I thought I would share some pictures
 

This is from a game I worked in the United Center back in late January.

http://www.jboa.net/octo1_op_800x599.jpg

http://www.jboa.net/octo2_op_800x599.jpg

http://www.jboa.net/octo3_op_800x599.jpg

http://www.jboa.net/octo4_op_800x599.jpg

Peace

So which one are you?

LOL

Just kidding :D

Heh, I was going to ask too, but I wasn't kidding.:p

So a Black guy, a white guy and a Hispanic walk into a bar..........

Peace

.....and the scorekeeper ducks.

Curse them! *shakes fist*

...and the priest says "what is this, a f'ing joke?"

You're the one in the middle, right?:p

It would be very cool to get to work a game in a venue like that!

Although that particular venue still gets my bloodpressure up. I guess I just need to get over the Jazz losing to the Bulls two years in a row.

You should appreciate that in your state the referees wear a Black jacket. You guys look sharp. In our state the required jacket is BLUE. So Black shoes, Black pants, Black & White Shirt, Stupid BLUE jacket. I'm jealous.

Big crowd!! They must have come to see you work.........:D

I'm pretty sure we did a game together at O'Neil's camp last summer.

Congrats on the UC. Did you notice the court size difference to what you're used to?

I see the three of you talking to the players before the game. Was that your pre-game or were you selling foul insurance?

BTW - here's one of me:

http://www.skate2stick.com/wp-conten...ind_lg_nwm.gif

This was my second game at the UC. I had the privilege to work a game two years ago when Jeffrey Jordan was a junior at Loyola and they played De La Salle. The court did not seem much different than any other college floor I have worked on. The only thing is that kids kept trying to shoot 3 pointers at the NBA line all night which almost never went in. I even told both teams the white line is your line, not the red one.

The crowd was much bigger than the game I did before. There were probably about 1500 fans at the game. Both schools have to sell tickets to the Bulls game or pay for them anyway. And both schools brought buses of kids to watch the game. It was fun times indeed.

Peace

I did a game at Welsh Ryan arena (Northwestern for you folks at home). Before I boast, it was a girls feeder game with about fifty people there.

Didn't matter, to run up and down that floor was a treat.

My partner and I had pictures taken with a telephoto from up in the stands as we posed at center court with the emblem. Looked great and nobody could see the empty seats!

Funny you said that. This summer I worked at Indiana University's Assembly Hall while working a camp. I did not bring a camera mainly because it was a camp and I had no idea I would be working on that floor. D.J. White was also one of the scorekeepers. I did not see Sampson, I am sure he was on the phone somewhere. :D

Peace

My daughter is at IU and when we took her down there last year, my 11 year old guy and I made a pilgrimage to the 'shrine' and since the athletic offices are there, we were able to get on the court, nobody there but us and a ball. Son drains a trey (after 10 attempts) as I recite the litany of players who have graced that court.

We then tried to find scuff marks from the chair Bobby tossed with no avail.

Pretty cool after seeing it so many times on TV. I can't believe the spring those good courts have.

Two of the finest years in the history of the NBA.

Jeff, isn't that a cool feeling?

I had the same opportunity about 10 years ago with two small IL schools that played in Indy where the Pacers played (before Canseco Fieldhouse). Our crew did both the varsity girls' and boys' games, then watched the Pacers play afterward. One thing I noticed was during the game it didn't seem much different than other games, because the lights were bright on the court, while the stands weren't as noticable because the lights were dimmer. During TO's though, I found myself looking a loooooong way up there...

Once you get over the feeling of "I am in the United Center (or fill in any other famous or well known arena)" then it is just like working any other game. It was a great experience and I would love to do it again. I hope that I do get that kind of game again (or maybe something more noticeable to everyone).

Peace

Let me know if you do a Comcast Game of the Week. I'll be happy to post any interesting plays on YouTube. :D

I worked on the court at Phog Allen Fieldhouse during a team camp last summer.

While I absolutely despise the University of Kansas and all that it stands for, :D it was pretty cool to call a couple games on that court.

Give 'em a break - you never know when an NBA scout is gonna be in attendance and you have to demonstrate range.

It's the same reason all those 6th grade rec league parents are always so "supportive" of their kids - there's no telling when Rick Pitino or Roy Williams or Tim Floyd might be in the corner watching the game and you could cost them, errrr, their kid, that scholarship.

I, of course, worked some games at the Springfield YMCA for Dr. Naismith. Boy, did I get a thrill climbing up those ladders getting the ball out of the peach baskets.

BTW - I think Dick Vitale was doing the color commentary on the telegraph.

Back in the day when he could refer to himself as a diaper dandy?

:p

Yep. And he double dribbled a lot. :p

Is that a bulked up gym?

Did fans yell, "Hey, Ref! The ball's untied!"?

Yep, that's the one. It's also got a bump on the roof where a baseball bounced off.

Cracked me up. Thanks, Jim.

I had the same experience, except it was in Cameron Indoor Arena. It was a camp, and I had no idea I'd be in the Duke gym, so no camera. It was pretty darn cool, tho.

I got to work a game at the old Veteran's Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix several years ago. That's where the Suns played before US Airways Center was built.

Same type of situation as Rut...small private school that bought a block of tickets to to a Suns game and got to play their game earlier in the day on the floor. I have pictures, but it was before the advent of the digital camera, so they are stuffed in a box somewhere in my garage.

The one thing that I remember most is that when we were fininshed and leaving the floor, Karl Malone walked out to shoot for awhile...He took off his warmup jacket...biggest d*mn biceps I have ever seen....

Then you've never seen the East German women's swim team. :p

Congrats, Jeff, on the assignment.

Few years ago I officiated in a college league championship game at the Air Canada Centre (ACC) in Toronto, right on the Raptors floor. My game was at 2, and the Raps played at 7. It was pretty cool.

I never thought to bring a camera, though. :mad:

We were told that we were permitted to change in the ACC official's change room. I guess the ACC staff member hedged that these rooms would be available at 12:30pm - which is when we showed up to the ACC. We get let in to the referee's change room and two bags are already there! So the ACC staff member says that the NBA refs must have already "checked in to the arena". Naturally, he's not going to leave us in there with two bags of NBA referee gear.

He says that we can use the female referee's room... and in there: the exact reason that only two bags were in the [male] referee room. Violet Palmer was assigned to this game at 7pm. What luck!! So we can't use that room either. We joked that we didn't mind if Violet was in the room during our post-game and shower. :D

So we are taken to an auxiliary room, which was still rather nice, but not quite as big, and only had 1 shower instead of 2.

The game was good - I do recall that we missed a call that could have been a triple-whistle (NBA standards): right at/just below the free throw line. We each later admitted that we didn't have a good look at the play, thinking that another ref would grab it if it was a foul. So in the end, we all missed it. LOL