I'm a referee too.

[devdog69]

Looking through some posts on the other side of town reminded me of something that happened to me last Saturday doing a rec tournament.
How many times have we heard from some coach, "I'm a referee, too"? Like we are going to say "oh, ok, now you know all the rules and if you think that's not a foul, I'll just cancel it, will that be ok?". Had this happen, I called a kick on a kid who was on the offensive team. The kid was running full speed, the ball came into contact with his foot, and his foot extended forward so I called a kick. Might have been a bad call, I still don't know but that's not the point. End of quarter was soon after and the coach is loudly asking my partner to "educate" me on what a kick was. So I tell him, I am fully aware that a kick is an intentional act and that was how I ruled it. He throws in the "I'm a referee too" card. We go on and he chirps the entire game about "three seconds" & "over the back" calls that we are not making and are just not there. His team is losing by twenty and neither team knows anything but full speed ahead, I doubt if either team held the ball in the frontcourt without shooting for more than three seconds more than a dozen times the entire game. After the game, he approaches me and asks me if the three second count is in effect on the inbounds play. I chuckle and say no, ball has to be in the frontcourt, in player control, and resets on a shot. He asks "are you sure"? Yes, sir, I AM SURE. "I'm a referee too" NOT. Just had to let that out.