First time (for me, at least)
 

I was worried about getting out the door at work on time to get to my game yesterday as my boss saddled me with a time-sensitive project at the end of the day. Then, I get in my car and realize I have to travel about 40 miles and am almost at the E end of the gas gauge. Grrr. So I stop for gas, get on the freeway and put the pedal to the metal, all the while having a nagging feeling I was forgetting something, but couldn't put my finger on it.

I make it to the site about two minutes early, luckily, thanks to good roads. I walk to the locker room and something doesn't seem quite right. It's more quiet than it usually is and my partner isn't there yet. I've worked with him before and he always beats me to the game site, and, come to think of it, he didn't call me earlier in the day to confirm the game.

Oh well. I shrug it off and start pulling stuff out of my bag when the assistant AD comes in and asks if I'm sure there's a game tonight.

Not the words I want to hear.

I tell him yes, I'm almost certain there is a game tonight, I had checked my schedule earlier in the day. He gets on the phone to the AD while I get on the phone with my wife to check Arbiter.

While I'm waiting for her to log on, he tells me "It's an away game."

Crap. The away site is over a half hour away and it's now a half hour to game time. Did my assignor put the game in wrong? My wife is on the phone telling me my assignment definitely told me it was at the site where I now am. But the team isn't there. And they are definitely playing tonight.

Then the AAD pipes up...."But we do have a home game on Thursday." At the same time, my wife on the phone says "Oooohhhhh....your game's on Thursday, not today."


Weeeelllll......I feel sheepish....

So, I skulk out the door with a red face and head home for a night off.

Lesson learned. Double and triple and quadruple check your schedule before you leave for the game site.

Turns out it was right in Arbiter and I had it right in my Entourage schedule, but for some reason I had in my mind that it was last night. Go figure. :D

I hate the feeling that you "forgot something". Last night I worked with two guys that I have never worked with before. We had great communication the month preceding the game so I knew all the details of everything. But I got nervous when I got the the game site that I had forgot some piece of apparel. Turns out I didn't forget anything.

-Josh

That Sux!
 

I was moved gyms once during a V fall league..... Arrived customarily early only to have evaluator/trainer tell me to go to another gym. I made it right at the tipoff. Man I hate that!

Last night I was at my site at 5:00 for what I thought was a 5:30 game. Turns out it was a 6:00 game. Better early than late I guess

Last year my partners and I arrived at 3:30 for a 4:00 game (customary for early JV games), only to find out all the games had been moved back 90 minutes. Didn't start til 5:30, so one partner had to bail. One of the Varsity guys (who had showed up in time for their 5:30 schedule) worked two.

For this reason (thinking I forgot something), I carry extra socks and whistles and an extra needle and such in a special compartment of my bag I never open. I know I will always have socks, even if I forget them.

Now, if I forget my shoes, I'm out of luck.

I've got two pairs of them in my bag too just in case.

My wife thinks I'm absolutely crazy - two pants, shirts, shoes, socks, whistles, underarmor shirts, etc. Unfortuantely my roller-bag is big and heavy....but, I'm prepared for most eventualities! ;)

What if you forget your bag?

He probably has a second bag that is always in his trunk. :D

I'm forever paranoid about forgetting my shoes for some reason. I just know it is going to happen to me one day.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I have a spare bag that never leaves my trunk. Contains whistle, socks, black t-shirt, old shirt, old pants, and the first pair of shoes I bought for officiating.

He has another in his extra car at work.

Wow, I was just joking...:eek:

Wait til Tanner hears about this helpful hint.

I forgot my shoes twice early in my career. The first time I was about 10-15 minutes from my house and could have went home but my partner was a no-show. So I didn't want to chance leaving not getting back in time (turns out partner was involved in a traffic accident some 25-30 minutes away during rush hour). So I wore my Bates combat boots (black w/black rubber soles) while doing a half of BJV by myself.

The 2nd time was after I retired from the Air Force. The game was 40 miles from my house. I was working the GV after the GJV. Neither of the JV officials could stick around to work my game. My partner was in the military so I wore his size 11 1/2 Bates combat boots--I wear a 13/14 :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:


Thus, I now have spare bag with all the essentials. And that bag does not leave my trunk.

Then I just keep driving....right past the gym and call my partner(s) and tell them there was a terrible accident and I won't be at the game! :p

Before Christmas - went to a game. Went into school and gym is dark. checked contract and we had right place and right time. Checked the small gym - it was dark too. After a few phone calls get the AD from the school. Oops - they had a leak onto gym floor causing damage - too much to play on. So the night before they called other school and made arrangements to play there BUT since they didn't think we'd want to travel that far - didn't bother to call officials. They just arranged for another team to do it at other school. I was kind of upset. He was right - I wouldn't have driven to other school on a Tuesday -but it would have been nice not to have driven to the school we were at either (1 hr drive to school we were at - 2.5 to other one - one way.)

You got paid?

Not yet. The AD's not a bad guy. School is REAL tight though - always have been. Lowest game fees around etc. I'm sure he is fighting a battle. He has promised us mileage - and is hoping to get us our game fee too

Two of everything here. My backup stuff for one game is my main stuff for the next.

I've actually thinned down my bag the past few years. I only carry one pair of pants, 2 shirts (one flag and one without), one undershirt, and one pair of tights and a jacket along with some other smaller things (court board, whistles, etc.). I bought an UnderArmour bag that's smaller than the previous one I had and I just pack it anew the morning after each game:

Under Armour Double Deck Wheelbag > Wheeled Duffels > Duffels - eBags

I got this bag for $75 from a surplus store. Good bag, but smaller than I expected.

Why do I need two pair of pants?
 

Got to my JV Boys game in plenty of time, didn't forget any gear... Casually getting dressed while doing pregame - zipping up my pants about 20 minutes prior to tipoff, and the zipper breaks! Oh crap - spent the next 10 minutes trying to get a safety pin to pull the fly together. Ended up working the game with my fly half open. At least I had taken some advice off this forum and was wearing black underarmour shorts. Wish I had taken the rest of the advice and had an extra pair of pants. (Now I do.)

I've considered this, but the bag just isn't big enough and I carried 2 pair for years and never pulled the second pair out.

Maybe a "car bag" is the best middle ground. I could always, in an emergency, make a quick trip to the car.

There are some very serious Freudian ramifications in this statement...Have you considered therapy??

I don't know...is forgetting to bring shoes Freudian for something sinister?

I have started wearing last year's shoes to work on game days. They are conservative enough for my casual engineering environment, and they are more comfortable than my regular work shoes.

Sometimes I go to the gym, shower, then straight work in the morning. One day I forgot to pack shoes for work. I had to break out my old reebok officiating shoes I keep in my spare bag. No one at work seemed to notice.

In a new city this year, so I have no idea where any of the schools are. Luckily the assigning website has (most) schools listed with addresses and a link to Google Maps, which is sweet. So I print out the map and also enter the address into my GPS. When I get to 101 Fubar Street like the site said, there's a big empty piece of land. No school in site. Uh oh. It's already after school hours, so when I call 411 I get the voicemail. Luckily, when you call Verizon 411 they txt msg you the listing, which thankfully had the address, which was 1001 Fubar Street. Crisis averted.

Moral of the story: Never trust your assigning website's addresses. Always look up the school's address on the school's website to verify.

Went with the school's address on their website and almost got burned, as the address on the web was not for the high school. My lesson was to trust the addresses in arbiter.

And for all you military types this is FUBAR! Ouch!!

But now, we have GPS's which will put you in a snow bank for days or run you off a bridge - comforting! :p

I Google Map any new school I'm assigned to make sure it actually exists at that location. I also check my local paper's website (for high school) or the college's website to verify the schedule.

I was once assigned a JuCo game and when I checked the host school's website there was no game scheduled for that date. I informed my assignor and it turned out I was suppose to be ref'n that team at a tournament the next day at a different site.

That wasn't really the name of the street - I couldn't recall the name and it really didn't matter so I went with something appropriate for the story. :)

Well, it made me smile! Thanks!! ;)

My partner last night mentioned that he's got a spare pair of black pants that he cut the belt loops off of that he keeps in his car in case he forgets his pants. I may just stash a second bag with a full uniform and whistle in my car and just leave it there all season. I don't have a second jacket, but I can live for a game without one if I have to.

I'm using my spare jacket this year (my old one from Des Moines). Going to buy a non-patched jacket soon, I think.

Do you carry both sets in the same bag? Or do you have two bags as well?

I need one of these for Rec Ball too.

I may look into the spare bag in the car trunk too, as opposed to carrying an entire spare set to each game.....just my luck, I'd take my truck one day to give it some exercise and THAT would be the ONE day I forget my bag and have a uniform issue! :eek:

The other day, my partner packed his football shirt. It still had the Black/White stripes. But it also has a collar and a pocket. He was a big guy so my extra shirt would not fit.

The state association site has the addresses for all of the schools listed. But sometimes the new schools don't show up on Google maps for a year or so. Sometimes Mapquest will have it. Sometimes Yahoo maps. Sometimes none of them.

Gotta love this game :)

Thank You Sir, May I Have Another?
 

I recall vividly a MS game I did in '84, having rushed to fix a broken zipper with two safety pins before tipoff. During the first quarter, one came loose somehow and taught me a POINTED LESSON. Ouch!!! :eek:
Really.
Don't ever use safety pins to fix a zipper. I don't anymore.

Don't Ask What The First Rule Is, Please ...
 

Isn't that Mark Padgett's second rule of officiating?

Yep! It usually falls somewhere between a SNAFU and a Charlie Foxtrot..