Working By Yourself

[mplagrow]

One of the worst officiated games I ever saw was done by a single ref. Now, I understand that you have to be gracious to a guy braving it by himself, but this guy was a piece of work. Fast-paced 8th grade boys game, both teams liked to run. This ref looked mighty sedentary (like he swallowed a VW). He stayed opposite the table, and never strayed more than five feet from the mid-court line. He squatted with his hands on his knees and peered at the action. He didn't call a single foul in the paint that I recall, but he sure saw every ticky-tac bit of contact around the perimeter. Guards were fouling out as kids were getting mauled in the lane. But in all fairness, he 'called it both ways' as they say!