Former ref now an obnoxious fan

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Ignats75

I am the exact opposite...Formerly obnoxious fan, now a referee.

If he was in my gym, he would've been toast early on.

I had a coach make a point in the pregame once (He's actually from DeNucci's area) to tell us that he is a former referee. Somehow, he thought it would either make us favor him or respect his judgement when he asked for a call. After one of my partners whacked him, I told him, "Coach, since you are a former referee, you understand the concept of no longer coaching with the box, right?"

Having a guy say "I am (was) and official" knows it's going to be a long night and (usually) means the guy is going to be an idiot.

[BktBallRef]

zebraman, I hope you get an opportunity to tell him what an @$$ he has become.

[26 Year Gap]

A retired guy in our association did him one better...he berated officials on radio broadcasts. He no longer helps teach the new officials' class.

[Nevadaref]

Z,
I can understand the difficulty of the situation in which you found yourself.

It cannot be pleasant to have someone that you knew personally, and viewed with respect, act in a manner that makes you have to change your opinion.

However, I must say that since you had heard of the problem from others before taking the court for this game that you probably should have taken a stronger stance and dealt with this individual when he hollered directly at you. Had you had him removed then, you would have done a great service to your fellow officials both on that game and to those who will work that team's games in the future.

Due to the fact that you had a past relationship with this person, the message delivered would have been very strong.

It most definitely would likely be the end of your personal bond with this guy, but given his current conduct, is he really someone that you wish to continue to be associated with? I doubt it as you wouldn't have posted this if that were the case.

As I wrote above I can appreciate that this was an awkward situation for you and undertstand that you may have been reluctant to be more proactive, I'm also guessing by your posting this that you probably feel a bit bad inside about not having taken more decisive action and know what the right thing to do was.

A sad situation overall, and one that your local group is going to have to confront. Perhaps you can be a leader in doing so.

Best wishes.

[Mendy Trent]

It is unfortunate, but I have seen many former and current officials who turn into complete jerks when they are watching their own children play.

However, I disagree with the previous post. If we had every fan removed who was yelling at us, we'd spend more time dealing with the crowd than with the game at hand. For the most part, that is game management's job.

Sounds like game management took care of him once he crossed the line from bleacher moron and walked near the court. Good ending to a sad story.

Mendy