Comments to the crowd

[Odd Duck]

I very rarely say anything out loud...sometimes say a lot to myself

Last Friday I had a B/G varsity double header...bitter rivals...standing room only crowd. They were loud, but not really saying anything that I noticed.

Early in the 4th quarter (I am T) A1 (in A's front court) is attempting a pass A2. Pass is tipped by B1, then tipped by A3 and goes into the back court. A3 chases down the ball and I call the violation. A few minutes later there a TO and I am standing near center court opposite table with the ball. A man in the front row very politely asks "Why was that back court? The defense tipped it toward the back court." I give him a two sentence explanation...takes maybe 5 seconds. He says "Thanks for the explanation. Most officials ignore my questions and I just want to understand."

After the game he approaches us as we are leaving, compliments our work and again thanks me for my answer. I replied that most officials probably aren't ignoring him, they just are either focused on the situation at hand or honestly don't hear him because they have trained themselves to tune everything out. Said he never thought of it that way and walked off.

I understand conversations with fans rarely turn out well but it just seemed right at the time. Trust me, I won't push my luck.