sharing a story

[crew]

tonite in my game i was working a team i have had many times before with a coach that is very volatile. before the game my 3rd partner had to bail because his wife had just had a baby. we were able to pick up a great ref that had the night night off. the coach told me before the game he did not particularly like the add on official. this statement is fine by me. during pregame i tell my partners what was said just to give warning for potential hazards. 2 min. into the game i am lead table side and call a shooting foul on a drive to the hole. the coach wanted a travel that he said occurred before the foul. (we used the pro switches tonite) i am now trail table and the coach is asking about the play and i apologize for not seeing the travel and assured him that my partner would have called it if he had seen it as well. then he points at my partner and says, "that fu[king a$$hole aint worth sh1t." it took me about 2 sec to process the statement, it took me by surprise. i gave him a very hurt look and a very loud tech. i tooted real loud and pointed right in right at him from about 5 ft away and reported to the table. i wanted to make the statement very clear that what he said was unexceptable.

this may have been a poor way to handle this situation but i feel good for defending my partner.

to add on he and i usually talk to each other during the game about plays or he would jokeingly curse me or tell me that we took the game from the other team when he was winning by 20 or more with seconds left to play. these are acceptable to me when i know he was not serious. i am afraid that tonites situation has hurt our raport during games. i have him on the road tommorrow nite(fri) and will post the exchange that we have together sunday.