Season ends...

[Rich]

Oh, not really.

I come off as being more annoyed on the Internet than I do in real life.

Besides, I worked a grand total of 29 games. It wasn't the basketball that was stressful this season, it was the during-the-season travel. Looking back, I had 8 full weeks of business travel during the season, and it was the combination of things that made me stressful.

Your advice is sound, though. This season I didn't work my first game until December 11, passing on much of the nonconference stuff to refuel after a pretty much non-stop baseball-football-basketball cycle for a few seasons. I had almost quit basketball, but instead dropped 30 pounds and advanced farther in the playoffs this year than I ever had (I don't think the two were related, but I didn't blow my knee out this season, either).

My next goal is a sectional final game. Beyond that, all I could hope for is a trip to the state tournament, and I would rather focus on more achievable goals rather than dwell on state for my entire career. Lots of good officials never get the nod.