A bufoon at the game

[SamIAm]

Every so often in the game of life, we go to the table to report the foul and we have to give them our own number. Today it's my turn. I am not officiating, just an educated fan. I have hung up my whistle as my daughter is playing middle school sports.

7th grade, Girls B-Team game. I get to the A-team game as early as I can and watch some of the B-Team game. The B-Team game was a close contest. at about the 4 minute mark in the 4th quarter, with the good guys on a break of sorts (as close as they come to it), about to take a close and open shot, the official stops play and points to the table who failed to start the clock. Most of the crowd had no idea why the official stopped play and were looking at each other looking for an answer. I stood-up and called out very loudly to the officials, "You stopped an open lay-up because the clock was not running?", in a very condescending tone. I am near the division line and the official is in the far corner. He easily heard me and gave me long glance. I sat, looked down, and shook my head at fthe officials, who had been sloppy and were'nt planning on moving up in the officiating ranks.

Now I start thinking to myself that there is not really a provision in the rules as to when to blow the play dead when the clock is not running, except that you should. I am still shaking my head but now at myself. I lean over and tell my 2nd grade son that I should not have yelled at the official like that and that I would apologize to him after the game, which I did.

The official was very nice about it. The officials called both games very fairly.

All in all it was not a big deal, but I knew I had violated the code.