I completely disagree with your opinion on this. You cannot tell what works for everyone. Coaches say sarcastic or use humor a lot (in my experiences) and I have no problem using the same tactic. I have found that it gets them to laugh or use levity in situations that ordinarily are very intense. Also if you always keep a serious look on your face, for some people you are being mean or angry. And it is not in any way unprofessional to use what works for you. Now maybe that does not work for you, because you cannot tell a joke or you are not quick on your feet to come up with certain lines. I have seen some of the best officials use sarcasm or laugh and smile to perfection. If that is your personality, that might work very well.

Peace

Jeff, there is nothing wrong with your statement above. I also will one line with coaches with success. This is part of what makes the game fun. You're right, each situation is different. However, IMO, in the OP, by discription, three minutes into the game, sounds like we have a screaming coach that is a little on the mental side. Soooo, my intial reaction is to warn him. Most likely, it's a HTBT situation.

This is where personality might come into place. I would not want to warn a coach that early without giving them a chance to see their behavior for what it is. Because if you warn them, now you have to go to the next step if they do the same thing. I would consider a warning to be the last resort before taking more serious action. But this is why laughter might set a tone (and it may not) where as coming off as a jerk (what the coach might think) might be counter-productive to having a smooth game.

Peace

I laugh and smile all the time. Last night's game was horribly played. A couple times I headed the court just shaking my head and laughing.

V20 on the winning team had his shot smashed into the backboard by a bench player, H34, from the losing team. The entire gym was in an uproar and even his own teammates were laughing. There was a foul right afterwards and I was administering the free throws. V20 came in to line up and I started to smile very broadly. V20 gave me a look and I said to him "You gotta admit it was funny".

Had another game where visiting team started getting blown out in the first few minutes of the 3rd quarter. There was shooting foul against the visitors that the HC didn't like. On the following possession I ended up as the 'C' in front him after one of his players had the ball knocked away from behind and the ball went out of bounds. He wanted a foul on that play. He said "You guys gotta give me at least one call". I looked up at the scoreboard and the foul count was 2-2. I said "We have. We've given you 2 calls". He looked up at the scoreboard and he started laughing and said "You're right, I guess you have".

Whenever a boy shoots an airball on a free throw, if I'm administering the next shot I tell him, "Well, that sucked". I can't remember it never getting a laugh from the kid.

I usually say, Shac has one more.:p I also am smiling throughout the entire game. Some of my parners ask if I ever stop. I only get serious when needed. The game should be fun, thoes in control should be having fun also. Kind of sets the tone for the rest. Not always true though.