I Didin't want to hijack the survey thread...but an observation
 

I am a little surprised at how few T's people have issued. In reading this forum all season, the veterans were pretty vocal about having the cajones to issue T's when necessary. I consider myself pretty patient, yet I have issued eight this year. To see the 1's and 0's, leads me to believe that we may be too tolerant of some behavior which leads to the deterioration of standards that some have lamented about this year.

I'll bet that next year you will issue less *Ts* [assuming you officiate those same schools].
Be assured, your reputation for propriety was noted.

I work four conferences, plus a smattering of other games, (Independents and substitutes) so most of the schools I know fairly well. I only needed to check mapquest once this year.:D I didn't feel that this year was unusual in the aspect of T's. Just find it surprising from others.

I think that you'll find that most veterans will end up issuing fewer "T"s. Once they've shown that they won't take any nonsense, most coaches are smart enough to leave 'em alone. Note that only refers to <b>some</b> veterans. The veterans that find numerous excuses <b>not</b> to issue a "T" usually have to end up issuing more "T"s than the people that take just care of bidness.

I have to agree with JR. Lack of balls has nothing to do with the number of T's you give out. JMO game management and professionalism can go a long way.

This year is the first year that I have not issued not even one T. I am shocked as to I normally have no tolerance for idiot coaches. Although I did eject a fanboy out of the lower level stands for throwing an object on the court. I think I agree with JR. Once the coaches know you and understand that you will not take any of their BullSH-t they will leave you alone. Or they know that you will call the same on both sides of the court. We are human and will make mistakes. BAsically hold your ground, sell your call, and I found if I tell the coach that I missed it. He/she understand unless you miss too many calls. It's part good game management. Let them know you will not tolerate any crap. Then follow through

Giving Ts is not the end all be all of officiating. Giving Ts is only a small part of our job. Many veterans know how to deal with unruly coaches and players where we do not have to give as many Ts. It also helps when you see some of the same coaches over and over again as the years go by. The coaches know what they are going to expect and they act accordingly. I know I am a much better listener (or I make it seem that way) than I was when I first started. Also understand that veteran coaches also are totally different. Two of my 3 on the list of my Ts this year were to a freshman coach in the same night which resulted in an ejection, my first in 11 years. A lot of my T numbers would be much lower if I did not have to deal with an inexperienced coach that liked to yell about everything.

Peace

Where is the survey? To the senior people on this forum, most, not all are full of it. They talk a good game, they talk all big and bold behind the keyboard, but in actual practice, my bet is their bark is bigger than their bite. There are a lot of other factors that contribute to issuing a technicial. Most of the people here will have you believe that you should call it everytime it occurs. But here are a couple of factors that you should consider.

1.) How well the official knows the coaches. The relationship between the coaches and officials does come into play. Real ex: working with a senior women's official doing a game, coach was a dick thru-out the whole game, team was up by 35 points so I ignored the coach. Senior official was all broke-up inside after the game. Didn't understand why the coach was questioning him and every call so much. Said he should have T'd him but didn't.

2.) Where the official is within their career. For example: if you are trying to build a solid schedule, you might not want to T the home coach so quickly as others here would have you believe. Let's say you're working at Texas Tech, in fact your first game there. I guarantee, you T up Bobby Knight, you might not get anymore games there. There are a lot of other gyms at all levels that are like this for certain officials. Just something to consider.

You go trying to be top-dog and T up the wrong coach (and I'm speaking of calling T's on coaches, not players). I guarantee your games will get cut, at the very least, at that particular gym. Now if you are well established, you might not have to worry about it as much. But even then, it is a concern as other factors "do" come into play.

Things run in cycles, for one thing. So some years you don't find yourself running across any howler monkeys, some years that seems to be all you get.

My partner and I had 3 on coaches, 5 on players...1 was for a halftime dunk...and one admin T in 44 varsity games.

If memory serves, last year we had 2 on coaches, 6 on players in 40 games...half those came on back-to-back nights late in the year, where I got half our total, 1 coach and 3 players...I just happened to be around all the stuff.

That's just HS varsity ball, mind you. I'm sure very few officials included any of the other stuff they do in the season recap other than the main level they work.

You toss in the occasional frosh/JV, MS, youth league, etc...and my T total probably triples.

Very true, it does run in cycles. I've had seasons where I only called a couple T's all season, then two years ago I had 3 flagrant T's in a period of 2 weeks.

This season will be 60+ games total (3 left...) and I've personally called 8 so far- 2 were administrative and the rest were UC on players/coaches that were too short on brain and long on mouth to take a hint. Three were in varsity games & the rest were all in Frosh/JV games...........primarily boys.

That's an average quarter for me. They don't call me "Mr. T" for nothing. :rolleyes:

I pity the fool that hires you for a game. :D

I gave out about 5 T's this year. Four of them were when I helped out with an afternoon frosh or JV game. For the most part, varsity coaches have learned their limits along the way. They let us ref and stick to coaching. The lower-level coaches haven't all caught on yet.

You also didn't ask how many our partner's gave out..... :)

As a junior guy, I watched my more senior partners issue more than me. And I learned from it.....good and bad!

If you think frosh and JV are bad, try college intramurals. Players with middle school ability, the ego of an NBA All-Star, and the temperament of a bunch of wet cats makes for a nasty combination.

Partners, when working college intramural games, are a crap shoot. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they're not. Most, however, are in it for the check, and don't care whether they get any respect or not. I, on the other hand, address unsportsmanlike conduct in the pregame captains meeting, and T it up from there. I've found that, as the season progresses, I'm giving fewer Ts because the teams I ref know I won't stand for it.

I'm a newbie, and there are a lot of people on here with more experience than me, but just my two cent.

Many of us have, this is why we do not work those games at all. ;)

Peace

But at the end of the day, there's nothing more comforting than knowing that you're "the least competant official on the face of the earth", you "don't know anything about basketball", or that, my personal favorite, "there's a reason they only pay [you] minimum wage" just to quote a few of the players who admire me so much. :rolleyes:

I'm sure that you are quick to point out that ". . .there's a reason you aren't playing for a REAL team!"

I think it, and then we officials just get a good chuckle out of it after the game.

Wow, you get this from kids often? Most of the high school kids I reffed this year were very well behaved. My last game of the year, I called a foul on a kid and he started to cry about it. All I had to do was make eye contact with him and he immediately stopped and apologized.
For that, I have to give credit to the refs in this area for not taking crap in previous years.

No Technicals
 

Why have I given no technical fouls to coaches this year?

1) With few exceptions, I only work high school varsity games. These coaches have to answer to an athletic director, a principal, and a superintendent. I'm sure that if I worked subvarsity, recreation, travel, AAU, or adult games, I would be giving out technicals like penny candy.

2) We only have about 70 schools in our local area and I've been officiating for 26 years. Most coaches know me, know how hard I work, know how well I can officiate, and know that I won't tolerate much in the way of unsportsmanlike conduct. I've noticed that the grayer my hair gets, the fewer technicals I give to coaches.

3) I coached middle school basketball for over 25 years and know a little bit about what they're going through. So maybe I'm a little more tolerant than other officials.

4) My local IAABO board takes a dim view of unsportsmanlike conduct from coaches. We are all consitent from game to game and from season to season.

You might ask who paid to see them play in a lighter moment. Or you could scan the 'crowd'. When he asks what you are doing, you could tell him you are looking for the sports reporter that is doing the write-up on the game and who will put his name in the paper. Then you shrug and say, "I guess he's not here. Again."

If he felt he should have "T'd him he should have.

It's a darn shame that getting a game from some school should be the reason why you didn't apply a technical foul on someone who deserved it. I seem to be able to ignore most coaches complaints and didn't have a T this season until last weekend. Mine was after my partner had two players earn T's by mouthing off to each other after an intentional foul. I ended up giving the assistant coach one for mouthing off moments later. Had another in a high school rec league. Player came right to me following his 4th foul in the first half and said "that's a bunch of s***, and hows about number 5 see ya.

Terrapins fan said in the survey thread (Not to pick on you Terrapins Fan)This is the kind of thing I was kind of getting at. All season we have seen these kind of posts, and yet at the year end, we keep seeing, one or no technicals. I will end up doing over 50 high school games this year. I just can't believe that you can do that many games and not run across ANY unsporting behavior. Are player and coaches in Ohio THAT much worse than in other areas?

One of my mentors, who I took the class from, always says, "If you think you should've Teed him, you are right. Never leave a T on the floor. Coaches are like elephants, they never forget."

(I thought they were like elephants because thats how much sh!t they are full of):D

If a coach loses that kind of respect for you to where he's acting like an azz, calling a T isn't going to affect that. It'll only calm him down for the rest of that game; and if it doesn't, it'll be one less you have to call later.
And I'm willing to bet that Knight doesn't have quite as much say in who officiates as you give him credit for.