on a positive note...
 

I got a call from my assignor this evening. He was in a tough spot, as an official in our associations wife had just gone into labor, and the official had to back out at the last minute. So he called me, asking if I could possibly make it to the game. I'm new in the association, and figured I could cancel my movie plans, and go help him out.

It was a church league. First game of their season, and it has been somewhat notorious for bad sportsmanship. The kids are high school aged, and the coaches have been notoriously bad sportsmen. I had heard about this league, but once again, I figured I'd give it a shot.

I showed up at the gym with my partner. We found the site coordinator, and he directed us to a room where we could hang out until the game got started. We got to the room, and he explained to us that he was in charge of the league this year, and while he understood there had been problems in previous years, he was working to improve sportsmanship.

My partner and I took it pretty lightly, figuring something as atrocious as had been going on couldn't be fixed in one off-season. Boy were we wrong!

We went out on to the court, and where both coaches came up and shook our hands and thanked us for coming out. We had a knowledgeable table crew. The game went off without a hitch. Players helped each other up. Not a word from either bench. Coach asked me about a PC foul on the other end of the court, saying "I wanted to ask you about that foul a minute ago, but I figured I needed to wait until a dead ball. Could you tell me what you saw?" I explained that the defender was set, and the shooter, while driving to the basket, lowered his shoulder into the defender. Coach says, "Alright, sounds like a great call then!" and smiled at me.

We finished up the game, both coaches thanked us again, and we returned to our room. The site administrator met us there to check and make sure everything went fine on our end. We said yes, that things were great. Site administrator thanked us, handed us our check and says, "hold on a minute, I understand you guys had to do some switching around for tonight's game, and I really appreciate it." He pulled out two plates, each covered in cookies for us.

I left the gym, cookies in tow, and immediately sent my assignor an email. I told him to assign me to their games any day of the week.

A pleasant change of pace from some of the other leagues we work...

Nice. <IIII>

Great Job!!

Flimsy excuse if you ask me! :D
Good politics.
Very, very good politics.
Good thinking.
Nice thing to be wrong about!

"Who are you, and what have you done with the rec league coaches?"

Wowsa!

Is that Site Administrator available to do some mediating in the Middle East?!?

sounds like a made up story to me. ;)

Sounds like the only thing missing were bath robes for you and your partner to use after the warm shower. Other than that, the perfect game.

"Food, Glorious Food"
 

Along with my high school schedule, I also officiate in a Catholic school league, seventh and eighth graders are "varsity", fifth and sixth graders are "junior varsity". Pay is great, as is the food. Almost every site offers complimentary refreshments to the officials, including hamburgs, hot dogs, pizza, fried dough, hot pretzels, sports drinks, bottled water, soda, etc. I was dissappointed last week because they ran out of hot pretzels before our games ended. I was really looking forward to that pretzel. They offered to make me one, or to give me one to bake at home, but I declined and took one of the leftover hot dogs.

Also, at the varsity high school level, we have a private school, where the athletic director has a chilled cooler loaded with soda and beer for the officials after the game. Nothing beats an ice cold beer immediately after a varsity game.

Tastes great.
Less than brilliant.

I think it's a trap. They got you to sign up for several more games now, they'll return to their unsportsmanlike condition. :)

Ha. <iiii>

Fried Dough?
 

I can picture this "fried dough". Sounds like and elephant ear maybe? My cardiologist would probably warn me about the pitfalls of fried dough. :eek: What does he know? :D

Yeah - how many times can you watch "Hoosiers" anyway? ;)

Maybe it was the part about the coach speaking in complete, grammatical sentences that made you believe this?

I've officiating for a JUCO team that had a six pack on ice for us after the game but I'm surprised that a high school would do this! I would be careful about accepting or drinking beer at a high school because of the potential problems that could arise. I completely understand and agree with you that a cold beer is great after a game but I would probably wait 20 minutes until you get home. If I was the assigner I would politely ask the school to not supply beer for the officials anymore (just send it to my house :p)

Just my 2 cents.