Know -It-All-Partner

[Sven]

Last night, girls' middle school game. Moments after my partner administers a Team B throw-in following a time out, I hear the Team A bench hollering, "They've got six players out there."

Sure enough...Tweet. As I turn to the table to signal "Technical Foul, Team B," my younger, but experienced partner with whom I've worked many times, comes running toward me loudly declaring, "Wait a minute. It's our fault. We can't give them a T. We screwed up."

Of course, we did. Take your time, count the players and all that. Nevertheless, here we are.

We're in the middle of the floor. I explain that "our fault or not, the rules say it's a T." My partner won't back down, insisting we can't assess a technical in this situation. I'm not going to have an argument right there, so I relent. No T, but inside I'm fuming -- some of that is directed toward myself for not standing up for what I'm sure is right, but more at my partner for being so adamant and so wrong . I tell him I'll look it up after the game. Which I do.

Later, I show him the Case Book ruling. No apology. No comment. No nothing.

We work our final game tomorrow. Glad of it. I think the best thing for me is to learn from the situation.

Sven