I tried that once, the poor 8th grade girls all looked at me funny. :eek:

You owe me a new keyboard.

That's good.

My conference takes no more than 30 seconds, although I do get a speaking captain from each team just so I have someone to verify the team is ready before the toss.

A Mark Goodson, Bill Todman Production ...
 

That's my line.

Morehemoodus, "Place of noises"
 

One of our area teams are the "Little Noises". When I work their games I always ask the opposing captains if they know why this team is called the "Little Noises". They never do, so I have one of the "Little Noises" captains explain it to them.

"Guys, you are not NBA players and we are not NBA officials. Every time you watch Lebron James on tv, you will see something illegal. It looks good on Sportscenter. It looks bad here."

Ohh. I'll need to file this one away for future reference. I thought that was pretty standard. :eek:

It may be standard where you are, so I'd check with the vets in your area before dropping it. I did the lines thing a long time ago until someone reminded me that these kids have all played basketball before and know how to find the OOB lines. I asked for speaking captains once, and the vet i was working with asked me why. Since then, here in CO, I haven't done it. I've only seen a couple do it, and they were not the ones working high level local games.

That all being said, it's regional, I'm sure. Around here, shorter is better.

My pregame speech is quite a bit shorter than most guys I work with. I've had a few that have gone on for over a minute, explaining rules, yada...yada...yada...

I just have everyone introduce themselves, ask for a speaking captain on each side and put them in charge of their team, tell them to keep their jerseys tucked in and emphasize sportsmanship. Takes no more than 30 seconds or so.

Thanks for passing this on. I used the dunk line in my G V game tonight (4 OTs by the way) and it was perfect.

I read somewhere, probably here, of a college pregame that was great:

"OK guys, no bull**** tonight"

Trying to work that into my MS girls/boys CYO- it's a hard sell!

My partner used the famous, "First team to 100 wins" line last night during the GV Captain's meeting before our game.

I guess after watching their shoot around he figured he was pretty safe....he was. Both teams combined didn't even come close!

Things I'm Sick of Hearing from Partners...
 

Don't say . . .
> "OK, tonight we're gonna play the black line all-the-way-around..."
> "Do any of your players have contacts?"
> "Which one of you is the speaking captain?"
> "Do you have any questions about the rules?"
> "Here's the points of emphasis that are new this year..."
> "Don't get caught reaching...play defense with your feet"

I guess I don't really know why I ask for a speaking captain. Probably because everyone else around here does it. Is it really all that necessary?

I'm not a big fan either, but was specifically told to ask for this and annotate it in the book. These are the supposed "go to" people if you have issues with a player to help you control the team. i.e. - "speaking captain, you need to watch #42, he's being a bit too boisterous and chatty and is near getting himself in trouble." (or something like that)

That being said, after identifying them, I personally have never used one.