Playing Officials
 

So believe it or not, but I actually play in wreck league. Only reason I am playing is cause I get to play for free but that's another story. Anyways, my question is how to handle an officiating crew who is just flat out horrible. This crew was probably the worst I have ever seen. They're mis-applying rules left and right, not calling much of anything, constantly out of position, etc. The sad thing is they are both in the HS association with me and should know better.

Now I never, ever say anything to any official at all. My philosophy is it's like a fraternity and we all have to stick together. My teammates and the other team just can't take it anymore though. They all know I officiate and so they are all asking me to go tell the crew what they are doing wrong, help them out, etc. I tell them I won't do it cause it's not my game and they are the ones working it.

Should I have said something to them? Maybe after the game? Should I call my assignor and let them know these two are having trouble? I'm just unsure how to approach this situation and I don't want to burn any bridges.

Not at the game.

Maybe, just maybe, if you are comfortable enough with any of then maybe you could talk to them privately at an association meeting or when you are buying them a few beers. But I would only do that if I had a good relationship with that person (or persons).

I plan on playing some Rec League this winter. And I plan on keeping my mouth shut.

You are 19, right? You might get some resistance on your age alone. You don't want to get the reputation as the "know-it-all" kid.

My advice, when you're playing, play. Don't leave the outcome of the game in the officials hands. Don't even talk to them.

Get in. Get done. Get out.

Yeah I'm 19. That kinda rules out buying them some beers unless we go to TJ.

I don't wanna come across as the know it all, which is one of the reasons I haven't said anything. I would just shut my mouth and play but this crew made it hard to actually play with whistles every 5 seconds. One time the visiting went down the court they got 6 fouls in a row on one possession. Next time my team went down the court, we didn't get even one call. It's hard to play when it's like that.

I have a similar situation as a coach and official. When I notice some of the guys I ref with blow a call or misapply a rule - I try to be your typical coach asking for the call, coaching and raising my voice from the box, hinting they missed something, talking to them briefly at half or after the game, etc. But, I never cross the line and REALLY get after them as it's "wreck" ball and I want to set the proper example for the kids as an adult, parent, coach, and official. And, I make it a point to shake the refs hands and thank them for doing the game - regardless of what I think.

Now, as was alluded to by others, you win or lose on the floor, not by a blown or missed call. I may talk to them later, but none of these guys are HS Officials or receive much training and they are there for different reasons than you and me....and sometimes don't take suggestions well or even care.

This crew was made up of two HS Officials. I called 3 games with one of them last season, so they should know better. My team won the game, so I'm not mad I lost. Just everyone knew I was an official and was coming up to me to complain about them.

just my 2 cents, but i would not touch this, just play and don't say a word. unless they ask for your advice at some point, the downside to saying anything (potential for damaged reputation within your association, etc) far outweighs the upside (better officiated rec league game????) in my opinion....ultimately you have to decide what is more important to you i guess....as my boss often says "is that the hill you want to die on?"

I certainly understand. What did they expect you to do? Talk to the refs? Plead your case? Argue? Question their calls? Get a T? What? You've got to be bigger than the situation and keep a level head. "Guys, I understand your frustration. I'm frustrated too. There's not much I can do about it here. Let's just go out there and have some fun and do our best. OK?"

(Yes, I have my rose colored glasses on). ;)

T.J.Maxx serves beer? :confused:

No, I do. :p

I second what everyone else has said, but I’ll add that you have to acknowledge and accept the fact that, as a player, no matter how good of an official you are, you are biased.

You’re looking at the situation completely differently than you would if you are officiating the game. There’s no way of getting around that. Does that make the officials at the game you talked about perfect? No, but it does mean that you’re not exactly an objective party in judging the situation.

You are looking at this through the eyes of a player. And we all know that players NEVER foul, but they ALWAYS get fouled. Your case may not be that extreme, but the principle still applies.

Oh, and remember...it’s just wreck ball.

And in addition to the above, get your story straight !!

You say in your 1st post that "they werent calling much of anything", then in another "they were calling fouls every 5 seconds".

Sounds "like player perception" to me......

haha...true. I wasn't paying much attention when I typed it. I meant they weren't calling much of anything our way. I think I'm going to stop playing in this league anyway if everyone is going to run up to me and complain about officials, I mean geez...I'm not even a Varsity Regular yet.

Haha...TJ is short for Tijuana, Mexico. It's what everyone in San Diego calls it.

In SoCal, if you're under 25, you go straight from HS JV to D1...your career is on track. :)

Thats why I stopped playing all together. I could not keep my mouth shut.

If I were you, I would just let it go. I suspect that if you said something to them about it, they'd say something to the effect of "hey it's just a rec league, it's not that big of a deal". That would probably get you more upset about their attitude towards these games. Also, being younger (I am as well), you don't want to get a bad rep as a know it all as someone else said. Sounds like they might not take the league very serious, probably a good idea for you to try your best not to take their officiating as serious. I'm not trying to imply you're getting all worked up about nothing here. I was the same way you are when I played intramurals in college and the officials were terrible. I'm just saying you should let it slide and go about your business.

Was there a specific play you wanted to discuss or are you just venting. As of this point in time, your bias is on display for all to marvel at.......

I don't think he's showing any Bias here. He gave a brief description of the game situation and asked what was the best way to address it. He got his answer and is not continuing to ask for other solutions "just to suit his perception".

Good question, asked and answered.

It's one of those infamous inside jokes.

Wow that's a fast progression! Out of curiosity, how old were you when you started working HS varsity games?

Not that far inside - there was a poster here earlier this year who made the claim the officials from southern CA were better trained and therefore able to move up into the D-1 ranks quicker. Several other posters picked up on those comments, and perhaps slightly embellished those claims to allow that all officials from southern CA are able to work D-1 in 3 years.

I would be one of those insiders. :D

Geeze, I see I need a weekend.

Why, you'll just waste it away drinking.

How is that wasting it?

man i like seeing all these young cats getting into ncaa early on. Thats great. it just seems few and far between around my area.

Good for you young ones. I wish you continued success and keep plugging away.

20 Days And Counting ...
 

I thought we stopped those. Maybe I better start looking for some images to post.

Tell your Southern colleagues to pack their sh!t and move to Calilforny, like the Clampetts. (Billy, I know you're itching to post an image, fight the urge).

Wow...I had no idea my thread would pick up this much steam. Anyways, to make a long story short I picked up a "T" Thurs night because I said and I quote "Why was there not a call there? He clotheslined my teammate on a fastbreak." Teammate missed the basket btw. Said to a random crew during a time-out with 11:45 left in the first half. We were down 21-7 at the time.

That's my first technical I've ever received in my entire life. I was hoping to have a cooler story behind it though...

I've had this happen to me before too. I was playing in a league where the official didn't have to touch the ball on violations/ball out of bounds. Additionally, we could run the end line - follow me here - and all the way up the sideline to halfcourt before inbounding the ball. Not my rules, but I used them to my advantage.
We had a game one night and something is called on the other team, I forgot what it was. The guy from the other team is holding the ball, I'm trying to get it to start a break and there is no call for delay of game. The officials don't even say anything to him. On the very next play my team violates or something and the ball is passed to me as the whistle is blowing. What do I do? I shoot a three - after the whistle. Technical foul.
After the game they (the officials) were telling me I should know better because I'm an official. I told them that I was playing on that night - not officiating. As such, I expected to be treated like everyone else.

When you are a player, just play and don't worry about the officiating except for getting a feel for what the officials' capabilities are.

My league has that rule too. I think the running the end line and sideline rule is from the International game rules but I'm not quite sure. Either way it's weird.

Sucks about your tech. Sounds like they made an example of you because you were an official. I wonder if that's what happened to me :confused:

I think most of us have been in the same boat in some fashion. Either we're watching a game and everyone wants to know what we thought of a call, we're playing in a game or possibly coaching. In all three cases my standard answer is "they're on the floor calling the game, I'm not. They must have see it differently." I can understand being frustrated with officials in a wreck league. I used to play in one and I too would get frustrated with the quality of the officiating. My problem wasn't so much with their judgement, it was the fact that they didn't run. It was annoying, but I always reminded myself that I didn't want to work those games, so I shouldn't complain.

I've long sinced stopped playing in Men's leagues...and I don't officiate the Men's WRECK league either. I don't know if I could play now because I'd be too wrapped up in wanting to call the game! :D

I'm coaching my daughter's team (9U) this year...While not my first stint as a youth coach, should be interesting this year because this is the first time I've coached while having been a ref.

We play at the facility I ref at so I will know most of the guys officiating my games and I'm more focused on my kids than I am the calls...but I've been teasing the guys to go easy on me! :p

About 10 yrs ago I was playing in a league and one of the officials answered his cell phone DURING the game, DURING a live ball...and no his wife wasn't pregnant, nor was anybody dying, he just thought that since it was a blowout he didn't really need to pay attention...and yes I read him the riot act...

This particular "irritant" has always bugged me. If the officials are making the calls, controlling the game, and getting the job done, but aren't seen as hustling...well, what's the beef? Half the men in most wreck leagues aren't running either. In fact, my biggest irritant in men's wreck is that just when you get a good angle at T or C, some leisurely weeknight warrior steps into your frame and just stops and loafs there. It's not moving to improve; it becomes moving to see around the spectators dressed as players. :rolleyes:

Now if they're not hustling, and they're missing stuff...well, okay. That's a legitimate gripe.

Saddle - It really bothers me not to see the ref hustling. But, according to you, I have no legitimate gripe. Because, every time I ask the ref to hustle from the backcourt to the frontcourt, he tells me he's not missing anything, he had a good view from back there, etc.... I've never heard a ref say, yeh, I missed that because I didn't hustle into position.

I think I it's a legitimate request (gripe) to ask the ref to be professional.

I agree with Coach Bill. There's no excuse for not hustling. If you sign up to work a game, work the game to the best of your ability. If you can't hustle up the court for the whole game, you shouldn't be working the game. There's no way you can do a good job reffing a basketball game if you aren't hustling. So do yourself and the game a favor and get into shape before you start working any games.

Good heavens, reading is so fundamental: "Now if they're not hustling, and they're missing stuff...well, okay. That's a legitimate gripe."

Read the entire damn post before you start venting your spleen, will you?

Ifs that the case, that cell phone was the size of a loaf of bread!

ok mr. smarty pants I did the exact math and it was 8 yrs ago which IS "about 10 yrs ago"...however, I will note that I had the original motorola flip phone back around 1994-95 and you could fit that in your pocket...and they have obviously gotten progressively smaller since then......

don't know how the thumbs down got on that post, must have accidentally clicked... it's all in fun...

I had that cell phone. I think my plan had about 30 minutes a month on it.

I was responding to this part that you wrote:

Not hustling at any time is not ok. By definition, if you're not hustling, you're missing stuff. You're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

I read the entire d@mn post. Did you read mine? I may think they're missing stuff, but they always claim they're not missing stuff. Have you ever said to a coach, "Yeh, I wasn't hustling, so I missed that one." I think they should hustle all the time, to be sure they don't miss anything.

We're talking about men's wreck ball here. They almost never have coaches. And when they do, the coaches are complete idiots. So when talking to men's wreck ball coaches, I keep my dialog very simple, very short. I only use phrases like, "there's the door." Come to think of it, that's the ONLY phrase I use with them.

Totally disrespectful, If you ever said that to me.....WHACK

If you walk up and down the court, don't get into position, and you whack me when I ask you about it, then I'll take it. Saddle was referring to Rec ball, and I'm referring to NFHS. I agree there's a difference in level of expectation.

i don't know about that, is there a difference in pay? if you are taking the check put forth the effort...actually i don't get how you can turn it on and turn it off, imho you risk picking up bad habits if you aren't putting out every time you take the floor...

I don't even bother talking to coaches in men's wreck league. There's no point for them anyway. As soon as someone introduces themselves to me as the team's coach, I automatically shut them out. I've thrown out more of these so-called "coaches" than players.