Heard a new one from disgruntled parent today...

[JRutledge]

I have to agree with Rich. I do not feel that we need to take whatever punishment that is given to us and walk away. I would even say that if it was a high school or higher game.

I remember several years ago I was at the Big Ten Tournament and an Iowa fan decided to say something to one of the officials like "you suck." And that official came right back to that fan and said, "You have no right to talk to me that way." My seats were right next to the tunnel and I heard the entire conversation. The fan was stunned that the official said something back to him and he looked embarrassed. Not to say that is always the best move, but I feel that we should not make people feel as if what they say is acceptable.

Peace

[JugglingReferee]

Doing the U19 provincial championships a few weeks ago, and one coach, who made it be known to me that he also officiates, kept asking for a conditional timeout. (These are FIBA rules, which rules' state that coaches request a TO to the scorer's table, and when a TO opportunity exists, the table will grant it. TO requests can also be rescinded, if done in time.) However, a coach cannot say, "I want a timeout if they score." There are no conditional requests: a coach either wants a timeout or he does not.

So this coach, obviously coaching at a high level, and with FIBA officiating experience, is dictating conditional timeouts to the table.

Like most tournaments here, the table is made of up less-than-knowledgeable teenagers.

So I called him on it. "Coach, why would you do that?" (pause) "You know that there are no conditional timeouts in FIBA. You also know that tables handling timeouts is not the easiest task. Why would you do that?"

The look on his face was priceless. The blank stare, open mouth and lack of words told the story quite well.