Best Game Ever?
 

What is the best game that you have ever reffed? What made it so special? Was it the teams that played, the level of the game, the crowd?

The reason I ask, I was talking to some of the rookie referees that I trained last month, and they wanted to know what my alltime "best" game was. Tough question to answer.

Personally - I did a game several years ago between the New South Wales Under 18 boys team and the New Zealand Under 18 Boys. It was played as a warm up for the crowd at an NBL game (our version of the NBA) in front of a crowd of about 5000 people (huge for Australia!). The NZ team came out on court and did the Haka before the game which gave me cold shivers. It was a close fought, physical game, with very little niggle. I can't remember the score, but the NSW team won by single figures.

What about you lot - what sticks in your mind as the greatest game you have refed and why?

Without a doubt, a game this past year. Outlying suburb cross town rival for Senior Night. The gym was standing room only and you couldn't have fit another person in the gym. The crowd for both teams were rockin. 2 unbelievable partners. One coach who's #1 priority was to coach his team. The other coach kept wanting to howl but it was so loud we couldn't hear him. We had to really blast our whistles it was so loud. Game never got more than 10 points apart and ended a 2 pointer, with a shot at the buzzer that almost went. I'm so excited describing it, I think I'm going out for a run.

The one in which I made the fewest mistakes. ;)

The next one.

Honestly, I have a hard time remembering games from more than a year or so ago. So I'll give you two terrific games from this past season. First was Connecticut College @ Williams College. Williams is a perpetual conference power and won the D3 national championship just a few years ago. Conn College gave them all they could handle, and Williams had to hit a shot with 0.7 to win it. Worked with very good partners. After the game-winning shot, the clock didn't stop and all three of us had seen the clock at 0.7. Great game managers (them, not me). The place was nuts and the crowd and the bench emptied onto the court. We had to clear the floor and give Conn their last chance with the 0.7, which just missed from midcourt. Really a fun game.

Second game was two out-of-state high school teams that came to Springfield to play in a tournament. A Rhode Island school and a Connecticut school. The atmosphere wasn't great, b/c it was a neutral site. But I worked with a very good partner and both teams played great ball. RI's best player fouled out on a PC with under a minute to go. CT tied it in the last minute and then won it in OT. On the way off the floor, an irate parent yelled at me, "Number 1 rule is that you can't foul out the best player in the last minute!" Guess I missed that section. :)

One other memorable game for me was my first USBL game b/c it was just so much darn fun to use the pro rules and mechanics.

Two questions:

What's the Haka?

What's a niggle?

Haka is the generic name for Māori group dance or performance. The haka is often described as a "war dance", but it is more a chant with hand gestures and foot stamping, originally performed by warriors before a battle, proclaiming their strength and prowess and generally verbally abusing the opposition.

1. To be preoccupied with trifles or petty details. 2. To find fault constantly and trivially; carp. See synonyms at quibble.

Since Blindzebra took my answer, the next one....This past season my crew started working in a good 3A conference that I've been trying to work for a couple of years. Mid-season we got a game with 2 coaches that historically are quite a handful. In the first half, my partner and I missed a block in transition. I was going to L, one of my partners is at C. A pretty bad block happened right next to him, but I think he was straightlined and didn't catch it. I was a little too patient and would have been waaayyy to late calling it. The ball is stolen from the home team and as the other team goes the other way, the home player reaches out and grabs the foot of the player that took the ball. My partner comes in with an intentional (great call, but we shouldn't have booted the first one, the kid needed to keep his head though). We rotated away and the coach of course is in my ear. He tells me he thinks the intentional was a great call, but is mad about the block first. I said, "coach, I'll tell you exactly what happened..." and gave him the explanation from above. I assured him we would talk about it and it wouldn't happen again. He was completely satisfied and good for us the rest of the night. The game went down to the wire with the visiting team hitting 4 late 3's (all by the same player from the same spot, home needed to call a TO and stop that play). I big-timed a block on a shot late in the game that was a good and fun call. Great night at the office. We handled the coaches well and I think improved our reputation in that league.

Any game with a crazy crowd, good teams and good partners is a blast. I seem to have 5 or 6 of those per year. Hard to pick one favorite. I love the games that don't seem so great on paper and then turn out to be absolute barnburners.

If I had to pick one, it would probably be a game at Snohomish (local 4A team) when John Brockman (now at the University of Washington) scored 42 and had 25 boards and a guard from the other team had 41 points. It went O.T. and the gym was packed and crazy all night.

Z

I had a bunch in my six years, but never have I had the crowd and excitment in a scrimage game that took place with HS Girls. It was against two ALL American rated girls. Both rated top 10.

Forest Park High School which went on to win the VA state girls AAA championship Against Oakton High School..

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).

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.

Did you celebrate at The Purple Pub afterwards?

First District Playoff game I ever worked. AAAA (largest classification in PA) girls, 1st round, 4 seed vs. 13 seed. No bigger than a 3 point lead either way the entire game. Game goes into overtime. In the first OT, tie game, girl from the 13 seed steals the ball with less than 5 seconds to go, breakaway to the basket, defense girl fouls her on the way up to prevent the lay-up, and I have the foul; 0.5 seconds left in the game . Everyone at the table knows it's my first playoff game, and the official scorekeeper can't help but crack a smile at me as I'm reporting the foul, and I can't help but crack one back because it's such a great game. Girl misses both FTs, go to double OT, and the 4 seed ends up winning by 2. An experience I'll never forget....:D

This past Friday night I worked the 5th place game in the Hawaii girls HS DII state championships. Yet another great thing about Hawaii, the boys HS season runs from mid-December to the end of February and the girls season from March through mid-May...6 months of HS hoops!

Anyway, it was my 3rd game of the week, I ran R working with one partner for the first time ever and the other for only the second. Our communication, teamwork, and chemistry was among the best I've ever experienced. The game went double OT...a most improbable 3-pointer with 3 seconds left in the 1st OT sent us to the second. It was a terrific, very well-played game...you would have thought they were playing for the state championship, not 5th place. The players were pumped, the coaches focused on the game, and the crowd was small but loud and raucous.

The irony is that this came just 1 week after probably two of the worst HS games I've ever called, a pair of foulfests in the league tournament, working with partners I've worked many, many good games with. I was embarrassed working in front of my peers who were waiting for their games. It was so bad I told my assignor, only half jokingly, that he should pull me from the state the following week because I was so bad. He basically told me to get my head out of my a$$ and just officiate the way I'm capable of. I love that guy!

The topper, my older brother who has called basketball, football, baseball, and softball for many years flew in from the mainland, getting here just a couple hours before tipoff. It was the first (and still only) game he has ever seen me call. He said we did good. All-in-all, a satisfying end to a long season.