I know to avoid fan interaction, but I've seen a couple of humorous situations:

Last night, at a 5th grade game, my partner (22 years old) says, "That's my uncle over there behind the bench; he came to give me a rough time tonight."

I'm reporting a timeout, and the uncle says, "Hey, where'd you find your partner?!" My reply: "I ordered him off the back of a cereal box."

At a varsity game I was watching a few weeks ago, "Larry" was reffing. He's done games in our area for years and is well known and respected. He was catching some grief for a call, "Aw come on, Larry. You missed that one." Larry looks over, and with an obvious wink, replies, "Hey, I've been perfect all night!" You needed to be there, but everyone in ear shot laughed, and Larry maintained control of the game.

I try never to talk to the fans, unless I know the person (kind of like you and your partner's uncle). I've tried talking to fans in the past, and I've never felt good about it, so I just don't anymore. But last week, I did have a very funny experience.

I was working a very competitive boys varsity game and the gym was pretty full. In the first half, tho, I could hear one woman's voice at certain times. When I would take my Trail position during free throws (2-man game), I would back up toward the sideline opposite the table. Almost every time, I would hear, "Hey ref, move", "Ref, move over", "Ref, move it, I can't see". This happened several times, until right before halftime she says "Hey ref, move your fat @ss!" I didn't reply at all. Merely continued on until halftime.

Second half, I decided to find out who it was. So every time I was trail during free throws, I stood on a different spot, trying to see if she'd pipe up. Sure enough, about 4 minutes left in the game, I heard her, "C'mon ref, move over!" FINALLY!

I took two steps straight back until I was directly in front of her. She put up a hand to hold me off so I didn't fall in her lap. She was sort of handchecking me. I thought to myself "Ha, I gotcha."

As I started back up the court after the second free throw, I turned around very quickly to at least see who it was that had been talking to me. I see the lady sitting there and she says, with a wicked smile "Ref. . . I had my hand on your @ss!"

I almost busted out laughing right on the court. Probably one of the funniest things that's happened to me during a game.

Chuck

[Edited by ChuckElias on Jan 17th, 2002 at 12:24 PM]

You should have told her you usually charge for that.

Last game I reffed, I walked up to my partner at center-court, just before the game as teams were huddling and said in a voice loud enough for the fans to hear...

"If one of these fans gets out of line tonight, I`m going to throw them out of the gym". The 3 fans who were there thought it was pretty funny and didn`t bother us all game.

:)

Ren

I will suggest that there is nothing wrong with talking with the fans. Particularly in a high school game. You know that there is a group of kids, center court ( the ones with the crazy hair, or the jerseys etc) If you chat with them you can get them on your side early on in the game,

You dont want to get in debates or fights with fans but standing there you may want to talk with one. They actually might think we are human and not the enemy

Cute story. Did she give you an extra $20 after the game?
(You McGriff readers should get it...)

A wise old ref once told me, half jokingly, to kinda
grab your cheek in an obvious way as you walk away from
fans who are getting to you. If there's a complaint,
well, you were "adjusting yourself", if you know what I
mean. Jump forward a few years and I try this. Game
moves on, I find myself at trail waiting for the ball to
come in by my new friends and I hear a shy voice saying "Hey ref, can you do that again?" I had to turn
around, it must have been your friend, she had the same
wicked smile.

If you took it,would you lose your "amateur" status?:D:

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dan_ref

Quote:

Cute story. Did she give you an extra $20 after the game? (You McGriff readers should get it...)

She didn't offer, but since she wasn't a coach, I would've gladly accepted. I guess she didn't like the merchandise enough to make a bid. :(

Chuck

Not Usually
 

I agree with the concept of ignoring fans, but I have two incidences where my comments to them paid off.

First was CYO a few years ago. There were very few in the gym and someone kept yelling "3-seconds" when it naturally didn't apply. We finally had a time out with the ball to be inbounded near that area. So, I walked over and said "For the person who had a question about 3-seconds..." and I explained the rule. After a moment of silence, one of the parents thanked me. No more comments.

Another time there were ~20 parents for a MS game at our church-sponsored school that I was working alone. During the 1st quarter there were the typical comments. Between quarters I explained to the parents that while I normally ignored fan comments, with so few people they were distracting, and given that I was trying to watch all 10 players, I really could do without the distractions. I got some general acknowledgment and no further comments for the rest of the game.

I think it can sometimes help to build a rapport with fans. You obviously don't want them to become the focus, but sometimes (depends on the situation), it helps the game flow. Men's game tonight, the officials would give a thumbs up to the kids behind the scorer's table, talk and laugh a bit with the guys on the ends of the court, etc. I really think that, when done properly, this makes the game a bit more fun for everyone.

We had a situation with about 5 minutes left in the 2nd half. A1 (home) drives on a fast break, puts up a shot, and misses. Suddenly, we have whistles on the rebound. From my vantage point, I saw BI, and the C was waving off the basket. Turns out L had a foul on A3 on the play. No problem, I figure, just play on - except that there's a timeout.

The lead switches to become C, and is standing right in front of me in front of press row. Guy from the stands is giving him an earful, so the ref just kinda glances over his shoulder and stares at the fan (who quickly shut up). The ref and I smiled at each other, and he leaned down and said "Make sure that guy gets home safely."

Like I said; a better game for all involved!

Another fan interaction story
 

About a month ago, I worked a Frosh Boys game in a parochial gym which was not the host team's facility. The Visitors wore their "away" Royal Blue uniforms and the home team showed up with their "Tarheel" Blue uniforms. I approached the home team coach and asked if he could switch to white. No such luck.

As I entered the center circle to toss the opening tip, I verbalized with my deep (Drill Sargeant quality and volume) voice, "We have Blue (royal blue team) going this way!" Then with a brief pause, followed with, "No, I am not colorblind, WHITE going this way!"

The 100 or so fans chuckled and we were off and running.

Ignore the fans if they are really into the game. I did have a game where I went to the far side of the court and it was very quiet as about ten parents were sitting over there on the losing team. I finally said, "Ya'll are dead over here tonight. Do I need to call something contraversial to liven things up?" One of them responded with "Please, don't do that." We all laughed and the game went on. I wouldn't make a practice of it but from time to time it does help.