Tale of a Drafted Clock Operator.....
 

Went to watch my son’s first Freshman HS game tonight. About 3 minutes before the game starts the Asst Varsity Coach comes into the stands and asks if I can keep the clock. Sure, why not……

First thing I notice is this is a REAL clock (not the like the Rec League gym clocks I’m used to). I mean this has like 30 buttons on it. Second thing I notice is that I don’t have my glasses with me and I can barely read what’s on the buttons! Uh oh!! I can't even figure out how to put time on the clock to start the game!

Game starts and the usual I forget to start/stop it every now and again as hey – this has a START and a STOP button. So, continually pressing the START button where I leave my finger doesn’t shut it off. Sheesh. :rolleyes:

Two minutes into the game the H score keeper (maybe 15) turns to me and says, “Is a violation the same as a foul?” Gonna be a long game……. Who was that foul on? Who scored that basket? What do you mean I have to count total fouls? What's one-and-one mean? Hey, the scoreboard doesn’t match what I have…….

Four minutes to go in the game….bzzzz. Scoreboard goes blank. Yep, V score keeper has kicked the plug out…..

The game mercifully ends in a blowout for H.

They ask me to stay and do clock for JV game too. I couldn't have been that bad.....or maybe, there were no other "volunteers."

New H scored keeper introduces herself and announces she has 32 years of experience. Bless her heart. What a breeze…..”Foul is on white 2, that’s his first, team 3rd.” "Don't forget to change the posession arrow."

I give myself a B-. What a learning experience! But, now I'm a veteran - no reason not to step forward next time.....

Anyone else been "unexpectedly drafted?"

Did they pay you more for the JV game? ;)

You're all over it Mark! The veteran score keeper actually got me my $5 entry fee to watch the games back!

I've kept the book and clock for our state tournament. It is definitely an eye-opening experience. Every official should have to do it.
It gives you a much deeper appreciation of your table crew.
It also impresses upon you how important it is to give clear and crisp signals to the table.

Completely concur Nevada! It ain't easy at "the big time" and I've done a lot of Rec games! It was more hectic than I thought as there was many four and five man substitutions. I was ok by the end of game two but need to concenrate more on my job.

I noticed the two handed college mechanics used sometime. Specific ways the refs chopped the clock. Different angles. Making eye contact with the officials/scorer while inbounding the ball. Those kids run onto the floor before the buzzer or a whistle. "Hey son, tuck that shirt in" (hey, I can help). But most importantly, reporting to the scorer so they can see/hear. "Foul, 0, hold". Buzzzz! "There is no 0!" "Oh, ok, that's 10!" :p

Perfect!
I timed a varsity game, once..., maybe 12 years ago.
The game would still be going if the fans weren't constantly yelling, "CLOCK!!!"

I Know Who To Get Tickets From ...
 

One of our local board members was recently hired to keep score at the University of Connecticut Womens Basketball Team home games. I know that it doesn't sound like much, but since the Whalers skipped town, the only big league sports team we have is the Connecticut Sun (WNBA), and the UCONN women are ranked number one in the country.

I was the timer and scoreboard operator at the local high school for ~4 years. This is what got me the itch to try refereeing. Looked like fun :eek: at the time. Its all about attention to detail.

I am also still the clock guy at home football games. When the school first installed play clocks they hired a guy to just run them (at the same pay of course) That first year was the only year we had two of us. My elbow was raw from all the nudging to start the damn thing. Guy just couldn't pay attention :rolleyes:

So I practiced doing all three (clock, play clock, down/distance/LOS) during lower level games. The next year and ever since I've been by myself. The PA guy does his job by himself sans spotters and does a mighty fine job as well.

At my old high school in Maine, the JV officials were scorer & timer for the varsity game. I cannot remember if the varsity officials did duty for the JV game, but I don't think so. We got paid extra to do it. I liked being scorer more than I liked being timer. Mostly because your goof-ups could be easily fixed without the whole crowd noticing. But we used to have the foul towers at the table, so if someone fouled out, we got to be very dramatic as we lit them all up one by one.

I've sneaked a peek at the book when I've gone to my alma mater's D1 games. I gotta give the scorer credit--that's a ton of stuff to keep track of.

Most baseball umpires, unfortunately, do not even read the scoring rule in the back of the rulebook and could care less how to keep score. :( (But I have--I keep score for fun at the pro games I go to.)

I've done the clock a few times and I'm horrible at it. I suppose that if I finally learned to watch off-ball, which I did, I could learn to concentrate on the game from the clock perspective. But it would definitely take some learning!!

One of the side-effects of being born into an officiating family is that I was keeping score and running clock at church basketball games since I was about 10 years old. But I don't do it very often any more. And when I do, it's a lot more challenging now that it was at 10.

Another benefit of keeping the clock was my ability to watch and listen to the coaches from up close - in the box, out of the box, trying to get a call, asking questions, chatting, etc. and then watch how the refs handled it.

At one point H JV Coach yells all the way across the floor - "Five seconds, five seconds!" Tweet. Ref calls it! Coach turns to his bench and mutters under his breath, "Man, am I going to have to call the whole game?"

Interesting perspective sitting right there......

That's why I refuse to make any call that a coach is clamoring about. :eek:

Coaches can "think" what they want, but many are too smug and think because they yell out an uncalled violation, then the official "wakes up" and calls it--when its mainly a timing of the whistle issue.....

Examples please, on what you think is unfortunate. I also do baseball, and when I ask the scorekeeper what the score is, and they say 6-3, what else do I need to know?

I have just officially adopted this policy as of tonight. Oh my heavens. Had my local HS JV coach again tonight, on the road this time. This guy spends more time begging for calls than he does coaching his team. His single most oft requested call?

Three seconds.

He was at it all game long. With 3.8 seconds left in the game, one of his kids asked me to watch the three seconds. The other team was still in the backcourt running out the clock. I'm not making this up. 3.8 seconds left, and he's got his players begging for three second calls.

I WILL NOT EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, NO MATTER HOW OUTRAGEOUS, EVER EVER EVER CALL THREE SECONDS IN ANY GAME HE IS COACHING. PERIOD.

Unless one of his kid goes camping. ;)

I had the "thats a hand check pleader". The coach kept calling it a "PDF" this year.:rolleyes: Everytime she said thats a PDF this year I got all glowey inside. It made me happy. :cool:

PDF? Portable Document Format? Pretty Darn Funny? Public Display of Feet? :confused:

I kept the book for softball when I was 12 until my senior year in HS. I did the book and/or clock (sometimes both) for military basketball games (Travis AFB) my senior in HS up to the point I joined the military 6 months after graduation.

Probably why now I interact a lot with the table crew during my games. Probably why I'm also quick to recognize mistakes made by the table.

Poor Dan_ref's Follicles?

Well, I did the clock again for another Fresh/JV game last night. Certainly a different perspective for sure.

Biggest issue(s) I had was the buzzer stuck at the of the first quarter and wouldn't go off.....and only 2 1/2 of the four clocks in the gym worked the first game. Really confusing for the players as the one clock time kept "sticking" a few seconds behind. Rectified between games with new board.

Refs were from a different league than mine and I was able to observe. Listened to the coaches chirp a bit. Sometimes it's actually funny to listen to. Of course they never think we call enough....or is that too much? Couple of "iffy" calls (IMO). One was a hard foul on a layup that the L called intentional - Hard foull, absolutely. Intentional, not so much.

Most interesting and "discussed call" was a long-distance TO. Ball is under A's basket. L is right there. T is starting transition(?) as the ball is "loose" and being wrestled with. T is along B's bench in the backcourt while ball was being wrestled with under A's basket. (T moved early during transition?). B coach calling for TO. Ball is loose? By the time T granted B coach the TO, A had the ball and was actually shooting a short jumper. A coach went nuts, players were frustrated, and fans got really loud. TO granted w/ some on-floor discussion w/ A coach. Ball given to B after TO..... Game was a blowout.

Key POE for me was reporting. The U did some long distance reporting and it was difficult for the me/books to see hand and arm signals clearly and hear report. A few times we had to hit the buzzer and ask him to clarify. (Note to new refs - report clearly and in plain view to be seen by table).

BOTTOM LINE - I think I got a permanent gig and a good seat for my son's Fresh and the JV games and I may even be figuring the clock out as I did much better! Now, if I can only remember to switch that darn AP arrow.....:rolleyes:

Excessive contact can also qualify as an Intentional Foul.

Whenever there's an AP throw-in situation, put your hand on the arrow. Leave it there until the throw-in ends and then switch the arrow. Even if there's a TO, keep your hand on the arrow. (I admit that's probably not practical advice during half time. ;) )