Get In, Get Done, Get Out
 

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?

I'm interested in what folks have to say on the rest of your post, but as for this one it would get a pretty strong and direct reaction from me - "You're not getting help on a bad call when you're calling out of position and I don't even have a clue what your call is..."

When he asked you the question, what did you do?

Nope.

You can't make chicken soup out of chicken sh!t.:D

The one thing I do is make sure I never work with that guy again.
Did you talk to him at half and tell him to stay in his area, or anything along those lines? We have a guy in our Assoc. that cant quit watching the ball and loves making calls all over the court. I've blocked him as a partner and I know several others who have as well. I would have let him know right away that you're not helping him on that call because it was your call in your area and what the HE$$ is he doing trying to make that call.

the only thing you can do is that if you sense your partner is inexperienced and needs some help before halftime, try to offer it. I work a few rec leagues and end up working with inexperienced officials frequently. if you can figure out if he wants to learn, you can probably help him enough with a halftime crash course to make it through another half of basketball without any issues. if he doesn't want your help/advice, i'd pray to the referee Gods for a smooth rest of game. It sounds like he was an amateur rookie at best, but we've all been there.

I asked him, "Are you Old School, by chance?"

No. Really, I just looked at him quizically for a second, until he went rambling on to something else. I was already packed so I made a run for it at that point.

Are you aware that Coca-cola through the nose HURTS????:D

Now come up here and clean off my screen and keyboard!!!!!!

Just goes to show the dangers of drinking & typing....:D

:D

You didn't mention if this partner was newer or more "experienced" than you. That would have an effect on how you handle them. Also, did the school hire the officials, or did it come through an assignor? If you deal with an assignor, I would let them know your concerns.

It was disappointing to open this thread and find out it was about officiating . . .:D

It all depends on how comfortable you are with confrontation. I had partner issues on Friday that amazed both myself and the coaches but not to the extent you described.

My Friday partner granted a time out to the team on defense as the offense was bringing the ball up the court and then said "No, No, you don't have the ball so you cannot have a timeout" At the half I told him that when an official grants a time out, he grants a time out whether or not you kicked the possession situation. He had even started to the table to report the TO.

I did it in a friendly manner so as not to have to work the second half just carrying him.

BTW - He wasn't Old School either.

I'm a newer ref and started the year listening and watching a great many more experienced officials who helped me with my mechanics and counseled and mentored me on the many things I did wrong. Mostly mechanics and technique, but a few rules too. But, as several of you pointed out - I am open to suggestions and want to learn and get better.

Now, when I do Rec League games, I try to help the others too. But, "they" have to want to learn and get better. If they don't want to get better, nothing you try will work and they go on the "I won't ref with them list."

Hmm, I wonder why I never ref with the same guy twice? :D

If you did not have a pre-game, it must've been tough. But if you had 2 games with this guy, it would have been prudent to pull out the ol' pre-game card and map it out for him. At least in the 2nd game you would know if he was both clueless AND non-responsive.

The Old School comment was a real killer!:D

:) That's funny.

Only to a man...

I am sure adolescents would find it to be humorous as well. ;)

you're right. I should have said, "only to a boy..."

Well, isn't that sexist?:mad:

Are you saying that <b>every</b> woman in the world wouldn't maybe find just the slightest touch of humor in that statement just because you didn't?

"Tsk, tsk, tsk" I say!

Hey, I corrected myself. I suppose there might be some women who think a certain saying is a relief, but I doubt there are too many that think it's funny. Personlly, I'm glad it only applies to basketball.

Sheesh ..

It was a humorous comment.

Yep, I didn't mean to cause a firestorm - but it was funny! LOL

(Insert clapping smileys image here) Refreshing, as always, rainmaker. Nice work.

Sheesh, what's got your panties in such a wad?

Wait, did I just say "panties" on a baseketball forum? I did. Hey, that's funny. :D

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?

Only to a man......

Hawkeye:

http://www.clicksmilies.com/auswahl/aktion033.gif

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?

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.)

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

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.

I'm in my 4th season, this guy is newer, but has worked at least two seasons.

The game was given to me by an assignor who will not be assigning next season. I suppose I need to wait and talk to the next assignor. Maybe I should ask the current assignor if anyone else has voiced concerns about this guy

Hey guys -

Thanks for the comments. I understand your comments regarding my professionalism errrr.....lack of professionalism. I do understand that it wasn't right for me to say, but I got caught up in the heat of the moment with large amounts of frustration. I am sorry.

I was the only one that was assigned to this game by the assignor. The other guy just pretty much comes with the gym as he is a local.

I guess the other problem I had with last night is I ref a pretty neutral game. Honestly I could care less who wins as long as everyone plays hard, has a good time, and is safe. I felt that from the end of the first half, my partner was not going to let the visiting team beat his hometown. I can't stand this more than anything. Kids, coaches, parents, etc. need to know how to lose as much as they need to know how to win. The visiting should've easily won this game, but got beat by 10. At one point in the 3rd quarter the fouls were like 12 to 1 (home team) and it wasn't that physical of a game. That is all I am going to say about that. I just think it is unfortunate for the kids that the game isn't played fair.

Thanks for the posts guys!


Mr. Motivation


PS - The highlight of the night during the JV game.......A DUNK by one of the reserves. It was great!

MrMotivation,

This forum has been an extremely valuable tool to me. You may be able to learn a lot here. My game management skills and comfort level on the court have greatly improved.

I'm glad you reacted to the comments as you did.

I agree! I had a rough stretch about mid-season and began to question whether officiating was a fit for me, so I started a thread about game management. The responses were invaluable. Since that post (and a couple more) I've managed situations better, and am a more confident and capable official, although I admit still being a rookie with much to learn.

I don't always write, but there are many of us reading and learning...thanks to all who participate!