It had to happen eventually.

[Hartsy]

I've been having a run of great partners this season. Luck ran out yesterday. I filled in for a Jr High game without knowing even the name of my partner. Maybe the original official knew better than I did.

As I was being taken to a room to change, I look across the court and see my partner coming into the gym. I take note of the large black collar on his shirt, the black dockers and belt, and his apparent lack of mobility. This guy had to have bad knees or hips and was carrying way to much weight on top of that.

We talked before the toss and I was beginning to think this will be OK. That was short lived. He blew a whistle for something about every 30 seconds. The first time I had to administer a throw in, I looked out to see his open hand in the air, so I waited for the subs. There weren't any. He had his hand up to chop the clock! He did this every time!

Here's a rundown of some other things:

1) At halftime of game one, he tells me as lead I have to start calling fouls under the basket, the asks me if this is my first year, and rolls his eyes when I say 6th.

2) I have to whistle a foul (huge contact) from almost the opposite foul line because he couldn't transition on a steal from trail to lead. Also, I consistently had to go endline to endline, since he couldn't transition quickly enough.

3) Following a Technical Foul (second plane violation) he insisted we inbound where the original throw in was, not at the division line. I asked about this after the game and he said all "personal technicals" went to the nearest OOB to where the foul occurred. (I set him straight with the rule book.)

4) As lead, he was often positioned outside the 3 point arc onto the court about 2 ft.

5) Phantom foul calls in my primary, after telling me he wouldn't call anything in my area. At times there was no contact at all, not even incidental contact I let pass.

There are so many more I won't mention now. All this from a guy who claims he's officiated 42 years!

It was Get In. Get Done. Get Out. I felt for the coaches and players. They asked me some things but they knew there wasn't anything I could do.

I know who my partner is tonight. I'm looking ahead to getting last night out of my system.