on a positive note...

[NewNCref]

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...