Scorekeeper venting here

[grizwald]

I've read posts where you guys have vented about partners and such.

Well I was keeping the scoreboard this past weekend. Working with a terrible partner on the book.

This guy has his head down often, not watching or paying attention. Totally clueless. Asking, who was that foul on, who made that bucket, did she hit that free throw, etc.... on nearly every play.

Well, the kicker is, near halftime he says "I've got a different score than you", I tell him to hold on until half, so we can have time to look at it and talk to the refs. He begins to do some kind of "calculus" on a scrap sheet of paper, rather than pay attention for the last minute or so of the half. Well, he does his thing, the refs come over and after looking at the book, tell me to put up 2 more points for Team A.

I know, it's the correct thing per the rulebook. But, it couldn't be right per the actual game. I know my scoreboard was right, I had to tell him just about every time a team scored.

Needless to say Coaches B were not happy, but such is life. There was nothing I could do about it.

Another thing that happened. Our assistant coach started filling the book out before the game (the head coach was still coaching his older team on a different court). He gets about half way done and says that he can't remember all the numbers, could I finish it. I say fine and fill in the missing numbers and names. However, I screwed up and put a player in that was already listed by him. So we had #34 in there twice and #33 wasn't in there at all (we had 10 players listed, but one was listed twice).

Administrative Tech, about 5 minutes into the game. I'm OK with that much, my screw up, I cost the girls 2 points.

However, the Assistant and I were trying to figure out what happened at halftime, and we notice the double entered player. Right as the second half is about to start, The scorekeeper comes back, and I tell him why the screw up happened and point out that there is two #34s in the book. I tell him to line out the bottom one, since he had been using the one listed first to score points and fouls.

He then says (right as the ref is about to put the ball into play) "Oh boy, we've got another problem, sound the horn". I say "You've got to be kidding me" and sound the horn. As the refs walking over, it still isn't clear what this problem is. He then says "See you told me to line out this #34 because I was using the #34 up here, but see I've been listing her fouls here"

He was pointing to the same line on the other side of the page (for the other team). I say, rather rudely at this point "you don't score her fouls on that side of the page, that side is for the other teams players". He says "Oh, OK my fault."

He was having problems the whole game keeping one team straight, from the other team. I know thats how that extra basket ended up there for Team A. He scored Team Bs basket, for Team A. A few moments later looked up at the board, saw a difference and since he knew Team B just scored, he assumed he had forgot to score the basket and scored it a second time (for the correct team this time). He was a train wreck the whole game.

These weren't the only examples, for instance B#45 fouled out with 6 fouls, A#12 fouled out with 4 fouls. The time outs were all screwed up by the end of the game.

Funny side note: Because I'm keeping the fouls on the board, I know what the foul situation is, independent of his terrible record keeping. Well when B#45 picks up her 5th. The scorekeeper only has 4 for her, but I don't know this. I sound the horn, and signal to the ref "5" since the scorekeeper currently has his head down. Well Coach B goes nuts "He just told me she only had 3 a second ago" I didn't hear this. Ref comes over and says to me "Let him signal to us", I say fine. Well a couple of minutes later A#10 picks up her fifth. The ref is pretty sure it's 5 because she's their best player, and she sat for about 5 minutes because she picked up her 4th, She just came back in. So he was waiting for a signal. The scorekeeper has his head down. More waiting....more waiting... He looks at me, I say "You told me to let him signal it"

I was keeping the scoreboard and the shot clock both myself, and I had this guy as my partner. I was a wreck by the end of the game.

If this guy was new I could understand it, but I've seen this guy around for a long time. I know he's not new at this.

Sorry to write such a long message, that is totally venting with out any real questions. But that was frustrating.

[Jimgolf]

Been with scorekeepers like that. Some people get into watching the game and forget they have a job to do.

One thing that helps is to make sure the book and scoreboard match the benches, i.e. the bench on the right is on the right page, the bench on the left is on the left page. This might seem simple, but a number of summer tournaments screw this up since they might assign the home and away teams based on a coin toss after the books have been filled out and the benches assisgned. Nobody cares who the home team is on a neutral court, so settle the seating assignments as soon as the teams come out for warmups, and make sure the scoreboard, the book and the benches are coordinated.

Other than that, all you can do is repeat all the information you get - "Two points Red Team, number 21" "Foul on 3 Blue, his 3rd foul" and hope the nitwit gets the message.

[stmaryrams]

Was at my son's summer league game on Saturday and had the coach/admin ask for a volunteer to run the clock as they already had a parent to do the book. First game of the day.
I agreed to but immediately found out the timer switch would not work as well as the horn. I turned of the machine and found it was set for soccer. A quick reset and a change to the second timer control had us ready to go.

So before we start I know they have several "Rules" in place as this is a summer developmental league for feeder Catholic grade schools to one high school. I check with our coach as to how they are running the clock - regular with stops for whistles, running or some combination. Both officials - both of whom I've worked with- are not sure. Finally get admin to give us the lowdown as he is busy coaching his kids in pregame.

He is trying to teach me how to run a clock and what to do for the officials. Got some quiet giggles out of that and never let on that I'm an official.

[Stat-Man]

Originally Posted by Jimgolf

Been with scorekeepers like that. Some people get into watching the game and forget they have a job to do.

One thing that helps is to make sure the book and scoreboard match the benches, i.e. the bench on the right is on the right page, the bench on the left is on the left page. This might seem simple, but a number of summer tournaments screw this up since they might assign the home and away teams based on a coin toss after the books have been filled out and the benches assisgned. Nobody cares who the home team is on a neutral court, so settle the seating assignments as soon as the teams come out for warmups, and make sure the scoreboard, the book and the benches are coordinated.

Other than that, all you can do is repeat all the information you get - "Two points Red Team, number 21" "Foul on 3 Blue, his 3rd foul" and hope the nitwit gets the message.

This is what I try to do. I have my own printed score/stat sheets I like to use whenever possible and I will align them in the directiont hey are trying to score. Makes things work a lot easier for me. YMMV.

Had a situation last fall at an away game (MS Girls) where they had a non-playing girl on the book. It seemed like she missed a foul late in the A game, but since it had no bearing on the game itself (both teams already in the double bonus), I just made a mental note to be more active in making sure the two books agreed in the B game. And aside from an official who felt the visiting scorekeeper doesn't belong at the scorers table, we had no problems whatsoever with both books agreeing.