Best Game Ever?

[ditttoo]

They say you never forget your first one.....

Still remember my first varsity game....deer in the headlights, almost too tense to even get through the warm up period, a few steps behind everyone else, and then my first whistle - dead silence for what seemed an eternity - automatic mode with mechanics and reporting as if an out of body experience and then I was fine (at least I thought so).

[Mark Padgett]

I'd have to pick two. First, years ago I worked a holiday season tournament game between the previous year's Oregon girls varsity state champs and the previous year's California girls varsity state champs. Oregon City (who else?) won by 12.

Second - it was just a scrimmage, but it was a doozy. Portland used to have a woman's pro team in the league before the WNBA. They would practice at a facility where I reffed rec leagues. One Saturday, I just finished a few kids games when the woman's team coach came over to me and asked me if I would work a scrimmage. They just found a few men in the gym who were playing a pickup game and agreed to play them.

It was loads of fun. I had a partner who also worked some college and we got along really great together. Plus - we were calling the game by the pro league's rules. The funny thing was that after the game (won by the raggedy guys by a large margin), both my partner and I discussed how much different the mens game and the womens games were. It was obvious to us that the women, even though they were pros, couldn't come close to even a bunch of gym rats in strength and speed.