My Yearly Trek

[williebfree]

Originally Posted by cardinalfan

True to form, it was wild. The local school has decided to quit keeping score (don't get me started), but there was a crazy dad there who would yell the score each time one of the teams made a basket! Same guy yelled "three seconds" all night.
Fun stuff!

The OP reminds me of an incident a few yrs back....

Rare Occasion:
I was called by the director of our local YMCA to help officiate a 5th Grade league game that evening. Since I am good acquaintances with the director and had the date open, I accepted.

Unfortunately, I had "The Dad" who wouldn't shut-up. Whenever he couldn't find anything else to gripe about, he relied on "three seconds." Sadly, it appeared none of the other parents from his team or the opponents were willing to confront him, so I took a calculated risk. (It had been one of those days where my patience had already been tested enough.) Additionally, at the time, I was employed as a correctional officer, so I can become gruff, if necessary.

Unorthodox Tactic
At an opportune time, I stepped to the sideline near the boisterous dad and "innocently" asked him to come out and talk to me. I waited until he made it to the court and then I asked (in a low-key, calm voice) if he would stand at his team's offensive end and verbally count 3 seconds on EVERY "Blue" player (his team) who was in the lane. I reminded him that there is no team control on a shot attempt. I then added, if he refused to count, I would get a parent from the other team to do it. He began backing away, probably thinking I was psycho. So, I concluded with a final offer, leave the gym now or you will leave if I hear any other negative comments from you.

The Good News:
I didn't hear from him the remainder of the evening.
Oh ...
you want to know....
he left the gym.

The Better News:
Shortly after that incident, the YMCA director did get a contact from the "The Dad." Now, "The Dad" sees things from a different perspective, he is an official and pretty darn good one at that.

There are more details to this story, but I condensed it to "Reader's Digest" length.

My point:
Sometimes seasoned (read grizzled vets) officials can/should give back to the game by working much lower level games and confronting some of these fanatical parents.