Shut up! :D

When I first started out, maybe in my 2nd or 3rd year, I was doing a 7th/8th grade boys game and this one kid just wanted to complain about every whistle. Finally, I told him "Shut up and just play". As soon as it was out of my mouth, I realized I shouldn't have said it. I haven't used "shut up" on the court since then.

I will tell the scorer quietly that their job - if they desire to keep it, is to record information that the officials give them, and to keep track of scores and who makes them and our job is to officiate the game. Following that, if there is no improvement - I will call game management (not coach) over and politely tell them if the current scorer cannot remain neutral and quiet they will have to be replaced. After all - the referee designates the official scorer. We usually accept whomever game management has hired - but do havet he authority to make a change.

I read this post yesterday, thinking that mentioning pregame to the table crew about what they cant do was similar to telling coaches before the game what they cant do (of course a bad idea w/coaches), plus never having heard a problem from the table in my short BB career.....until last night.

Visiting girls frosh losing by 15 with 4 minutes to play, I'm trail tableside waiting for partner to administer inbound when visiting scorekeeper "dad" starts commenting about us- loud enough for fans around him to hear. I whistle to inform pard, walk toward table while looking at scorekeeper. He starts to stand up after seeing my face, saying "I'm out of here"(kinda funny), but sits back down as Im right in front of the table, telling him about table personnel being part of the officiating crew, no comments to be made like that, so stay quiet (putting 1 finger up to my mouth)-all in a voice that most fans heard, (not loud, but stern) due to the quiet nonaction, in a gym with maybe 60 parents.

I embarrassed him and I dont regret it. Either he learned the lesson or is one of those that just doesnt get it. As an newer official, I'm learning from my mistakes (that embarrass me), and figure I wont do those again as the lesson is now ingrained.

You should ALWAYS have some pre-game with the table, it prevents lots and lots of problems. Be certain they have some clue what they're doing, not by asking, "Do you know how to do this?" but by asking about specifics. Remind them that they're officials, and be sure to include in that that you won't be reprimanding them, but helping them, including standing up for them if a coach or a fan is being obnoxious. Doing these things goes a long, long way toward getting them on your side, and finding problems early so they can be fixed early.

Problem scorekeeper story. She wasn't yelling at us, but she wasn't doing a very good job, either. Kept forgetting things, recording things wrong. It was a JV game, but lots of fans. One dad in particular was treating her very badly, and came down at the quarter break to actually accost her and was complaining loudly, gesturing. My partner and I had been discussing sitch just as we saw him. We got him excluded from the gym, and then addressed her. She was clearly drunk, but trying, really trying to do it right, and I was mad at the obnoxious dad. So I sat down with her for the next 20 seconds and just read her a little pep talk and nursed her through the rest of the game. Then I made sure she wasn't going to be the scorekeeper for the varsity game (she wasn't!) I just felt it was important to let everyone in the gym know that they couldn't treat any officials that way, and that they couldn't yell like that dad.

Next time in the gym, the new score keeper told me she'd been there that day, and she was impressed with how we handled it. She was totally willing not to criticize us because we'd been completely on "her" side (meaning the table) against that dad.

PS I wouldn't normally allow someone who was drunk to work the table, but she was trying to do well, and I sort of felt for her. Also, the AD in that gym and I go way back (not always in a good way) and I didn't want to have to deal with him. I know that's not necessarily the right way to do things, but the end result was good -- as I said above, the new scorekeeper is a total ref-fan, because she knows without question whose side we're on. Also, the AD thanked me for being kind to this mom. Her daughter was struggling and didn't need to see her mom kicked out. Score one for the touchy-feely approach.

Juulie - what about the people at the table? Do you exclude them? I didn't know you spoke "table". Is that one of those Indo-European languages? :p

See what happens when I run out of meds. :(