First rant of the season!

[tomegun]

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.

[btaylor64]

Originally Posted by tomegun

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.

[M&M Guy]

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.

[JRutledge]

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

Peace

[Nevadaref]

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.

[tomegun]

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.

[Coltdoggs]

I had this dude two weeks ago....

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! 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....

[tomegun]

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

[Coltdoggs]

Originally Posted by tomegun

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

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

[Bearfanmike20]

Originally Posted by Coltdoggs

I had this dude two weeks ago....

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! 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....

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

[Mark Padgett]

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?

[Coltdoggs]

Originally Posted by Bearfanmike20

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

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

Originally Posted by Coltdoggs

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

Hey now!

[Y2Koach]

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.

[Coltdoggs]

Originally Posted by Y2Koach

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...