Spring league ready to start

[Mark Padgett]

Just got my schedule for the first weekend of spring league. This is a MS league that goes almost until June, then summer league starts. I was really happy to see some refs on the schedule that I haven't seen in a few years. In fact, some of them will be working games at the same time as me this weekend, so we'll get to say hi. Some of you guys may remember me talking about one of them - the Immortal Dave! For those of you who don't know about him, let me just say the guy is so sarcastic he makes me seem like Pollyanna.

BTW - this league plays 22 minutes running halves with a 3 minute half time. Teams get two 30 second timeouts per half with no carryover, so games are over in about 50 minutes. One rule I really like is that any unsportsmanlike technicals are two shots, possession AND TWO POINTS for the team that was fouled. They really emphasize sportsmanship. In fact, our instructions tell us they'd rather have us call the games too tight rather than too loose.

I love this league.

Also BTW - three of my games on Sunday are with "Joe the teacher". He's a HS teacher and a buddy of mine. During one HS rec game this past season, he told one kid that if he didn't knock off the rough play, not only would he give him a technical, but also detention.