Unprofessional Comment ?

[REFVA]

So lining up for a free throw, again, about 2 minutes left and I say in a calm and pretty quiet voice to ALL the players lined up. Though I really only needed to say it to the visitors. "Let's try and not go totally stupid these last couple of minutes."

Could you have used another word or phrase? You know how some people react to some comments and miss-understood? did you get any slack for those comment yet.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Corndog89

I have no problem with the statement because it addresses behavior, not personality. However.........

Words have meaning and some are more powerful than others...I have found through experience that "stupid" is a word that evokes powerful reactions. While deployed in the desert a couple years ago I officiated a lot of intramural games...in one, I told a guy (turned out to be a captain MD in the medical squadron) to stop the "stupid" play (he was frustrated and getting a little out of control). He got very angry that a referee had called him "stupid". I never did...I referred to his play, his behavior if you will. All he heard, however, was "stupid". Was my observation about his play correct? Absolutely. Was my choice of words in that emotional situation (and really, aren't sports at their very essence an emotional experience) the smartest? No, not at all.

For the last few years when play starts getting rough or potentially out of control, in a stern, directive voice I'll tell the players that this isn't a wrestling match, and instead remind them that we're playing basketball and they need to do just that. Works almost every time for me.

Excellent point imo....

[SmokeEater]

I have been using this phrase loud enough for all on the floor to hear.

"Alright everyone, here we go, lets keep everything legal out here!"

Then the ball is given to the inbounder or passed for the free throw attempt.

[Chess Ref]

The last 2 minutes of this game went pretty much how the previous 14 went. out of control and tweeting till the end. The Varsity evaluator thought the comments were unprofessional-but he didn't hear me say them . The coach of the out of control team mentioned them to him........

So I will proably NOT say that again.....

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Corndog89

...in one, I told a guy (turned out to be a captain MD in the medical squadron) to stop the "stupid" play (he was frustrated and getting a little out of control). He got very angry that a referee had called him "stupid". I never did...I referred to his play, his behavior if you will. All he heard, however, was "stupid". Was my observation about his play correct? Absolutely. Was my choice of words in that emotional situation (and really, aren't sports at their very essence an emotional experience) the smartest? No, not at all.

It has been my experience that most officers, for some reason, do turn "stupid" when participating in intra-mural basketball.

[Zoochy]

I try to use positive statements. SmokeEater had a good statement "Alright everyone, here we go, lets keep everything legal out here!" I use "Let's play smart" Both of these phrases tell the players what we want them to do. Not what we don't want them to do.
Many years ago I said "don't be stupid" to a player. He had a quick reply. "Hey, I'm not stupid. I have a high IQ." I had to laugh and then tell him to be smart.

[LarryS]

I was working a boys JV game the other night and things started getting rough in a real tight game. My partner and I were both talking to them...trying to calm things down. While getting ready for a FT my partner said (loud enough for all to hear) "Gentlemen, we have tried to clean things up with our voice...we will now start using our whistle. If you don't want to watch the end of this game, you know what to do."

Worked like a charm...

I've never used the word "stupid" but have told players who looked like they were about to lose it "Stay smart...stay in the game."

[JRutledge]

I have used the word stupid before when talking to players. It really depends who you are talking to and how you deliver the line with the word. I would agree that not everyone can use this to their advantage. But when things are getting really hairy, I think you can use any word short of cursing to get a point across. Not all kids respond to "positive" talk. Some kids you have to get in their face and they will get the point across. Just know your audience and the situation.

Peace

[Old School]

I thought it was a stupid thing to say. Remember, we are suppose to be professionals, and also remember, silence can not be quoted. On the other hand, 25 fouls on one team, and they still are fouling hard. I'm not going to call that many fouls, on one team without mixing in a few intentional fouls. Your objective, which you attempted to address with your smart azz comment was to get them to stop fouling. I would have used a more direct approach. Quite fouling so much or the next one going to be intentional. If they are fouling b/c they are poor defensive players, that's one thing, but if these fouls are hard and unnecessary. I'm going to send some players to the bench permanently.

[Corndog89]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

It has been my experience that most officers, for some reason, do turn "stupid" when participating in intra-mural basketball.

I'm laughing pretty hard right now; many, many years ago when I was a young captain I got thrown out of an intramural b-ball league...not just the game, but the whole league and put on double-secret probation for all other sports...for punching a senior master sergeant. Of course it was the official's fault

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Corndog89

I'm laughing pretty hard right now; many, many years ago when I was a young captain I got thrown out of an intramural b-ball league...not just the game, but the whole league and put on double-secret probation for all other sports...for punching a senior master sergeant. Of course it was the official's fault

Thank you for letting me know how smart I was not to volunteer my services as an intramural official while I was overseas.

[Corndog89]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Thank you for letting me know how smart I was not to volunteer my services as an intramural official while I was overseas.

Always a good choice But I have to say officiating was one of the best parts of the deployment.

Even funnier, a few years ago I was playing military intramural flag football. I caught a high pass across the middle and some guy leveled me. I came up seeing red and looking for him. A guy on the other team told one of my teammates they should stop me because that was a major I was trying to fight. My teammate said don't worry about it, his teammate was a lieutenant colonel. Yeah, that was one of my prouder moments

[Adam]

I thought about it while I was there, and if I go again I'll probably take my shirt and whistle just for kicks. That, and I work in Services, so I should be able to wrangle that duty if I wanted it.

[Corndog89]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

I thought about it while I was there, and if I go again I'll probably take my shirt and whistle just for kicks. That, and I work in Services, so I should be able to wrangle that duty if I wanted it.

I was at Al Udeid which was a piece-of-cake deployment. Good gym...I helped services put the intramural league together and organized/scheduled the officials. We actually had 12 different people call games...4-5 of us were experienced and we trained the rest. It sure made the time pass faster.

[Adam]

I was at the Deid in '05. You're right, it was really a nice deployment, and for me it was short (I had the last 2 months of the rotation). For my wife (my son was born a month before I came home) it was a bit longer.