Get In, Get Done, Get Out

[mrmotivation]

Originally Posted by Hartsy

It's been a while, but last night was one of those where I just wanted to get off the court and go home. The problem was I didn't know how to handle my partner, and it just made us both look bad.

He was rarely in position, didn't know where to go for throw ins, whether a throw in was his to administer or mine, called my OOB lines, didn't point directions, didn't raise an arm to stop clock (so I was clueless if he had a foul or violation), everything you could do wrong he did. To top it off, his rules knowledge seemed weak, and his judgement marginal.

Early on in our two game set, he called a foul at the baseline (where I was administering a throw in) from the OPPOSITE BASELINE!!! I saw the contact clearly, and it was insignificant. I knew then (actually even before) it was going to be a long night. He even mentioned this call at halftime, wondering why there was such a heated reaction to his call.

Another time, I was sideline in transition, with a play coming toward me. The ball was passed down the sideline, bounces in bounds, and may have been caught in bounds, but from across court I hear a whistle. Again, no stop clock signal. I didn't know what he had, so I make eye contact and wait. He comes in and says "was that OOB?" After the game, he jumps me, and says he was hoping to get some help on that call. BTW, this was under 2 minutes left in a 2 point game.

Anything to do in these cases other than Get In, Get Done, Get Out? I didn't know where to start with this guy. Nothing I said or did seemed to register with him. Would it have helped to really hammer him with all this at halftime and between games?

Hartsy,

I am pretty sure that we were both reffing with the same guy this week. You had him last night and I had him tonight. Thanks for saving all my typing time by already doing it for me.

The 60+ year old (veteran supposedly) guy I had tonight was okay (more towards bad than good) with making calls, but he was TERRIBLE with mechanics. I mean ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. He would inbound the ball from the inside underneath, then he would run straight up the middle of the court. There were many times tonight that we would both be on the same side of the court because he would not rotate.

When he would call a foul, play would rarely stop because he wouldn't put enough air into his Fox40 to make loud. Then once the foul would be called, there was no signal other than pointing at the kid who fouled. When he would go over to report the foul, he would walk up the one stair, place his hands on the scorer's table, and basically explain to them what happened.

THIS WAS A JV GAME............not a junior high game.

It got to be so bad that it even started to become a big joke. The players would ask me, "Was that a foul?" and I would tell them, "When you know, would you let me know?" He gave me absolutely no indication what the call was before he went over to the bench. There were fouls called that clearly were in the act of shooting and he would tell me (after I had both teams all lined up ready to shoot free throws) that it was on the floor because the guy pushed him when he was going up (isn't that the act of shooting?).

The best part of the night was when he called a charge (that clearly wasn't a charge, but a body foul as the defender ran up and into the guy with the ball) and it fouled the kid out. The kid went to the bench and a replacement was sent. I had everyone ready to go while he was over the bench and then he comes over to ask me.........."Who was the foul on again?" I about died laughing as did the coach.

This was a good ol' boy (hometown hero) so that didn't help matters. The visiting coach came up to me and told me thanks for doing as much as I could to make the game as smooth as possible. He know how tough it was for me and how frustrated I was, but thank goodness he said "Well, you've done 3 JV and one V for us, so I know that you are good."

Hopefully tomorrow night brings a better partner or hopefully I am just on a one man crew. HAHAHAHHAHA!


Mr. Motivation


PS - Did I forget to mention that the guy went in the locker room at both halves of the doubleheader and between games to apply Icy Hot so that he could make it through?

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by mrmotivation

It got to be so bad that it even started to become a big joke. The players would ask me, "Was that a foul?" and I would tell them, "When you know, would you let me know?"

I had everyone ready to go while he was over the bench and then he comes over to ask me.........."Who was the foul on again?" I about died laughing as did the coach.

HAHAHAHHAHA!


PS - Did I forget to mention that the guy went in the locker room at both halves of the doubleheader and between games to apply Icy Hot so that he could make it through?

HAHAHAHA.....

Very funny......

Methinks you have an awful lot to learn about professionalism. And integrity. Making comments about your partner during the game like that to players is about as unprofessional as you can get. And to say that you "about died laughing" at him during the game is just as bad imo.

Sorry, but I'd rather go out on the floor with the old guy any day rather than you. At least, I'd know that I'd be able to turn my back on him.

PS-Did I mention that maybe the assignor put him on those games because he had no one else available, and that he really appreciated the old guy helping out, even though he had to suffer through the games with his bad legs?

[Hartsy]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

HAHAHAHA.....

Very funny......

Methinks you have an awful lot to learn about professionalism. And integrity. Making comments about your partner during the game like that to players is about as unprofessional as you can get. And to say that you "about died laughing" at him during the game is just as bad imo.

Sorry, but I'd rather go out on the floor with the old guy any day rather than you. At least, I'd know that I'd be able to turn my back on him.

PS-Did I mention that maybe the assignor put him on those games because he had no one else available, and that he really appreciated the old guy helping out, even though he had to suffer through the games with his bad legs?

Maintaining my professionalism during the game I described in the OP was difficult, but I did it. Maybe someone caught a bewildered look on my face at times. I even tried to watch out for that. What may have been the toughest part was the next night.

I worked a game that included one of the schools from the trainwreck night, though at a different level (8th to JV). Apparently the JV coach was helping out the younger team. He remembered me. I really wanted to apologize for the night before. What I decided was to let my work show for itself. I don't think I heard anything from him during the game. If he didn't before, he should now know where the problem was.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by mrmotivation

The players would ask me, "Was that a foul?" and I would tell them, "When you know, would you let me know?"

I understand that there's a lot of frustration in your post. I know I wasn't there to see how bad it was. But I have to say that I think that the comment I quoted above -- especially when made to players -- is very unprofessional. As you yourself said, this was Junior Varsity, not Junior High. I would expect my partner, even if he knew I was having a horrible night, not to make comments like this -- during the game or after.

He's your only teammate out there and if you sell him out to another team, what kind of teammate does that make you? We need to be very careful about what we say about our partners to non-referees.

I know you're new to the forum, and I'm not trying to discourage you from posting in the future. I'm just giving you my opinion about how I try to conduct myself on the court. JMO.

(Edit: I see that Jurassic made kind of the same point. I'm not trying to pile on, honest. But I guess I pretty much agree with him.)

[mick]

Originally Posted by mrmotivation

The 60+ year old (veteran supposedly) guy I had tonight was okay (more towards bad than good) with making calls, but he was TERRIBLE with mechanics.

60+, eh?
Last night I worked with a 25 yr.-old.