Worst thing you ever saw happen in a game?
 

With the season winding down, we have fewer "rules posts" so I thought I'd start this thread. At our season ending pizza party last week, one of the guys asked some of us what was the worst thing we ever saw happen at a game. I told him that about 10 years ago at an 8th grade boys rec game, a coach slapped a player right across the face as the player came to his bench!

Apparently, the player was the coach's son and the coach was upset that the kid wasn't listening to his instructions out on the court. Obviously, I tossed the guy immediately. He protested, saying it was his son (as if that made it OK). I told him I didn't care if it was his great-grandfather, any physical violence against any player would not be tolerated regardless of the situation. I reported it to our Board and they kicked him out for the season (3 more games). Since this was his youngest kid, he wasn't going to coach anymore so we didn't have to deal with upcoming years (I'm sure we would have suspended him permanently).

When this happened, there was about two minutes to go in the game and the kid sat on the bench for that time. When the game was over, I made sure another parent on that team took him out with the promise that if the dad wasn't outside, they would take him home. I don't know what happened after that. I do know his mom wasn't at the game.

Anybody have anything like this happen at one of your games?

Worst thing at a game was when a HS player landed on someone's foot and broke his ankle/lower leg - sounded like a gunshot went off! Kid screamed and crumpled to the floor. Grabbed his leg and his foot was pointing backwards from the rest of his leg. I almost threw up right there.

Like rocky, the worst thing I've ever seen was an obviously broken leg (both fibula and tibia).

Can't say I have anything that comes close to Mark's from a "conduct" standpoint.

so do I...

and folks wonder why we call it "wreck" ball...
 

Just a few weeks ago, 6th grade competitive (as if the "competitive" part means anything to anyone but the coaches): 59.6 secs left in the game and fast break where I become the trail. There's 1 defender (B1) matching the dribbler (A1) stride for stride.

Both players go straight up, but there's definitely some contact by the defender on the arm of A1. My P has the whistle as the shooter goes down hard to the floor and then screams. My P is turning to report the foul, so I run to the downed player...and his left knee is about the size of a cantalope when I kneel down next to him. Completely dislocated. The coach is hollering for an intentional and my P is trying to calm him down while I flag the boys' parents out of the stands.

Suddenly, parents of team A are alternating screaming at parents of team B for "playing dirty" and my P and I for letting the game get out of hand. Parents of team B are screaming back that it was just "good" foul. A1 is screaming because he's in pain. It was an Excedrin 3 night all around.

I've broken some bones in my time, but I have never seen something swell up so big and ugly as fast as this dislocated knee.

Working a girl's HS game a long time ago. I was T, girl next to me just suddenly crumbled to the floor, I couldn't tell if she was laughing or crying. Turns out she was crying, learned later she tore an ACL. I can not imagine what caused that.

The sad part was it took 20 minutes for the ambulance to show up and no one got the girl up off the floor so we could continue the game... sigh...

Years ago in a boys jh game, there was a scramble for a loose ball and a kid slipped and fell on his back. It didn't appear to be a big deal. The ball bounced several feet away and my attention followed. A couple of seconds later I heard the kid on the floor scream, and looked around to see his coach running out on the floor. (no, we didn't T him up) When I looked back at the kid on the floor I saw a pool of blood spreading out from the back of his head. It turned out to be a rather innocent looking little cut, just happened to be in the right spot to bleed A LOT. As I recall, the kid said later that it didn't even hurt much, but he was, understandably, unnerved at the sight of that much of his own blood.

GV Contest
 

A1 and B1 running down court in fast break situation. A1 & B1 get tangled up and A1 does a somersault and splits her head open above the eyebrow. So much blood, ugh. Squad is called because of all the blood and she needed something like 40 stitches to close the wound. Gross!

In HS I was undercut while in the air going to the rim hard....I had a pretty good vertical back then...about 33" and my knees hit the kid right in the chest and it made me top heavy and I came down face first and landed chin first into the floor. Busted open my chin a little wider and about as deep as a quarter....required about 10 stitches...there was blood everywhere....

In College in a pick-up game a dude took off for a dunk on a fast break and when he planted it sounded like a gunshot followed by screaming and he went to the floor like a 50' redwood tree going down....he basically put his knee on backwards when he planted to take off....It was a little scary...IIRC, he tore up just about every major ligament! :o

Girls' JV. Dribbler has a clear path to an easy lay-up. Defender is right behind dribbler. As the dribbler goes up for the shot, defender reaches over the top to try to block the shot (not a real high level game!). She brings the arm down hard, whacking the shooter hard on the head. The angle was just wrong and the shooter's head snapped back, and she went down like a ton of bricks, and whacked her head on the floor as she fell. It took half an hour for the ambulance to get there, and she went out on a backboard. It was awful.

Amazingly, in the long run she was okay. Whiplash and a concussion, but nothing really serious.

We didn't call it intentional or flagrant. It was just a really stupid pointless foul. Oh, and the substitute shot the FT's.

Did a college game about 7 years ago and my P called an INT on a foul where the shooter (on a breakaway) went down hard and chipped a tooth. Other than that, had a broken wrist once. Not much else.

In football, I have had a couple of broken ankles, including one on the first scrimmage play in a provincial final.

Actually, the worst thing that ever happened to me in regards to a game was when I was leaving the gym and walking down the front door steps of the school. I was talking with my partner and somehow missed a step. I came down kind of twisted and dislocated my kneecap. My left leg was in a cast up to almost my hip for six weeks. This was about 15 years ago. I still make sure I always hold the handrail going down steps, even in front of my house.

Got good meds for it, though. :cool:

grand mal seizure
 

HS Girl while getting ready to take a free-throw has a grand mal seizure. Ambulance had to take her to the hospital.

:eek: Here are my two worst moments from games I've been at. both came at what as then an annul pro-am basketball tournament, but different years.

(1) A guy went up for a dunk and his timing was off. He ended up falling to the floor and breaking ribs. Game was suspended until he was carried away on a stretcher.

(2) In a game involving my college and a team made of local pros, one of the guys from my alma mater's team took a hard elbow to the face and was bleeding profusely. The sight of that much blood almost made me pass out at the scorers table, but somehow I kept enough consciousness not to miss any action. :D

My worst was just this year in my last college game of my season.

Player misses a driving layup, teammate goes to follow and comes up short because the aforementioned player was still in the way and got his hand caught in the net and his momentum swung him completely feet above head and he landed squarely on his shoulder, back and head.

In a short while he started having seizures, the training staff did an excellent job of keeping him calm, holding his head steady and putting pressure on his chest, I assume to help regulate his breathing. The ambulance crew came and carted him off.

[quote=Mark Padgett]I came down kind of twisted and dislocated my kneecap.

So Mark, why weren't you on CNN; MSNBC; HEADLINE NEWS like Fidel Castro. :)

Mine was similar to eyezen. The FIRST BV game I ever did. Home team was up by quite a few in the 4th, then the opponents came back and made a game out of it. I'm T with about 2:20 left, V grabs a steal, going coast to coast. H player comes to defend, the ball handler makes a quick stop, the defender leaps into the air, BH ducks to avoid the brunt. H player goes over the top, falls on his head, shoulder, neck, back quad point, and starts seizing. All this while I'm +/- 5 feet away. Needless to say, teammates are freaking out seeing their teammate in such a situation. At the time, all I could think to do is "push" the players back away from the downed player. Thanks to a freak snowstorm, ambulance takes 30 minutes to arrive. V team gives up and declared forfeit.
Ever since that game, I have always wanted to be prepared for just a freaky incident, regardless whereever I might be. So, that following spring, I got certified in First Responder, which is the basics; Airway, Breathing, Circulation. In the case described, at least I would have had the forethought to toss a towel or a jacket underneath the kid's head. But if it is life/death (and I know this will tick some of you off) the stripes come off, and I help the kid. Not for a twisted ankle, not for a bloody nose, but something that requires paramedics, AED's, CPR, etc.

Bad. Very Bad ...
 

Girls varsity. Small town. Dislocated elbow. Took about 15 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, and another 15 minutes to load her on the stretcher. She screamed the whole time. I can still hear her. I think about her everytime I walk into that gym.

Doing a semi-final football games about 4 years ago. The favourite is losing and they're not happy about it. Winning team is on offense with about a 1 minute to go and slow playing the game, but nothing illegal. Good coaching actually.

Then a defender ends up tackling late, and then a winning team player responds. Of course this all happens about 10 yards in front of me. I close in to diffuse somewhat and throw the flag for DQ on the losing team player's and UR on a different winning team's player, who was knocked down.

I can see the look in the defender's eyes that he's going to do something bad. I totally could have tackled him as he ran back towards the opponent (winning team player) who was still on the ground. I did nothing, as per our officiating policy. What does the losing player do? He jumps on the defenseless opponent and drives his foot (spikes on his shoes) into the guy's throat.

It took me a whole year to resolve if I saw that act again would I intervene.

I've been fortunate in hoops. I think the worst I've had was my first year -- frosh (or JV) kid comes down with a rebound and blows out his knee. He was in some serious pain.

In football, we had a compound leg fracture this year in a JH game. Poor kid. I think he was in shock as much as everyone else who saw it (a coach fainted) and the ambulance idiot says, "oh my God!" when he comes up on him (as if that helped the situation). I'll always think of him as one tough kid.

I was playing flag football in college when something bizarre and dangerous, but a little funny happened. I was lined out wide on defense against this receiver. They were close to scoring but I don't think the team realized where they were (lighting wasn't the best). About 10 or so yards beyond the end line (no goalposts) there's this soccer goal moved back. So this dude takes off on a post route and I'm thinking he's running a decoy. Nope, he was expecting the pass and was looking back all the way thinking he had beaten me. I turn around and see him get all of a post on that soccer goal, so I'm on him. He's out cold. Someone runs for help and pretty soon, he comes to. By then, everyone else is standing around. I said, "hey man, are you OK?" He says, "yeah, I'm OK but where's my guitar?"

I said "stay there and don't move!"

the absolute worst thing....happened
 

I was working a game a couple of years ago. It was the last home game for one of the local HS's, so it was also senior night. Meaning that there was higher than usual turnout for the impending blow out.

Midway through the second quarter, the visiting team makes a subsitution. Just as my partner is about to put the ball in play (has handed the ball to the offense). The visiting coach is going crazy and screaming for a timeout. Now this coach is known to be very calm and not prown to such outbursts. As I am blowing my whistle, out of the corner of my eye, I see a player colapse in a heap to the floor. Fans were already calling 9-1-1 and there were a couple of shouts. The paramedics arrived 12 minutes later and started to perform CPR, injected adrenalin, and quickly headed for the hospital. It was said that the young man died on the way to the hospital, but it was clear that he passed right there in front of a couple hundred people.

What a terrible night for everyone. The young man had many friends in the 10 schools that make up the league and it was quite a blow.

Sometimes we get caught up about why we didn't get selected to work such-and-such game, or why we aren't going to work a playoff/state tournament game. I don't think of it that much any more, but every now and then it comes up and helps to put things into perspective.

[QUOTE=truerookie]Good question. However, in 1968, I was on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. It had nothing to do with sports - it was political.

Parental Ejections
 

Last summer I had an ejection in a varsity girls summer league game while the league director was in his office icing a calf muscle down because he had just reffed the prior game. Table crew consists of me, my clock operator, and a visiting bookkeeper. Dad is consistently complaining about how the crew is not calling double-dribble on opponent's point guard. One of them finally has enough at about 5 minutes in the first half. They both come to the table and tell me to get this guy out of here or this game is over. So I go up and escort the guy out and while we are walking outside he tells me "You guys run a horrible league" or something to that effect.

Why would you allow the game to be a forfeit? Suspend the game and let the authorities decide what to do about the remaining time on the clock.

MTD, Sr.

I had a 7th grade boys game my first year out the shoot. Kid had massive heart failure. Died 3 days later. Though in all reality, he died that night on the court. It took 30 minutes to get a pulse back.

Last year at a camp with very high level U-16 boys players, second game in the "elimination" round (early Sunday afternoon). A local team has managed to survive and now must face an undefeated team from out of state. Local team has about 7-8 players, out of state team has about 12.

We have a "bad apple" on the local team. Commits stupid fouls, argues with teammates and coach (nothing too bad towards the officials, just a moan here and there). One time when he's getting upset, I advise his coach that he may want to sub him out to avoid a problem. Coach is cool, and takes him out until the end of the half.

Out of state team gradually pulls ahead in 2nd half. With about 5 minutes to go in the game (by now, it's about a 25 point lead for the out of staters) our "bad apple" commits a hard foul on a fast break. As the T, it's not in my primary, but I immediately come up with an intentional foul. The lead looks at me and agrees. I report the foul and line up to shoot. As I'm standing on the court, I hear the crowd yelling. The bad apple walks right up toward the crowd (under the basket) and is cussing and yelling at someone.

We blow the whistle and I go to him and escort him back towards his bench. As I'm doing this, two people in the crowd start yelling at each other (full blown cussing like druken sailors). We get all the kids off the court (toward the other end of the floor). By now the two people are ready to fight (did I mention that one is a woman? bad apple's mom). I go look for some security because I'm thinking someone's going to go postal and whip out a gun! After a few minutes, security shows up and escorts the two combatants out of the building.

We resume the game and finish without further incident ("bad apple" remains on the bench). After the game, the clinicians on the court gave us all very high marks! One said, "anyone can ref an easy game, but not everyone can handle a mess like this." A week later the guy that runs the tournament picked me up for the next season.

Ugly deal, but it worked out okay in the end!

Uncaring Ref?
 

GV game, last minute ticking down and the visitors down by 6 are trying to foul to stop the clock, B1 takes a massive swing at A1 who has the ball held over her head but B1 misses the ball and player. B1 then proceeds to jog across the court crying out loudly (I'm thinking she's mad that I didn't call a foul on her since she was trying to stop the clock) Just as she's about to step out of bounds in front of her bench, my partner blows his whistle and runs across to the girls coach who then informs him that she just dislocated her shoulder! I look over at B1 and sure enough you can see her one shoulder sagging compared to the other one, she's crying and looks to be in a lot of pain. Home wins. I get home about 30 minutes later and my wife jumps on me as soon as I walk through the door, "Nice of you to go see how that injured girl was doing after the game!" I told her reffs don't do that, we leave as a group and stay out of sight until the crowd clears! :D

Son of a gun....
 

Last year at this time. Father-son B13 All Star Game practice. Last practice before the big game. Old men out there showing their boys they still got game.....

Dad goes baseline and jumps into lane to use backboard for easy two. Rather large young lad who is overzealous and tries to block every shot, comes down the lane and hammers him from the back. WHAM! Takes him out completely.

Dad goes down in a heap. Tries to walk it off. NO GO - torn ACL, damaged meniscus and cartilage. :(

PS - Ok, I'll admit, I never really saw the kid coming and it hurt like hell!! But, I recovered fine after surgery and only missed the summer circuit!!

PSS - I participated in the All Star game practice again this yr....Same kid was on the floor again. But, I didn't go down the lane at all!

Caution Graphic Content!
 

Since we are dicussing this I thought I would add. I have to say the worst thing I could imagine happening is the death of someone on the floor I was working, playing or watching. I have seen broken arms, ankles, tooo many sprains and dislocations to count but the most drastic injury I was ever witness to was as follows.

BV game, intense play down low for most of the game. The posts were evenly mached and going back and forth at each other with neither one gaining any advantage. Nothing illegal was happening just good post play and good footwork. Well its 3rd period and Visitor post goes for a shot down under the basket. Home forward comes across the key to help and jumps up getting his hand caught up in the net. I don't know what or how but he got his fingers tangled and when he came down his middle fingers skin was peeled from the hand to the first knuckle almost to the bone. This was by far one of the most sever avulsions I have seen.

Game was postponed and continued a few days later.

The LOSING team forfeited. It wasn't a game for playoffs or conference. Both coaches agree, and that is as far as I can go. Not trying to pick a fight, but would you tell both that we reschedule? I never really thought about refusing to declare.

This one's on the lighter side. High school-aged AAU boys game. Team wins a close game. Player tosses the ball high into the air, it hits part of the sprinkler system, and immediately the downpour commences. They had to postpone the remaining games for the day.

Years ago in my first or second season a coach actually intimated that perhaps I blew a call............

OMIGOD!!! If that ever happened to me, I'd have to go into therapy! :eek: