At what point do you acknowledge fans/parents?

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by rainmaker

... and said in my most mother bear voice, "You idiots!! Either shut up or get out!"

Would that work on some posters here?

[Adam]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

Would that work on some posters here?

Nah, it's been tried.

[mj]

I learned many years ago that if you are going to acknowledge parents/fans at all be very careful. I was doing a Middle School girl's tournament game and the visiting fans/parents thought they were getting the shaft on some calls. After one such call, I told them "we'll do the refereeing now thank you". One parent yells back, "Yeah when are you gonna start?"

After that I learned to be very choosy what if anything you say to the crowd.

[ChrisSportsFan]

Originally Posted by mj

I learned many years ago that if you are going to acknowledge parents/fans at all be very careful. I was doing a Middle School girl's tournament game and the visiting fans/parents thought they were getting the shaft on some calls. After one such call, I told them "we'll do the refereeing now thank you". One parent yells back, "Yeah when are you gonna start?"
After that I learned to be very choosy what if anything you say to the crowd.

"Now and good-bye to you, Sir"

[buckrog64]

Usually barking with the fans is a losing situation. If it's that bad, toss someone, and keep tossing people until they get the message. Make damn sure they deserve it though. I hate to punish the players because their fans are jerks, but sometimes if you get picky on stuff and you call fouls that are truly fouls but at other times you might have let them go, then sometimes a message can be sent and hopefully received.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by buckrog64

I hate to punish the players because their fans are jerks, but sometimes if you get picky on stuff and you call fouls that are truly fouls but at other times you might have let them go, then sometimes a message can be sent and hopefully received.

Now you are punishing the players for their fans though. That's just wrong. Be consistent with your foul-calling and forget about "sending messages" to people who aren't causing you the problems in the first place.

[Mark Padgett]

One thing I really miss is hearing any chants from the stands like the one we used to do in HS when we thought a call went against us (which was most of the time). Chants like, "Elevator, elevator, we got the shaft".

Also, we'd yell when an opponent was going to shoot a FT, "See that basket, see that ball, c'mon stupid, hit the wall".

We never got reprimanded for any of it. Different times.

Oh yeah - some of us would yell in Latin, too.