Tale of a Drafted Clock Operator (Games five and six)

[grunewar]

Why do I even do this to myself? I mean really. Reffing is bad enough, but now I am the “Official Timekeeper” for the HS F and JV Teams – duh! I don’t ref in this league as my son goes to school here……..so, I block off my days and go to his games and keep the clock. Tonight was quite the adventure.

Two large, rival schools. Freshman game is no contest. R starts off the game by himself – no partner. I thought he made some real good, tough calls, but, what do I know. 7 min mark of 1 Qtr in walks the U (I reffed with them before, notoriously late). H is up 41-29 with 20 seconds left in the game. H1 is holding the ball and V1 is not within 6 feet and the clock is ticking down. H players stand at their bench to clap for their victorious team. Tweet! Stop Clock - 10.6 seconds remain. R waves his hands, “Ballgame!” and he and his partner walk off the court. Everyone in the gym – players, coaches, fans are just saying “huh?” and asking me, what happened. I have no idea. Game over.

Between games I went to see the JV U as she worked the first game – her explanation, her partner (the R) decided if V wasn’t going to play defense, why continue. Game over. Alrighty then……

V JV’s take the court at 20 min and immediately run the length of the court and lap the H team already on the floor (obviously, they haven’t read the forum). No incidents, R and U not on the floor yet. Game is scrappy. H up by 10 with 4 min to go and goes into a STUPID stall. V catches all the way up. Coaches/fans going nuts. Refs really taking a lot of heat from everyone but are remaining cool. Game is kinda outa control. T's may be near. R calls V THREE times, count em - THREE times in the last 3 min for their players “illegally leaving the court” under their basket. The place is going nuts – R, you’re kidding right? Bizarre!! We've talked about this call a lot here..... Wow! V Coach is about ready to pop a blood vessel!

V comes all the way back and hits 2 free throws with 6.2 secs left. H goes the length of the court and misses a lay-up and loses.

Ooooh, I can’t wait until next week!