Observations from my first season/tournament

[Mark Dexter]

Well, my first season is finally over! Now I'm back to simply pretending to be a ref on this message board.

Here are some interesting points that came up tonight/this past week (IM tourney week)/this season. There may be a question or two in here somewhere, but it's mostly just me writing to get basketball out of my system:

(1) When dealing with college intramurals, reffing doesn't get you many friends. Rather large crowd for my co-ed game tonight, many of whom knew me and walked away thinking that much less of me (not that I cared). Of course, the best teams and players are funny and polite with the refs whether they win or lose (although tempers may flare a little on the court), and I've gotten to know quite a few great guys and girls.

(2) I'm the worst ref ever. Of course, I don't give this much credence as this was from the captain/coach who thinks that NF rules are identical to NCAA rules and that I should call the NF games as such. He wanted my address to buy me a rule book (shoulda told him that I'd accept the gift of next year's - $20 less out of my pocket!)

(3) The net is not part of the basket, and touching the basket when the ball is in the basket is not offensive BI (see #2, above).

(4) There is no such thing as an offensive kick - this one has been driving me crazy all night. I blew a call - A1 comes down legally off of a rebound (no control), hits floor, ball bounces off of his leg while trying to gain control - I blow my whistle, freeze, then call a kick . I'm then blasted after the game by several refs from team A that there is no such thing as an offensive kick in NF/NCAA rules.

(5) Playing basketball makes you an expert in the rules (see #4).

(6) My favorite of the night. (I promise I'll stop after the next one!!) Captains' meeting before the co-rec championship. I give my usual line of "ALL jewlery must come off - I don't care if it's soddered on your body." The captain asks me about a girl who "just got her ears pierced but taped over them," and I explained that the earrings had to come out or the girl couldn't play. The kicker - the girl (who "just got" the earrings) came up to me and said that I had let her play with the earrings on before! Oy!

(7) A three-man system is a gift from God!!!