Ever Deal With Fans off-court? Do You Always Ignore On-Court?

[Raymond]

I've only had to remove 1 fan in HS ball and have threatened to have a few removed in AAU ball. Never any incidents with any of them after the game though.

Maybe b/c I'm 6'5" 260lbs or maybe b/c I have a such a friendly smile but all the folks who have ever recognized me away from games have always been friendly.

Only "incident" I have ever really had with a fan was a few years ago in my 3rd or 4th season of officiating--a fan came on the court after a state level 15U AAU game and told his players "You can't win playing 5 against f**king 7!". I was already in a particularly bad mood that evening so as I walked off the court I looked directly in his face and said "f**k you!!!" For some reason that caused the fan to become very animated and that drew the attention of our very large security person. Turned out the guy had already been kicked off the premises earlier in the day for harrassing officials and had been seen drinking in the parking lot.

Now-a-days I would just ignore, or report, such an incident. Too many shootings going on around here to be confrontational.

[williebfree]

Here is one of my ol' time favorites....

Situation in a Boys Freshman game.

A1 and B1 scramble for a loose ball; B1 pushes it, but it contacts A1’s hand as it sails into the crowd.

(Tweet) “Blue” (point toward Blue's hoop)

A1 coach (Home) calls time-out.

As I wait at the location of the ensuing throw-in, a father (located 4 rows up, directly behind me), who had been chirping since the beginning of the game, challenges my last call and my ability to officiate. “That should be our ball! Blah, blah, blah.” He then concludes, “How long have you been officiating?”

I opt to deviate from my usual professional demeanor of ignoring these types of comments (remember its a freshman game). With a smile on my face, I turned to the heckling dad and responded, “We are 2 minutes 19 seconds into the second quarter, so that would mean I have been officiating 10 minutes and 19 seconds.” I paused and then with a smile on my face I continued, “And I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”

All those within earshot of my retort began to chuckle. I did not have any additional problems with the crowd that night.

[Adam]

Had a fan (mom) at an AAU game a couple of years ago come up to us and ask for our names so she could report us to AAU. Didn't give it to her, just told her the guy she needed to complain to was standing next to me. I'd heard her yelling during the game. During the post-game "chat," she made some comment about knowing the rules because her brother had played in the NBA. Partner asked her if she'd ever read a rule book. She responded with an accusation of racism. Conversation ended there.

[JoeT]

Years ago I was working a grade school game and had a section of fans giving me a bit of a hard time when I was at their end of the floor. At one point, during a dead ball, I joked (without turning back to them), "I'm going to have to get some of that popcorn after the game. One said, "you can smell that?" I replied, "sure, when you're this blind, all your other senses are heightened."

They laughed and left me alone the rest of the game.

[Coltdoggs]

Had a Grandma in my rec league tourney (5th-6th grade) a couple years ago hootin' and hollerin' YAY when the calls were against the other team and really getting after us when the calls were against her g-son's team. Of course they were all WRONG!

It got pretty bad and I'd really heard just about enough....At one timeout where the ball was coming back in, right in front of her...she was chewing on me pretty good....I turned and asked her how many games she had worked this year....I got this look ...I repeated the question and still got ....I said to her something like "I was just curious how many games you had officiated this year cause this is my 73rd game in this league this year, I don't think I've seen you on the court yet?".....She promptly shut the hell up after that....

One of my favs....in my first year, I had a grandpa on the first row of bleachers right at the end line opposite the table....I had a kid step on the endline, tableside, and I whistled it OOB and pointed the other way....During the next timeout, I was bleacher side and the old fella said to me..."Are you SURE he stepped out?" I said, well sir, I blew the whistle and gave the ball to the other team, so yeah!"....He said "I think you missed it"....Me- "Wow, I was standing right there by it and your telling me you saw it clear over here that he was IN?....I better get my eyes checked!" We laughed together about it...he came up afterwards and told me I'd done a good job and that he was a former official himself back in the day...Gave me a little confidence boost in my first year.

I tend to just ignore the fans....I hear them, but I don't listen, generally....it's much easier to ignore them after 7-8 years of doing this...

[archangel]

I dont talk to fans(you probably wont win anyway), except 1 time.
All game long, 5th grade boys, a mom was constantly complaining- but not at us, only directed at her son. I felt sorry for him when he'd make a mistake or miss a shot, but, hey, not my business until.....he loses the ball OOB midcourt by momma. I'm administering throwin when she finally crosses the line by cussing at her son (YES!, I was hoping for an opportunity). Turn and point at her 4 ft away, saying Loudly-"stop that, if you want to watch the rest of the game", fans applaud, so she walks out of the gym...

[Scrapper1]

Did a varsity game once when there was a grandmother-type there. I couldn't spot her, but I could hear her every once in a while. Nothing specific, just "that's terrible!" or "come on!". That sort of thing.

As we're leaving the building after the game, we walk past an old lady who says to us, "You were terrible tonight". I just said, "Oh, that was you!" and kept walking.

[archer]

Couple of years ago I was doing a game between 2 rival schools. Gym is packed and play is intense. During the 3rd quarter, R has a Mom ejected that is sitting at half court for cussing him. The gym is a cracker box so fans are 3 feet from playing area. Couple of minutes later U2 has another fan removed for cussing a player. Administration get on mic and tells crowd that anymore comments towards officals or players will result in being removed from gym. All total so far refs 2 fans pointed out and asked to leave and admin has 2 of their own.
4th quarter starts out smooth and looks like rest of game will go by without anymore incidents. About midway through quarter we have a crash at bucket. R calls block and he nails call. Kid that foul was called on is on the floor hurt. Fan section behind home bench erupts and trash is being thrown on floor. One fan stands out from all the others. Its a Dad and he is calling us every cuss word you can think of. I motion for administration and point at the offensive parent. Administration ask if Im totally sure. I tell them I am 100% sure. So deputy is summoned and he also ask if Im sure. I reiterate that I am 100%.

Parent is escorted out of gym. Suppose to leave school property. Asst. coach for home team starts a tirade at us. He is ejected as well! During next dead ball I am standing next to home team bench and coach informs me that I just threw out the District attorney for that county and his son who was the asst. coach. Now picture starts to form as to why admin and Barney were hesitant to ask parent to leave. Game ends with no more incidents.
After game we are headed to locker room. Some how parent that I had ejected is standing at the entrance to our locker room. Deputy is escorting us so we assume he will make parent leave. We continue towards door while parent is giving me the stink eye. He refuses to leave and continues to block entrance to locker room. Barney starts to slink back up the steps. I tell Barney that if this guy isnt off school property that we are calling state police. Parent make a couple of remarks under his breath and leaves.

Now that we are in the safety of locker room. We start to unwind. All of a sudden a window is smashed and a face appears informing the R that he is getting an *** kickin when we reach parking lot. R has had enough, so he calls State Police. 10 minutes later. 3 state police vehicles arrive and clear school property after arresting 3 people. We are escorted out of county by state police.

3 weeks later we are at another school. Clock operator ask me if I had ejected anyone lately. I forgot about incident and say no. She then reminds me about incident. She tells me that she is the DA's secretary. She goes on to tell me that state admonished him and that his office personal are calling him Mr. T. Deputy was suspended and asst. coach was fired. Dad and son have a lifetime ban and cannot attend any high school sporting event in that district. Oh, and here is the best part. He went up for relection and didnt even receive the nomination for his party. Last I heard he was a public defender!

[JoeTheRef]

[QUOTE=archer]Couple of years ago I was doing a game between 2 rival schools. Gym is packed and play is intense. QUOTE]

Arch, knowing that these were 2 rival schools, did you and your crew decide in your pregame how you were going to call the game or manage the game or did you call it the same as you would any other game? At halftime, did you discuss making any adjustments to how you were going to manage the game?

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by JoeTheRef

Arch, knowing that these were 2 rival schools, did you and your crew decide in your pregame how you were going to call the game or manage the game or did you call it the same as you would any other game? At halftime, did you discuss making any adjustments to how you were going to manage the game?

Joe, just curious what you think your questions have to do with the fan behavior at the game? Are we going to call a game differently, depending on the amount of crap we're likely to get from fans? Or depending on how many fans will be at the game? Obviously not. I don't see how a better pre-game would affect the fans' reactions.

[JoeTheRef]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

Joe, just curious what you think your questions have to do with the fan behavior at the game? Are we going to call a game differently, depending on the amount of crap we're likely to get from fans? Or depending on how many fans will be at the game? Obviously not. I don't see how a better pre-game would affect the fans' reactions.

I was actually in the process of editing my post to say that I was curious if there was anything we as officials can do to ensure a game doesn't get totally out of hand? Call it tighter? Anything? Or do we just succumb to the fact that fans, players, and coaches are going to be jerks to the point that it provokes incidents like what happened in Arch's game.

[JoeTheRef]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

Joe, just curious what you think your questions have to do with the fan behavior at the game? Are we going to call a game differently, depending on the amount of crap we're likely to get from fans? Or depending on how many fans will be at the game? Obviously not. I don't see how a better pre-game would affect the fans' reactions.

I was actually in the process of editing my post to say that I was curious if there was anything we as officials can do to ensure a game doesn't get totally out of hand? Call it tighter? Anything? Or do we just succumb to the fact that fans, players, and coaches are going to be jerks to the point that it provokes incidents like what happened in Arch's game.

[JoeTheRef]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

Joe, just curious what you think your questions have to do with the fan behavior at the game? Are we going to call a game differently, depending on the amount of crap we're likely to get from fans? Or depending on how many fans will be at the game? Obviously not. I don't see how a better pre-game would affect the fans' reactions.

Scrap, if you have two big rivals do you pregame and officiate the game the same as you would with 2 mediocre, non rival teams playing each other for the first time or rarely play each other?

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by JoeTheRef

Scrap, if you have two big rivals do you pregame and officiate the game the same as you would with 2 mediocre, non rival teams playing each other for the first time or rarely play each other?

Scrappy certainly doesn't need me to jump in & help but I think he's referring specifically to fans. Speaking for myself I can't remember ever discussing fans during a pregame. Do you do this?

[JoeTheRef]

Originally Posted by Dan_ref

Scrappy certainly doesn't need me to jump in & help but I think he's referring specifically to fans. Speaking for myself I can't remember ever discussing fans during a pregame. Do you do this?

Dang, I didn't realize we were talking about fans. When I first read the O/P, I apparently did some "selective" reading. Meaning, I took certain words, rivalry, intense game, fan ejection, coach ejection, hard foul, hurt player, etc. and formed my thought and questions. With that said, I guess I was really talking about and trying to get to some game managment type ideas that me, or other officials can get in regards to this type of game. As for the fans, me personally, I'll have them removed without hitch and usually it only takes one or two before the whole gym gets the message. If they don't get the message, then eventually we will be playing in front of an empty gym.