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

Anyone have some memorable experiences with fans screaming at them? I mean, it's always amazing how that mom from the home-team see's a play that you missed :rolleyes:

So my question(s), what are some memorable experiences you've had on-court with fans? Did any try to come out and fight you? Did you ever get boo'd by the entire gymnasium? Did you ever look up into an angry crowd and see more people that want to kill you than ever? lol

Also, anything off-court? Anyone try giving you an earful after the game was over and you were ready to leave?

I wear contact lens when I officiate and glasses the rest of the time. (Still afraid of having the laser surgery.)

Anyway after showering and changing following a game, I was leaving the gym with my partners and a mother still standing around talking to some other parents said, "Now he puts his glasses on!" :D

Even I found that amusing.

Even though you know they're just kidding, when the whole gym chants: "Find a tall tree, and hang the referee," it will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

They are just kidding, right?

They never chant that when Bhuck Elics is on the court. :D

Tall tree not needed?

I had something sad and then amusing Saturday. It's an 8th grade girls game. Very small gym. Dad in the second row at half court is riding my case real hard about EVERYTHING. I called a carry (incredibly obvious--girl caught the ball up by her armpit and then dribbled again) and he says "wow you really have it out for her today, don't you". Keep in mind the second quarter has just started. I tried to be nice and said "sir, I've heard enough out of you. I don't want you to miss your daughter's game, but if you continue to act like you are now, I'll have you removed from the gym." He starts to say something and I interrupt and say "no, sir. That's enough. I don't need to hear anything else." So then his wife says "fine, if he isn't allowed to talk, then I'll say it...you're bad!!!"

I thought that was amusing. They were quiet until there were 15 seconds left in the game and then he started being a jackass again.

And to add one more, I was doing a G JV game and one of my good friends has a sister on one of the teams so he was there watching. He gave me a little good natured grief when I was close to where he was sitting through the game. In the 3rd quarter, a kid runs on the court (like 3 y/o) after a made basket. I put air in the whistle to stop play, the whole places goes quiet and he yells "you picked a fine time to get one right, ref!!!"

Pretty funny.

A local fan
 

in a somewhat tight game kept on yelling "get the hair out of your eyes, ref!"
The scorers table kept on chuckling every time he'd yell it as I came over to report a foul.

I'm bald.

But do you have bushy eyebrows?

Now that's pretty funny.

Had one situation during a VG game. I'm in the "C" slot, with the coach near me, and we hear a fan yell "I'll be waiting for you in the parking lot ref" in a manner where I really couldn't tell if he was joking or not, or to which ref he was talking to. I hit my whistle and turned around at the same time the coach turns around, points to the fan and looks at the local sherrif's deputy and gives the head nod gesture towards to the fan and the fan was gone.. Apparently the fan was joking because when I initially looked up he was smiling and laughing. He didn't think it was funny when he was removed from the gym.

When I was just starting out I had the same situation, except I tossed the guy out of the gym. He was sitting in the front row of a crowded small grammar school gym and was literally yelling into my azz as I was putting the ball in play on the sideline. I asked him to take it easy, he said he didn't have to so we stopped the game while he was escorted out. Two things I remember. The guy (who was with the visitors) was so mad that I had the nerve to boot him that he left the gym without his coat. He wanted to know my name so he could "report" me. That was back before I knew Chuck so I told him my name was Teddy Valentine. It was a cold february night and the people at the door wouldn't let him back in, they wouldn't even go to get his coat for him. I worked a lot of games for those people, they really ran a good program. The other thing is that just after the guy left his daughter came to me and apologized for her father's behavior, she was nearly in tears. Later her coach thanked me, said he always made an azz of himself and was glad someone finally did something about it.

At about the same time I was working a freshman game against 2 middle schools that were close by and really didn't like each other. Both schools made a big deal out of it and the place was pretty packed for a freshman game. And being where it was there was a local cop on duty. Midway thru the game during a time out this one really big guy gets up off his seat and starts slowly walking towards me. I could tell he had a few adult beverages in him. So I put the ball on the floor just in case and as the cop and 2 school security guys get to him he smiles and says he just wanted to shake my hand and tell me what a great job I'm doing. I told him it wouldn't look good if I shook hands with him, he agreed and was walked back to his seat.

Fouls are 6 to 6 late second quarter I'm lead and I see the two big kids heading right toward each other going for the same spot so I say, "Easy." Does no good smash, no first contact to call, neither got there first, so I give them a, "Clean it up." Nope they are intent on beating the crap out of each other and smash together again...Bam, double foul.

Go to report, white 55, red 40 double foul white ball on the side when I hear...wait for it..."Call it both ways!"

Now I normally don't react to the crowd but I turned to where it came from and gave the WTF look and the gym cracked up.

Later in the game had a foul on white bonus coming for red, same voice, "Oh sure that's a foul you never call anything on him." The kid shooting fouled out about 30 seconds later.


Had a full gym one night, home was having a white out so one entire section was nothing but white tee shirts, late in the game loose ball kids diving, ball OOB, and a big wet spot. I call for game management and a towel when a kid jumps from 3 rows up, leap frogs off his buddies in the 2nd row and lands on the court. He whips off his shirt, gets down on all fours and starts wiping up the spot. I see a spot about a foot from my feet so I say, "You missed a spot," and point, he gets the spot and then buffs my shoes.


I had about 1,500 kids in a student crazies section start a you suck chant when I called a clear-out PC foul on their star player on a dunk attempt. The assistant principle was in charge of GM and she came running across the gym waving a no-no finger at that section.

Nice!!!

BlindZebra - Man, I gotta come to some of your games! Good stuff! :)

I don't know if the has been posted here, but this is a good example of how to or not to deal with fans.



Association Leaders,
this was reported the situation below. Please remind your
officials that they should never attempt to deal with unruly fans but
should follow protocol and report the situation to the game management
and allow that group to deal with the unruly fan. You never know what
might happen and you should not put yourself in danger.

Theresia D. Wynns
Assistant Commissioner
Indiana High School Athletic Association



Theresia, One of my young officials had a game at New Castle Saturday
night. A fan in the crowd from Marion was cussing at the girls and
officials. Game management was made aware of the situation. They
called
police and he was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct. However
during the pat down a loaded hand gun was discovered. I have sent out a
note to our members telling them if they have a problem with a spectator
get game management.

Here's a memorably sad situation from last year. Boys sixth grade CYO. I do very little because its usually not worth the hassle. I do just enough so that the assignor usually gives me some of the diocesean championships. (BTW---around here CYO stands for Catholic Yelling Organization)

I am trail and player is stuck in the corner right in front of me trapped because he picked up his dribble. He held his pivot foot but was struggling to find a passing lane when his other foot stepped on the side line. Easy call. White! and we're going the other way. At which point a mother jumped out of the stands from the fourth row and starts running towards me getting no less than six M-F's out of her mouth.:eek: I didn't know if I was going to have to defend myself or what, but I stepped back onto the floor away from the sideline about two steps and just said loudly as I pointed towards the far end and the door, "just keep going ma'am".

It really shook me up though that someone would act that way at a sixth grade game. I wrote a letter to the diocese andcc'd the assignor and I guess the school got in hot water. I dropped the rest of my CYO games at that site. :mad:

Darn those Catholics!

Didn't Henry VIII say the same thing?

A guy in our association had his hand in a cast for several weeks and his shoe came untied. A player came up to him and said, "My Dad can help you with that." The official wondered if the kid was wising off when he heard a voice call him from behind saying, "It's okay, I'm his Dad." He had no right hand.

Wasn't that about the time the word disconsorting came into the language?

It's Dan PATRICK that is associated with Consort.

There is very little whitespace between the brim on the r and the stick of the n. It kinda looks like d-a-m. Dam those Catholics. :D

Who is Dan Patrick? I know Danica Patrick. She's smokin' hott.

Shouldn't that come from an Oregon State fan? [Assuming there are any.]

Her sponsor folded.

Just looked him up. He's some radio talk guy. *yawn*

Nah, in Oregon we like Catholics as much or as little as any other religion. But we're all very liberal and we don't dam anyone.

Parents Like the Results
 

I had a rec league game 6-7th grade girls, working the game with my son, I'm lead, son is trail, player with ball makes a quick move across top of key, coach yells for a travel, I'm kind of watching out for my son, did notice the move, but didn't look like a travel to me, I thought my son had it right, we do have a foul so we're going to be going the other way, play moves down floor, I now am trail right in front of coach, he keeps right on yelling about the travel, play goes back down floor my son is now trail opposite coach, he keeps harping on the travel, "how many steps does she get... how many steps" play now goes down floor and I have coach again, this time "stop" sign goes up, he says "oh great she gets five huh, five steps" I stop sign again and tell coach enough, time to move on. He keeps at it, so give him stop again, keeps it up, "whack" first one, maybe a little slow at giving him what he had earned, so now I put up stop and he keeps going, "don't put up your hand to me" stop sign again "don't put up your hand to me" so this time I tell coach you've had one and you're working on the second, "don't put up your hand to me" this time I whack him again, and tell him he's done for the day and needs to leave the gym. Coach is *****in' and moaning all the way to the door, he stops and leans on the door jamb, like he's settling in for the duration, I tell him no you're gone, out of the building, he turns and huffs out.

The fifty some parents that are there watching give me a standing ovation.

The coach does have a bit of a reputation, and I guess they were glad to see him get something he had been working on for a while.
:)

As you said, probably slow giving out the first T, but that sounds like a coach who just doesn't know any better...and the fact that everyone in the gym applauded like that is a sign that he's just gotten away with it before.

How do people like that even enjoy basketball?

Am I getting my Ducks in a row? Or am I thinking the wrong school is nicknamed the Beavers?

I have plenty of stories
 

First of all I think that if anyone is going to say anything about me at least it should be funny.

There is an outdoor adult league in Maryland that I used to do. These are the kinds of fans that aren't really for either team, they just want to see highlights. One group of old men called me everything except a child of God. They lovingly referred to me as "baldy" most of the night.

I was doing a DeMatha game and one fan was staring me down during a timeout. The game was being played at American University and for some reason we looked at each other at the same time. He was mouthing something, complaining about the game. A few weeks later I was doing a game at DeMatha - a very small gym especially considering they are a nationally known team which regularly produces several D1 players every year. Anywhoo, we had a timeout and all of a sudden I'm staring at the same guy and at the same time we both bust out laughing - it was like a replay of the same thing. He came into the locker room, yes it was just a room that anyone could come in to, and talked to me for a few minutes.

Years ago, I was doing a game in Vegas and my partner moved the cheerleaders. A little later on, he gave one team a T because one of the cheerleaders called him a name. While I figured out what was going on, someone with a bullhorn in the stands called him an a$$hole. My partner got security to take them out. When the kid left he left the bullhorn with his buddy. As his friend was walking out he used the bullhorn and said, "You are still an a$$hole." He had to go too.

Tell them you're not bald. You just have solar panels on your head to help the environment. :D

Lah me......

<i>"This time I really, really mean it"</i>.......:)

The idea of giving a warning is to let the coach know that enough is enough. A "stop" sign means <b>STOP</b>. It doesn't mean anything else but <b>STOP</b>. By my count, you had....oh......about five(5) too many warnings in the sequence above. Why would the coach listen to any of your warnings if he knows that you're not going to follow through? Of course, he ignored you.

Warn-----> whack!

This is good stuff and it's gotta be true stories because you can't make that crap up. lol

Yup

I was working a SMALL (1A) school outside of Houston, between Houston and Japan... (atleast it felt that way)

I kid came down from the top row (about 12) to tell me how bad I was. I said thanks, blew the whistle. Before I could even look down to the door for the police officer, the police officer was behind me putting cuffs on the guy.... WOAH?!

Cop starts hauling him off so I put the ball back in and lets get back going to the game. A few timeouts later the cop comes all across the gym (door is at 1 endo f the court) and he looks mad. He gets in my face because I should have waited for him to clear the gym before putting the ball in place. I said "sir, my job is to keep the game going. I couldn't sit here and let you read him the miranda rights all the way out the gym, because then everyone is watching that, and not the game. If the game gets back going again, people start watching that and all is well."
by now i've made eye contact with the principal and give her the "WTF" look. she comes over and tells the sargent to cool it, and take the night stick out of his butt. I try not to laugh.

They didnt arrest the kid, the officer was just trying to "send a message" he's the new deputy in town and he's making a GREAT first impression....

I love student section heckles though, especially when thy are original.

Student Section
 

I had a very positive experience a few nights ago. I had a girls varsity game between two of the smaller schools in our area. It was a Thursday night game, during the Winter break. I wasn't expecting a large crowd.

Was I wrong. This night was girls recreation league night. All the girls in the local recreation league got in free, and there were scrimmages at the halftimes of both the junior varsity, and the varsity game.

There was also a large contingent of home team student fans, mostly boys, in the crowd. According to the Athletic Director, these fans were displaced from their regular bleacher area by the large crowd of recreation girls, and their parents, so they were seated behind the visitor's bench. Certainly a recipe for disaster. Again, I was wrong.

The first thing that I noted was that student section sang the National Anthem, along with the instrumental recording that was played before the varsity game. I had only observed this once in my 27 years of officiating, and that was at another school when the sound system didn't work. The second thing that I noticed was that these fans spent the entire game cheering for their classmates on the home team, and even though they were seated just a few feet behind the visitor's bench, they never once said anything derogatory to the visiting players. This student section was a class act.

I love the big student sections...too bad many schools in my area tend to not have them.

Most of the schools in my area that do have their own "crazies" tend to be in the same region and they always travel. Most have the visitors section behind their bench with the home seated opposite from the home bench. That set-up causes a loud cross-fire from the sections. It also puts the home crazies court side without a buffer. That closeness can be fun on some nights...others not so much.

I had a super ball go flying across the court during a girls varsity game. GM came in asking who did it, I could only tell them the direction. There were about 10-15 kids in the first row pointing at the 10-15 in the 5th row, who of course were pointing back...GM threw them all out.

I am far from the AZ record though. A heated rivalry game had a couple of fights break out during the first half with several fans tossed. Another broke out at the start of the 3rd quarter so the officials pulled everyone off the court and had GM clear the entire gym! They finished the game with both teams, the table and the officials. My 20-30 pales to the 2,500 or so that they tossed.

18-U rec-ball. Team A is up by two points with twenty seconds left on the clock when B1 drives through the lane and flattens A1. My partner calls PC and B1 leaves the game with five fouls.

As the ball is being put in play, all hel* breaks loose on Team B's bench. A1's father has come onto the court and has punched B1 and is now fighting with the coach from Team B and fans from both teams are now pouring onto the floor.

My partner declares a forfeit, in favor of Team B and we locked ourselves in the AD office until the police came.

A1's father and three other people were arrested.

Just wanted to say Happy New Year.

I posted this about 5 years ago. This was an on-court problem with a player that continued off-court: http://forum.officiating.com/showthread.php?t=6437

Happy New Year, Chuck. Any more Dartmouth games?

Thanks for the reply Chuck, so what ever happened to #4?

I had a 7th or 8th grade girls game, can't recall which...does it matter? Anyway, the coach was riding me some, just a little bit. Then during a dead ball she piped up some more. I said, "Coach, you need to worry more about your team and how they're playing instead of the officiating, trust me." The coached kinda huffed and the crowd snickered a little at my remarks, but I pointed out the fact that we had more fouls called than points scored between the two teams. The second half was a whole different half. They played ball, didn't hammer as much and the scoring picked up.

I know at 7/8 games we don't have as many problem fans as some areas might, the locals know us and know we're going to be fair. Sometimes it takes some convincing of the visitors. One thing I've grown tired of in my time as an official is the fact that a terrible game has 'got to be the fault of the officials' when it's simply being played poorly.

This is often the biggest problem of all. Familiarity truly does breed contempt.

"He lives right down the road for their school. You know he's gonna call for them."

"Since he knows our kids, he calls harder against them."


etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

Never found out. Here's the follow-up. Kind of anti-climactic, but probably it's better that way. :) http://forum.officiating.com/showthread.php?t=6684

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 :D 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.

We all have stories
 

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

Situation in a Boys Freshman game.

<!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->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.<o></o>

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.

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.

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! :rolleyes:

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 :confused: ...I repeated the question and still got :confused: ....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...

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...

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.

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!

[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?

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. :confused:

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.

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.

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?

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.

Anyone else notice that the lower lhe level of play the worse the "parents / fans / coaches" are?

Had a 7th grade girls game last week (AKA detention) where team A is bringing the ball upcourt and team B coach is screaming for a timeout all the whole looking as if he's doing the YMCA song. I give him a look like he's from another planet and let him know that he doesn't have the ball. Then with this "Oh crap" look on his face he says he called it as soon as the his team had scored and before team A had inbounded. :rolleyes: Didn't happen and he, I and my partner all knew it.

I've had to issue three Ts & one ejection so far this season...... all happened in Freshman games.

I do not think they are any worse, they are just less experienced (fans and coaches for example). And most of these games are played in empty gyms so you can hear them more. Varsity fans are just as stupid and dumb; they just are harder to hear over other fans that are making a lot of noise.

Peace

First one to complain is the LAST guy who would volunteer to do our job... :p

Hey Rut....So are you excited about Rich Rodriquez taking over in Ann Arbor....I am a UM fan and admit, I was glad when Lloyd decided to step down and I'm also glad the Seniors got it done against the Gators yesterday....

I think I try to call the game the same way. But we might just remind each other in pregame that this is an especially big game for the players and we need to be mentally ready for the intensity.

Get Them On Your Side
 

Many years ago, back inthe 20th century, when I was a young junior varsity official, I stayed to watch a great varsity game betwen two conference archrivals in a packed gym. Although one of the varsity officials was one of the best on our local board, with a resume that included many conference, and state tournament games, the crowd seemed to be getting on him most of the game. This official also happens to be one of the shortest officials on our board. Early in the third period, a ball becomes lodged betweem the ring and the backboard. Here comes this official, running as fast as he can, from midcourt, jumping as high as he can, to dislodge the ball, missing the ball by almost two feet. Every one in the crowd laughed at his effort. But you know what, the crowd was on his side the rest of the game.

We've got a rope, (clap) we've got a tree! (clap)
All we need is, (clap) the referee (clap)

I think JRUT's comment is called hitting the nail on its head.