Haven't heard this one before
 

Three 8th grade tournament games yesterday with teams from all over the Pacific Northwest. Game two was between two teams from the Seattle area. Why they had to drive down to Portland to play each other I'll never know.

Anyway, middle of Q2, some moron in the bleachers yells at my partner during a timeout, "You couldn't ref your way out of a paper bag".

I'm still puzzling over that one. Maybe it's a "Seattle thing".

I hope that was followed with an ejection if it was blatantly loud

Considering the climate, your partner would not need more than a soft whistle to break through the wet paper barrier.

You're kidding, right?

I hope he is... but I don't think he is kidding.

I'm hoping that either he's kidding or he misread the OP and thought it was a coach who said it.

ah hell, I did misread it. Did think it was a coach. My bad, thanks for correcting me.

That was my first assumption. LMAO!

Actually, some of the spectators were abusive toward the referees (including guys who worked games before me and next to me) and sometimes profanity was used (including the F word). Unfortunately, there's really no game management personnel at this facility to take care of stuff like this. It seems that, although this facility is non-profit, they don't want to take the chance of losing any paying spectators from returning and possibly have teams not sign up to play there in these "tournaments" because some kid's dad got tossed from a game.

I'm seriously considering not working there anymore when I balance the abuse we get vs. the relatively low pay scale there. It's too bad because I like to support community venues and programs like theirs - but there's enough games out there.

I worked at a place in Indy for a really famous former IU player who owned a basketball academy. There were leagues and tournaments through out the year and I would occasionally work for him. Great guy, but he is a business man, and keeping these coaches and parents happy is part of the game. If it sucks that bad get out. They are the one's who will lose in the long run when it turns into a crime scene. You can't make someone act like an adult!

It happens.

Even if a coach did say "You couldn't ref your way out of a paper bag" I wouldn't eject for just that... I would probably be laughing on the inside then whack the coach, but not eject.

talk with the person in charge of the facility and tell him/her your concerns. I understand what you're saying but that should not come at the cost of you feeling uncomfortable doing the game, or having any other officials getting the same abuse. If fans were getting that rowdy and I heard some of these types of comments being made, I would've tossed their asses out. There will be other teams that will want to join that tournament in the future I'm sure, one team loss isn't really a big loss.

I'd walk away and not look back. Send a letter to their director (or whoever is the leader of the program) explaining why, and move on.

That's what I'd do, but you're a big boy, so take it for what it's worth. :)

And then puke on his shoes.

Actually it is: "You couldn't ref your way out of a WET paper bag WITH A FLAME THROWER!"

MTD, Sr.