First rant of the season!
 

I have a real love for this game. It eats me up when I see people go out on the court without caring about what they are doing.

We are at the end of a game tonight and the home team is winning by 20+. A big kid on the visitor's team goes up for an alley-oop and it hammered. One of my partners has been asleep at the wheel all night. I come out with a late whistle and the player that committed the foul has fouled out. He is pissed and tells me I suck on his way out. Whack! All of this could have been avoided with some game awareness. The vistors are getting killed, but a foul should be called regardless. We talk about it in the locker room and my other partner admits there was some contact and he could of called it too. He says "we" were trying to get it done and had let some other things go. Huh? I was calling the game until the end.

Part two. Last night I had a college game in New Orleans which is about a hour and fifteen to an hour and thirty away. I had to meet one of my partners at 4:30. I got home at 10:30. Today, I had a double-header that was literally 3-5 minutes from my house. I was supposed to be there at 5 and got home at 10pm. The college game took up an additional hour of my time, was twice the pay, almost half the beating on my body and 10 times as fun. Oh, and yesterday we all really wanted to do a good job - I really question that about one of my partners tonight.

Tomegun,

Hey haven't heard from you in a while. You're right we should always do our best and ref the games out til the end. There are partners out there like that. You know it, I know it, we all know it. All we can do is control what we can control and let the rest of the chips fall where they may. Hope all is well.

Glad we can lend a shoulder. ;)

Not everyone has the same passion for the sport. That's just a fact; some are probably doing for the money, or as a way of getting out of the house. Not everyone has the same talent either, but don't confuse lack of talent with lack of passion. Someone could've learned the "wrong" way of doing things, but that doesn't necessarily mean they don't care. Someone could've had a bad day at work, and they just happen to rather be at home that particular evening.

There could be many different reasons for the way people approach officiating the game. Just continue to let your passion for the game show. Who knows, maybe it'll be contagious.

You are preaching to the choir my man. I hear ya big time!!!

Peace

tomegun, the fact that you are once again working at the college level in your third location since I've met you is a testament to your quality. Hang in there and keep doing it to the best of your ability.
Nice to hear from you. :)

Thanks for all the words. I guess most of my frustration is because I was in a situation where I look like an A$$hole - again - and what I did was the right thing. At any rate, I will survive.

I had this dude two weeks ago....:rolleyes:

I'm holding my hand in the air waiting for subs in/out...he's putting the ball into play on the endline and there are 15 girls on the floor doing the
"I got 12 , I got 22" dance! :mad: This happened on 3 occassions....

Didn't make any eye contact with me during the game...only when I blew the whistle a second time to get his attention on the above mentioned situations...THose 3 games couldn't get over quick enough....(so I didn't have to be on the floor with him anymore...not cause I was ready to head home)

Then in the 4th game, I had a first year guy who was 10X better to work with than the first clown....

Coltdoggs, where is Fishers at? I'm from Indiana too.

NE Indy...East of Carmel, South of Lapel, North of Fortville/Oaklandon area...

I hope this is me... ;) thats what I want people to say about me.

I think guys who swallow their whistle late in non-close games just to "get it over" should only get paid for three quarters. Agree?

Your biggest drawback might be the fact that you are a Bears fan! :D

Hey now! :D

This discussion reminds me of a game a few years ago. My team is down by about 14 with maybe 4 minutes left. The officials were doing a great job up until this point, when I started to notice that hand checking and blocking fouls were being called less and less (on both teams). With about 3 minutes or so left, after two consecutive possessions of my players being hand-checked with both hands and no call, one of the officials responds to my questioning as he runs by on the change of possession. "I'm not gonna call that now, its basically over."

I call a time out, instruct my players to press man-to-man, hand-check, go for steals by disrupting their opponents arms, basically to either get a steal or get a foul call. Since the game is "basically over", the officials aren't calling any of these fouls so we go on a 10-0 run. With about 50 seconds left, an obvious reach-in-slap-across-the-arm is finally called. Our opponent misses the front end of the 1-and-1 and we come down and score a layup, I call timeout. Down by 2 with 44 seconds left, I instruct my team to not foul and just play defense straight up. If we get a defensive stop, we go to overtime. Our opponent inbounds the ball and their guard is expecting to get fouled so he is holding the ball haphazardly and actually takes 2 steps towards the basket he will be shooting the FTs he assumes he will be shooting (without dribbling!). No call. With the ball held out in front of him, one of my players runs up and just takes the ball, no contact. WHISTLE! Official calls the foul.

Opposing player makes both FTs, we miss our subsequent shot. We go to foul and my guard fouls opposing guard across the arm mildy. Officials do not blow the whistle so my player tries to foul a little bit harder. No call. On the third attempt to foul, the final buzzer sounds so the game is over. As I am shaking the hand of the opposing coach, one of the officials walks by and says to me "you really made a travesty of the game". I don't respond, but the opposing coach says to me "those refs really sucked". WHISTLE! I get called for a technical foul.

Maybe I should have just accepted the fact that we were going to lose with 3 minutes left, saved everybody some trouble.

That's bad...I would be lying if I said I love late game fouling, but you have to call the game until the buzzer sounds...I'm there to officiate a game...I'm not there for 60 or 90 minutes and only 60 or 90 minutes or however long the game takes in terms of time...I'm there to do the game from tip to final buzzer...

Y2Koach, I would have hated to be in a situation like that. If it was me and I recognized what was going on, I would call the first foul I saw regardless of where it is on the court. Some officials' idea of doing a good job is warped to say the least.

Oh, I forgot. Part 3. During the girls varsity game (remember, we do double-headers) I'm at the C, my partner who admitted there was contact after the game is lead and my partner who should have called the contact was trail. This play occured in the second half, opposite the table.
The ball is going out of bounds in the far corner near the endline. A girl from the home team, who is on offense, throws the ball over her shoulder to save it. The ball is up in the air and 8 players are on that half of the court. The best player from the other team has a shorter girl in front of her. They both jump for the ball, but the taller girl is literally almost on her back like a piggy-back ride - this girl is a freshmen, is about 6' and probably blocked 10 shots. The ball ends up going out of bounds and there is a whistle. Well, in the meantime, the two girls come down and the taller girl grabs both of the other girl's shoulders and flings her to the ground. The official at lead was looking at the ball going out of bounds and the other official was.....I don't know what he was doing - probably watching the ball too. Everyone in the gym sees this, it is that obvious since the ball and all the players are now in the area. "TWEET, TWEET, TWEET", here I come running. Intentional foul, which was the least that should have been done. Again, this guy was not on it and missing something like this is how fights occur. The girls game was competitive otherwise and could have got real ugly.

We have the capability to block partners and schools. I think I have someone blocked who isn't officiating this year and I can't find a way to remove it. Too bad because this is someone I don't want to work with anymore. He was pissed after the game, but I wasn't rude or anything. I just mentioned what I thought without sugar-coating it. That is when my other partner said, "There was contact; I could have called it too."

I'd have no problem with this, if we got to pay the "unused" portion to the referees that actually hustled and did their job for the whole game. ;)

###

tomegun: I think the fact you posted here shows that you are an official who strive do a good job from opening tip to final buzzer. It is frustrating when people don't pull their weight, so to speak, regardless of the settings, but hopefully it motivates you to not follow in their footsteps.

Good luck this season. :)

The assigner called me this afternoon and asked me what happened. He had to go to the school and the coach asked him about it. Other than this play, the coach/team was fine. I told him what happened and he didn't have any problems with it.
The crew I had tonight was much better although we had two blowouts. It is all good and I'm looking forward to a night off.

I hope that the assignor also called your partners and not just you about this.

PS Did you call an intentional personal foul or an intentional technical foul. It is unclear from your description whether the ball was live and you called the foul late because it was out of your PCA or if the contact that you penalized took place after the ball had gone OOB.

I had my 1st match of the year this week. 2nd game was a blowout-completely overpowered the other. I was saying to myself "game's out of reach, just keep it safe" but then thought the more you let go, the more it escalates. A little slap leads to a bigger on, then a little more pushing, then a lot of pushing, until right before your eyes, you have lost your "control." I still see talking the players out of a lot of stuff as much as you can.

Here's something from the 1st game. Late in the 4th, home team down by 3, has 4 fouls to give. Ball is right in front of the opponent's bench. Home coach is wanting them to foul to stop the clock. They do, and the opponent coach is looking at my partner and asking why he didn't call an intentional. He says anytime you yell "foul" it is automatic intentional. I tried to explain that it was a poe to combat excessive contact fouling in this situation, but the coach calling foul doesn't unlock the door. Did I miss something on the POE's lately, or is this coach being himself?
Oh well, the joys of the season.

This was the official interp one year. Several years ago, abandoned as quickly as it was adopted.

apologies to any adopted children with abandonment issues

ROFLMAO!!!

No.. that will be an asset... I know what horrible play looks like.

I doubt whether he called them. This area is ran by coaches and my partners know how to fall in line. On the other hand, I try my best to do what is right and supported by the rules. The assigner knows I will try my best to do a good job, but he also knows I will give someone a T like it is candy on Halloween.

I saw him at my games last night and he said (jokingly), "Don't be out here calling a lot of Technicals." Fortunately, the games went well and nobody came close to crossing that line.

The play occured as the ball was going out of bounds so it wasn't an intentional technical. My whistle was late because the thought, "We have to call that" ran through my head. It was a long way for me to go, but it had to be called.

HA! Well, you are in for some more with Rex going back under center....

Hey wait, didn't my QB just throw 6 INTS! :confused: ;)

Here is the current NFHS position on this.

2005-06 POINTS OF EMPHASIS

3. Intentional Fouls.
...
B. Late in the game. Fouling is an accepted coaching strategy and is utilized by nearly all coaches in some form. It is viewed as a chance for a team behind in the score to get back in the game while the clock is stopped. There is widespread belief that it works or it wouldn't be coached.
There is a right way and a wrong way to foul. Coaches must instruct their players in the proper technique for strategic fouling. "Going for the ball" is a common phrase heard, but intentional fouls should still be called on players who go for the ball if it is not done properly. Conversely, a coach who yells, "Foul!" instructions to his or her team does not mean the ensuing foul is "automatically" an intentional foul – even though it is a strategic foul designed to stop the clock. Coaches, officials, players, fans and administrators must accept fouling as a legitimate coaching strategy.

-----------------------------------
However, it is true that the NFHS did issue the exact opposite ruling back in a 2000-01 POE:
"Acts that must be deemed intentional include when a coach/player says watch, we're going to foul"..