The game from heck

[Mark Padgett]

Last night, I worked an 8th grade boys "elite" rec game by myself. Don't ask how that happened, I can't type that much. BTW - "elite" is a term used around here to indicate the highest level of independent teams.

Anyway, I wound up ejecting two players from each team in Q1 when all four of them got into a fight that started with one of them putting such a good move on a defender that after he scored, he got up in the defenders face and beat on his own chest while yelling. I knew then that I was in for a real treat. In Q3, I ejected a head coach for throwing his clipboard onto the court in protest over a call (it was an OOB call, for gosh sake) and then after receiving my first T for doing that, he went over and slammed it on the scorers table while yelling "You gotta be kidding me". Buh-bye.

In Q4, I ejected the other team's assistant coach after he received one T for not sitting down after being warned and then he kept on standing. Go figure.

Oh yeah, I had to have the scorer replaced when he refused to record a technical foul on a player for loudly using profanity. Apparently, the player was his son and he refused to believe his son would swear! Believe it or not, I had that happen once before about 11 or 12 years ago. No, it wasn't the same guy.

The home team won by 10, I think. I wasn't really paying attention.

All things considered, it was the most fun I've had on the court in the last few weeks.