...so I ran him...

[JRutledge]

Let me say this to you. I was in a HS tournament this year where we where told very explicitly to "let them play" and keep the games moving. This tournament involved some of the top D1 prospects in the country and they wanted us to allow the players to showcase their talent and keep the games on time. Now we tried to do that to the best of our ability. But after a few games we just called our game. Not much we could do then just our best.

I have no problem if everyone you worked with was doing the same thing. I also feel that many times we live in fantasy world or a very moralistic ideology on this web site mainly because we are after all reading something in basically black and white. Real world officiating does not work like that. We make all kinds of judgments based on other factors. If you were not calling fouls because there were outside pressures insisting you do so, that is not something most of us can say from here. In most situations I would never let some things go because of time frame, but you were working a 7th grade boys game that are not always the most well played games around. I do not have a major problem with your approach because most of us have been in a similar situation and I seriously doubt they pitched too much of a fit over it.

Peace

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Real world officiating does not work like that. We make all kinds of judgments based on other factors. If you were not calling fouls because there were outside pressures insisting you do so, that is not something most of us can say from here. In most situations I would never let some things go because of time frame, but you were working a 7th grade boys game that are not always the most well played games around. I do not have a major problem with your approach because most of us have been in a similar situation and I seriously doubt they pitched too much of a fit over it.

Thank you for seeing past the rhetoric. I get the feeling maybe I just didn't explain the situation very well. Good grief, we didn't pass on anything important, and we certainly didn't favor one team or the other. We called what needed to be called, but there were just tons and tons of little bumps, unskilled arm knocks, jostles, stumbles, travels that may or may not have been caused by marginal contact, the usual low-level 7th grade stuff. Would I have called it tighter if left to myself? Yes. But I also understand the need for "real world pressures" as you say, Jeff, to be considered. If it had been a school game instead of a rec league thing, and I'd have called it my way, it would have taken two and a half hours, or more. We called it pretty tight in the first half, and they just weren't learning. So we just started letting a lot of the A/D borderline stuff go. I can't see how that's selling my soul for a mess of pottage.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by rainmaker

So we just started letting a lot of the A/D borderline stuff go. I can't see how that's selling my soul for a mess of pottage.

I have worked games where I was assigned one place and had to quickly go to the other. Then told by the assignor to "do not take very long" on the first game. It happens to the best of us and in many situations. Sometimes it is the AD or coach that wants to go home early. I will say usually in basketball it does not happen where people are openly trying to go home early. I can tell you as a Baseball Umpire and past Softball Umpire, it is common to have a coach in the pre-game introductions to tell the umpires to get the game over with. In basketball it is a more subtle when that point is being made. I worked two freshman games last Monday and the home coach was insisting on convincing the visiting coach to have a very short half-time and even talked about a shortened game to "get you guys home."

Peace

[Adam]

I think part of the problem is people read what you wrote and make assumptions about what you meant. I think we've all been there in 7th grade games; you realize if you call everything, you're going to be there all day. What's more, the kids aren't going to learn how to play if you call every travel and double dribble and foul. Your bar for "advantage" goes up a bit sometimes.
That said, saying it the way you did insinuates that you just want to get in and get out with your check. I know you well enough through this forum to know that's not your schtick; so I figured you weren't letting felonies go for the sake of staying on schedule.

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

I think part of the problem is people read what you wrote and make assumptions about what you meant. I think we've all been there in 7th grade games; you realize if you call everything, you're going to be there all day. What's more, the kids aren't going to learn how to play if you call every travel and double dribble and foul. Your bar for "advantage" goes up a bit sometimes.
That said, saying it the way you did insinuates that you just want to get in and get out with your check. I know you well enough through this forum to know that's not your schtick; so I figured you weren't letting felonies go for the sake of staying on schedule.

So maybe I just didn't word it very well? I'll try again. I was "letting them play." I was "holding the whistle". I was "adjusting to my partner". I was "looking for the A/D". I was "trying to be in control without being controlling". The reason I was doing this was because that's how my partner, who I was trying to help by filling in, told me they do it. I was "adjusting to fit into the prevailing culture -- trying to call it the way the assignor wants it called." It wasn't a problem in the first game, we called what needed calling, and we got done in a good time with no one too ticked off. Somehow the second game was different. Will I do it again? No way. I compromised on my style and "my game", but I don't think I compromised my morals or ethics. I wasn't "selling out The Game". It wasn't "immoral". It also wasn't comfortable or pleasant, and I don't want to be in that situation again.

It wasn't "take the check and run." In fact, my partner and I stayed and talked about the situation for quite a while afterward during the next game. He's a top notch ref, and I wanted to know how he could let so much go and feel okay about it. It was a valuable learning experience. Although I've learned more I expected after sharing here!!

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by rainmaker

So maybe I just didn't word it very well? I'll try again. I was "letting them play." I was "holding the whistle". I was "adjusting to my partner".

Go back, edit your 1st post, and just leave in the part about running the coach.

[Dan_ref]

There was recently a dust-up about every game being as important as the next game blah blah blah. The first sentence of your original post got my attention because I read it as you saying this game was *so* unimportant that you stopped blowing the whistle to keep it moving along.

I am definitely not in the "every game is as important as every other game" camp but I have also never let keeping the games on schedule get in the way of me calling the game right. Maybe it was just your wording but the idea you got across to me was that you stopped blowing in order to get the game done. IMO if the directors are concerned about the day's schedule they need to add 15 minutes or so to the allotted time for each game.

That said, sounds like a good T and ejection.

[BayStateRef]

I had an experience today that contains some of the elements you had. I was working with a new partner in a travel league that I work every week. He was helping out the assignor. It became clear very early that we were not on the same page. He was surely competent -- both in rules and mechanics -- but he really wasn't interested in "working" these games.

I work every game properly. I hustle, I switch, I apply rules properly and fairly. He did none of those things -- and clearly resented my efforts to make him work better. He told me that he doesn't discipline coaches because nothing good comes of it.

We got through the first game OK, but the second game was a problem with the visiting coach, who made it clear she did not like our officiating. She was upset that we did not call enough fouls. In the first half, her team was shooting double bonus and in the second half, there were nine fouls against the other team and three against hers. I thought we handled the game fine. Not perfect, but fine.

After the game, she was demanding names, phone numbers, lawyers names (just joking) and anything else she could.

Did I mention this was 5th grade girls? Division 4. (Division 1 is the "best.") Her players were not as good as the other team. That's why they lost.