I've never yelled at another official, either on the court or in the locker room. I've never had another official yell at me on the court or in the locker room either.

It's just not ..... professional.

I know when my partner screws up usually, and they also usually know when I screw up too. We then discuss, not yell. It should hopefully be a learning opportunity.

I have been in rules, mechanics and philosophy discussions at other times that mighta got a little bit noisy. Those were usually over a few brownpops, and there was certainly no rancor involved either that I remember. To be quite honest, I learned more in some of those sessions than I did in any clinic that I ever attended.

I have also been in evaluation meetings that did get a little tense at times. Those meetings were always away from a game enviroment though.

And....I've also feigned anger at coaches and players at times too. It's just another game management device imo, and it's a good one sometimes. I can't think of an instance where I really lost it in a game though. I had it pounded into my head when I was first starting out that an official <b>never</b> lost his temper during a game.

No, I've never yelled at anyone while reffing. We're supposed to be eye of the storm. When everyone else in the gym is emotional, we stay calm. It would be unprofessional to yell. I've been frustrated with a partner or two but if I've addressed it, it's been calmly in the locker room.

Z

OK, I admit it. When I was young and immature, my first season reffing (8th grade), my partner was calling ridiculous crap against a black school, but nothing against the white school. The ball went OOB, and he paused for three seconds before awarding it to the white school. I kid you not, all the coach said was, "If you weren't sure, shouldn't you have called a jump ball?" He yells, "Technical!" The coach replies, "For WHAT?" "Technical number two! You're gone!" Later the coach came out into the gym and sat in the back of the bleachers. The ref stopped play, and YELLED at the coach, "You have to leave the gym!" After the game, I let him have it. Told him he was the most racist person I'd ever met. I'm not proud of that night at all.

About seven years ago, I was working a mens rec league tournament. Pretty competitive, lots of former college players. My partner is calling all kinds of ticky-tack crap, some of it clearly in my area, and all of those passed-on for a reason, by me.

The last straw came on a routine play up the court. I'm trail, point guard is coming up the floor, defender is with him closely, but no other pressure. Some light contact both ways, you know the kind. About one foot over the centre line, a slight bump by the defender, but no real advantage, dribbler is un-fazed. I hear a whistle. I look, and my partner is standing 50 feet away, fist in the air. Both players are confused and look at me. I do nothing.

But later, in the change room, I challenged him on it. We argued a bit, and I just picked up my stuff and left. I later apologized, but not because I was truly sorry. I felt I had every right to be angry.

Nothing even close to that since then.

None of your damn business :D


[Edited by canuckrefguy on Mar 11th, 2006 at 01:36 AM]

I was witness to two screamers (both of my partners) during halftime of one of my juco games. It surprised the hell outta me, because one guy was one the nicest veterans I've ever met, and the other was a quiet, young guy.

It started in the first half, when the young guy was doing things like mirroring 3-point attempts as T or C when it was outside his area, and then made a questionable call in the vet's area. A little later on during a TO, I noticed the vet was talking to the young guy; had his arm around his shoulder and the coversation looked friendly enough. Later, right before the half, the young guy comes out and calls a travel way out in front of the vet at T. I could see the look on the vet's face, but nothing was done or said on the floor. However, once we got down to the locker room, the vet just lit into the young guy, asking WTF he was doing making that call, when we just talked about staying in our areas, and the young guy starts yelling back about how he had to make that call because it was obvious, etc. I just sat there with many thoughts going through my head: the vet's right - the young guy was making questionable calls outside his area, the young guy's right - the vet shouldn't be yelling at him questioning his calls, I'm glad I'm not in the middle of this, how the heck are we going to work the second half as a team, wonder where I'm going to stop for dinner after this game, and so on. It was one of the most uncomfortable halftime experiences I ever had. I finally mumbled something like, "Aw, come on guys, we've got a second half to get through...", We made it through the rest of the game, and post-game ok.

But on the way home, I realized no matter how much you might want to yell at your partner, there's probably a better way to handle it. I guess using people skills extends to your partners as well as coaches and players.

Well, there ya go.

I gotta say, I would bend over backwards to preserve the integrity of the crew. You yell at me? I'm gonna hug you & say thanks.

Of course when the game's over I'm gonna make a few calls. But let's get through this game first.

tomegun, care to jump in?

Not if you look like Uncle Fester.

grrrr....I wonder if you got your name on that damn map thing...let's go look...

this is going OT but don't you do that? In fiba the mechanics says to mirror 3 point signals.

[Edited by crazy voyager on Mar 12th, 2006 at 12:58 PM]

We are supposed to mirror the <B>made</B> three-pointers, not the attempts. If two officials signal the attempt, then that means there's two sets of eyes on the shooter, and someone's not watching their primary.

This is not entirely true. If you look at the mechanics books in both NF and CCA (I can only speak for Men’s), the middle of the floor (the width of the lane) is considered dual area as it relates to a three point try. Both officials can easily see or might recognize shot in the middle of the floor. There are even situations that this can happen in a 2 Person game around the FT line extended area.

Peace

Had some good experiences with Mick. Quarters for calling the wrong line. And the look you can get when you make him run up the court when your suppose to do the bump and run, priceless!!! (oops)

I could never see myself yelling at another official anywhere within the confines a basketball venue. Of course I've gotten in heated debates with my close officiating friends during our personal social gatherings. But to yell at another official is not my place. If another official's behavior/conduct/officiating skills are that bad then my place would be to report it to the appropriate supervisor and let them handle it.

In my first couple of seasons of officiating I ocassionally responded to coaches yelling at me by yelling in return. I have since learned to properly handle those situations without also losing my cool. I have raised my voice to players, but never yelled, to get a point across, usually in situations where I see chippiness starting to set in.

I definitely wouldn't tolerate another official yelling at me. Who knows how I would respond to that. Hopefully not in a manner that would lead to a lawsuit :D

[Edited by BadNewsRef on Mar 13th, 2006 at 01:17 PM]