Parents are the worst.....

[w_sohl]

Two different games, one after the other. First game the losing team ws getting killed. Two parents came up to me after the game and asked me if I knew that twop teams were playing in that game. I responded, "Yes, one was wearing black and the other was wearing teal." They looked at me puzzeled and I walked away. Second game was a 6th grade girls game and it was a pretty tight game, the two teams had played before and it resulted in a one point victory for, we'll say Team A. About 7:00 mins. of running clock were left when I had to stop the clock and have the man in the front row escorted out of the gym. It started innocent as it usually does, a fan of Team A didn't like my calls (of course) and was complaining. When he began yelling, "You SUCK!" at the top of his lungs I stopped the clock and had him escorted out of the gym. The entire way out he kept yelling, "You suck you redneck! You're a redneck and you suck!" Not that this matters but this gentlemen, I use that loosly, was a black man and it appered to me he was trying to get me to stoop to his level if you know what I mean. Luckily I do not have a very quick wit so I couldn't come up with anythig to reply which is probably for the best. Come to find out from another official he is a HS coach and his team was kicked out of their league because of his attitude. Just think, people like this are shaping our kids. Anyway, game continues without incident and Team B wins by two, a girl hit a three in a two point game with under 30 seconds to go and then only hit 1 of 4 FT's.

[dblref]

Originally posted by w_sohl
Two different games, one after the other. First game the losing team ws getting killed. Two parents came up to me after the game and asked me if I knew that twop teams were playing in that game. I responded, "Yes, one was wearing black and the other was wearing teal." They looked at me puzzeled and I walked away. Second game was a 6th grade girls game and it was a pretty tight game, the two teams had played before and it resulted in a one point victory for, we'll say Team A. About 7:00 mins. of running clock were left when I had to stop the clock and have the man in the front row escorted out of the gym. It started innocent as it usually does, a fan of Team A didn't like my calls (of course) and was complaining. When he began yelling, "You SUCK!" at the top of his lungs I stopped the clock and had him escorted out of the gym. The entire way out he kept yelling, "You suck you redneck! You're a redneck and you suck!" Not that this matters but this gentlemen, I use that loosly, was a black man and it appered to me he was trying to get me to stoop to his level if you know what I mean. Luckily I do not have a very quick wit so I couldn't come up with anythig to reply which is probably for the best. Come to find out from another official he is a HS coach and his team was kicked out of their league because of his attitude. Just think, people like this are shaping our kids. Anyway, game continues without incident and Team B wins by two, a girl hit a three in a two point game with under 30 seconds to go and then only hit 1 of 4 FT's.

Been there, done that. Worked girls AAU this weekend and I had the 8:00 championship game on Sunday. As my partner and I were watching the 2nd half of the game before ours, we were commenting on the utterly riduculous statements made by the parents/fans. One guy in particular kept screaming at the top of his lungs at the officials -- "That's 10 seconds in the back court, you idiot!" BTW, they were using the 30 second shot clock. Now I normally won't talk to anyone in the stands, but after 7 or 8 minutes of this, I casually mentioned to him that there is no 10 second back court count when the clock shot is being used. I had my jacket on which showed my association and he looked at my jacket and told me that I obviously did not understand "AAU rules". I wanted to ask him if one of the "AAU rules" was for a parent to be an idiot, but I didn't. I just laughed and shook my head.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally posted by dblref
One guy in particular kept screaming at the top of his lungs at the officials -- "That's 10 seconds in the back court, you idiot!" BTW, they were using the 30 second shot clock. Now I normally won't talk to anyone in the stands, but after 7 or 8 minutes of this, I casually mentioned to him that there is no 10 second back court count when the clock shot is being used. I had my jacket on which showed my association and he looked at my jacket and told me that I obviously did not understand "AAU rules". I wanted to ask him if one of the "AAU rules" was for a parent to be an idiot, but I didn't. I just laughed and shook my head.

You missed some golden opportunities there. Here are a few, courtesy of Dave:

"Buddy, save your breath. You might need it later when you have to blow up your date."

"AAU stands for Angry American Umpires. Would you like me to show you why?" (This works best at baseball games)

"AAU stands for Americans Against Uglyness. This means you have to leave, and also the wife you rode in on."

"Are you always this obnoxious, or it is just that time of the month?"

"Buddy, leave me alone when I'm working. I don't come down to where you work and unplug the Slurpee machine."

There's a lot more, but it's time for another nap.

[Stan]

Mr. Padgett,

Please don't stop now, you are on a roll!

[rcwilco]

I was helping out (volunteering) at a for fun 3rd grade tournament, no score kept, etc. and had to throw one of the mom's out. First time I have ever thrown someone out(had them removed) in basketball. As she left she yelled that she would never come to another game. A loss for her child but a gain for the game. But I sure got a lot of thank you's from parents of both teams!

[zebraman]

I have come to realize that those ignorant fans do not want to know the rules. They want to live in ignorant land forever. I was reffing an AAU game a few weeks ago and the dribbler was bringing the ball out of backcourt with a little pressure by the defense. Dribbler puts on foot in front court but the ball and the other foot remain in backcourt. Then the dribbler returns the front foot into backcourt and continues to dribble. I have no call of course. Fan of opposing team just starts going crazy screaming for "over and back." We have a foul shortly thereafter and I look up and he has himself worked into such a tizzy that he's turned as red as a bing cherry. His wife moved away from him, obviously embarrassed (I don't think she knew the rule either, but she wanted to hide due to his behavior).

After the game, he walks up and asks if I know what over and back is. I say, "sure and the play you were yelling about is not over and back." Then I ask him if he'd like to know the rule. He comes back with, "how long have you played the game." I say, "well I played the game since 3rd grade, but I've been reffing for about 7. Would you like to know the rule?" Finally he shuts up long enough for me to tell him that a dribbler isn't in front court until both feet and the ball are in front court. He just says, "you didn't start playing in the third grade" and walks away. Lovely.

Z

[dblref]

I may have related this before, but behavior like this (meaning mine), is why I became an official. My wife would not sit anywhere near me in the gym and at one game, she was tapeing our younger son and when I watched a replay of the game, I kept hearing this "idiot" yelling at the official and I made a comment about it. My lovely wife informed me that the "idiot" was me! She then commented, "put up or shut up". Talk about embarraressed.