Today I snapped!
 

One of my good friends has a new organization and I scheduled games for a private middle school tournament. There was this one official, new to us, who talked a great game. I mean he sounded like he could really go on th court if you listened to all the stuff he was saying.

Well, the word "bum" could be used to describe how he officiates.

I was talking to him and his partner after their game, actually his partner at the time. He says, "So what do you have for me?" I tried to continue, but I just couldn't and I snapped. To make a long story short, I told him where he could go and he will not be working with us anymore.

Moral of the story: officials who talk a good game are only entertaining until they get on the court.

kind of like the philly eagles.
to be honest though from reading your post seems like you were in a bad mood but I guess I would have to seen the game myself.

You know how unhealthy it is to hold all of that in. It's nice that you finally vented. I'm just glad that I wasn't on the receiving end of your ripping! ;) The last time I felt so small and all you did was look at me. :eek:

(Note: For those who don't know, several years ago I was operating the clock at the State Tournament and tomegun of was on the court. He was administering FTs and I had a lapse in concentration and hit the horn for a sub who came running to the table, before I realized that the ball had already been given to the shooter. Tomegun whistled it dead, retrieved the ball from the shooter, brought the sub in, and then gave me "the look." I wanted to crawl under the table. :o )

I wanted to snap today.

6th grade rec game. 2-man crew. I'm the new lead after a made basket. Ball comes close to my line, so I'm watching the ball, even though it's in the backcourt. B1 clearly displaces A1. Partner has no whistle, so I call the foul.

At a timeout, partner comes up to me and says "If I pass on it, don't call it, it's not your area." I say "But I was watching my line, and it was clear to me that the defender displaced the dribbler."

Partner says "But he didn't gain an advantage." This is where I wanted to snap. My partner was lazy all game, and called maybe three fouls for the entire game. I wanted to tell him that he should get a better angle, but thought better of it.

How can B1 displacing A1 not be an advantage gained by B1? Tell me that, I'll give you $20.

In your spot, I would not have called the foul. I would have only been looking for an OOB violation. I would have left the decision on contact to my partner in his primary area.

It may have been a foul, but it wasn't your decision to make. If he screws it up, that's his business.

I would have told you the same thing.

It's your line and if it's violated, you should make the OOB call.

You have no business calling a foul in the BC from the endline.

You have a partner, you let him live and die with what he does/doesn't call.

Not to pile on......ah, hell, to pile on.......I agree completely with Nevada and BktBallRef. Save your second-guessing for the dressing room. You just put your partner's on-court credibility right in the ol' dumper.

From a coaches perspective. If one referee misses a call and the other referee could/can make the call then I expect them to make the call. I don't like the "its not my call coach" response. I am not talking about every questionable call but this one seems obvious from the way you describe it.

I understand completely what you guys are saying about why I should let my partner decide whether or not to call the foul.

However, I don't completely agree with the philosophy. Maybe it's because I'm young and still pretty new at this, but my thinking is, aren't we a team out there? If I'm watching my line anyway, why should I watch just for OOB?

Isn't it our job, as a whole, to enforce the rules of the game?

Again I understand what you all are saying and I don't want to start a pissing match, just offering my two cents.

His credibility with me was bruised anyway when he called a 3 second violation from trail when the ball was in my area. I had counted to 2.

If it's a significant enough foul, then you need to go get it. A bump and displacement on a dribbler in the BC is usually not significant enough.

Deciding where to draw that line is a very hard part of the art of officiating.

To add to what Bob said:

I have always followed the "philosophy" that there are three types of fouls.
1)Oh, that's a foul.
2)Oh my, that's a foul!
3)Oh my God!! That's a FOUL!!!

If I "see" a #1 happen outside my PCA, I leave it alone. If I see a #2 happen outside my PCA, I make sure we discuss it at the next break (timeout, end of period, etc.). If I see a #3 happen, I will go get it anywhere on the court at any point in the game. And I expect the same awareness from my partners.

So if the displacement you saw was something that made you cringe inside and scream in your head "Oh my God!!" then you were absolutely right to go and get it. If it just made you go "Oh, that should have been called", then leave it alone.

Believe it or not, that philosophy almost always (The vast, vast majority of the time) makes the game go better.

1) Yup, you're a team. And you're making the team look bad when you start making calls for your partner(s).

2) I wish it was that simplistic. It would make what we do so much easier. There are just too many variables involved to have a catch-all comment like that be applicable to everything that happens out there. Each play is different, and we have to call it that way. You may be correct on a play in your partner's area where your partner got screened out and a call HAD to be made. But when your partner has a good look at a play in his primary and decides to pass on it, then all you are doing is questioning his judgment. Best to leave that to the players and coaches.

3) Two wrongs don't make a right. You're pissed because HE made a call in your primary, but you also think that it's OK for YOU to make a call in his primary. Um, what's wrong with that kinda logic? Don't you maybe think that your credibility with him also got bruised when you reached into his primary? Think about it.

Tom, not having been there and seen the guy, just going by what you posted..the guy asked for feedback. Did it start out with you giving him some criticism and him doing the "Yeah, but..." thing? Or did you go straight from "What have you got for me?" to snapping and drop-kicking his a$$?

If it was the first, good for you.

If it was the second, was he really that bad? Could you have gotten the point across to him that he was that bad without snapping and letting him walk out of there thinking YOU are the jerk?

Just wondering what all happened, not trying to attack you, Tom. I just know that some of MY best learning experiences have come through having to deal with officials like this guy - on the court or at camps as an evaluator/clinician.

It is probably hard for me to post how this whole thing went, but it had nothing to do with my mood or anything like that.

This guy talked a lot about how he was a good official and there is no such thing as a perfect official. I called him to stress professionalism, uniform, etc. He cuts me off before I finish - like he always does - and says something like, "Listen, I've been doing this for 20 years..."

There were two games on Friday night, a normal night for high school basketball, so this guy worked two games. My friend called me late that night and said we may have had a problem at the site. I called this guy on my way to the gym on Saturday to ask how things went. He said everything was OK, but one kid got hurt. I get to the gym and ask the tournament director how things went on Friday. He said everything was OK, but the crew was kind of shaky.

So we are sitting there on Saturday before he works. He is still telling me how good he is and I'm trying to warn him about talking himself into a bind. Remember, I spoke to him about his uniform and he tried to tell me he knew all of that. Well, his shoes looked like garbage, his pants were basically a dark dark grey, he had on a belt, he had on WHITE SOCKS and basically looked horrible.

He asked me if we are going to have a camp and questioned what clinicians (he couldn't even say that word) we are going to have. Once we told him he was like, "Yeah, it is good to have college officials be clinicians. I've been trained by college officials."

He finally works his game and is horrible. Oh, he is at a level we could work with and train, but then he pushed me too far. Up to this point, on the phone and before the game, he had been trying to talk over me - not letting me finish what I was saying - and was generally being a alpha male. It was kind of funny and I didn't have a problem with it - remember I warned him about talking and not being able to deliver.

After the game I was talking to his partner first. I was telling him some things he could work on. His partner was accepting the information without saying anything (he was nodding in agreement). Before I could get through with his partner, while I was in mid sentence, he asked what I had for him. Again, being aggressive even though he didn't deliver what he said he could. This is when I had had enough and told him if he wanted any feedback from me he was going to come at me differently. I told him he wasn't even close to being where he thought he was as an official.

So then I find out that a player got hurt on Friday and he didn't kill the clock like he should have. The player broke his leg!! The tournament director, who has future tournaments for us to work, doesn't want to see him.

There are other organizations that only worry about having warm bodies on the floor and I'm sure he can work with them. However, I will not be calling on him in the future.

And now you know the rest of the story.

I don't remember this, but it could have happened. Sorry :D

Sorry to switch back to the offshoot this thread took, but if some of the vets looking in could comment, it would be appreciated. As to not reaching / letting our partner live and did with calls/non-calls, how do you manage when the partner is clearly not calling enough and coach(es) are screaming for a few more whistles? Lately, it seems, I've had older (frankly) partners not interested in lingering at under level games any longer than they have to.

The real rub comes when partner passes on a handful of hacks under the basket and then if I, say, pass on marginal bumping bringing the ball up, here it comes from the bench or stands. "C'mon, you guys are killing us!" or something milder (that wouldn't warrant T). Painted with the same broad brush and not liking it. Not going to throw partner under the bus, but how do you handle a) coach -- preferably so you're not getting smeared and b) with partner (typically, though not always, a veteran guy who will be set in his ways).

The hilighted phrases have nothing to do with your partner. Don't let the crowd, coaches, and benches influence your opinion or dealings with partners.

BNR, got that. I agree and understand (and have been around long enough that a loud mouth is not going to wilt me or change my beliefs). I guess what I was getting at was the same questions for when your partner is really just being very lazy about calling fouls/violations or is just bad this day. As a newer official, I'll take my lumps on occasion as it is; I'd rather not take any more extra than necessary if they're not at my hand. (Boy, I hope that doesn't sound self-serving.)

I guess it comes down to: At what point and how can one, in essence say, "Hey, Coach, I agree with you and wouldn't have called that a foul" or, an urge I get fairly frequently, "Hey, Coach, there's a thing called 'reaching' and I'm not going to come from out at the trail position to correct my partner on a hack he passed on right in front of him on the baseline."

Fixed it for you but I digress.

I would say never. This is my line. "coach, I trust my partner and he had a better look at it then either of us."

The rest is for the locker room.

The home team or visiting team all lose, not just the players who are having an off-night.

If one person in the crew is having a horrible game, then the whole crew goes down. There is no way of distancing yourself from that. What you do is talk to your partner(s) during times-out or intermissions and try to get everyone back on the same page.

I have heard straight from the horse's mouth how the actions/performance of one crew member prevented the entire crew from advancing past the 1st round of an NCAA tournament.

You should never reach that point. Save it for the dressing room, not the coaches.

You could have stopped your explanation right there, tomegun. I gotcha loud and clear now. Sounds like a snapping might be what they guy needed. And I hope you took my questions in the way they were intended - not as an attack on your actions.

Go back and read posts 10 and 11...they answer your question pretty well I think.

I hope you're right, but I doubt it. This kind of person is not really interested in improving, but merely wants credit for improving.

No, I knew the story was a long one and if I posted more it would be obvious why I snapped at him.

This guy will not get it. I'm sure he thinks I'm the one with the problem.

I once had to fire a pair of officials (in baseball). I was the new assignor and needed warm bodies. But the winning and losing team complained vehemently 3 weeks in a row and their stories were too consistent from team to team and week to week. Never met the guys, either. I would've loved to watch them work except I was covering a spot myself.

That was 3 years ago and I'll hopefully never assign again.

Evidently you don't completely understand. And yes, you are young and still pretty new at this. So, listen to what we're saying.

You have no business making that call.

Let's change sports for a sec.

You're working the plate and a runner from first is tagged on a second base safe. The field umpire signals safe are you going to go out and call the runner out so the crew can enforce the rules of the game?

You're working referee behind the QB, when he throws a long pass into the secondary. You see the receiver is bumped but the back judge doesn't throw a flag for pass interference. Are you as the referee going to throw a flag so the crew can enforce the rules of the game?

The difference is the trail can make a 3 second call in the lane in two man. You should never make a call in the BC from the lead on the endline.

You're missing the point, coach.

If he's blocked and can't see it, that's one thing. I'll help him.

If he sees the play and judges it not to be a foul, then I have to respect that.

And so do you because I'm not making that call.

You shouldn't be saying any of those things.

Do not respond to STATEMENTS. "You're guys are killing us!" does not require a response, unless you give him a stop sign and tell him you're heard enough.

If the coach asks you a question, answer it with

"Coach, I'm not looking at that play. I'm watching this matchup in front of me."

"Coach, that's his call and he didn't think it was a foul."

"I didn't see it coach, you'll have to ask him."

"That wasn't a foul, coach."

If the foul is in your area, call it.
If the FOUL!!! is in your secondary, call it.
If the foul is blocked from your partner's view, call it.
If your partner has the play in his primary and passes on it, you should too.

I was nowhere near the end line. Not sure if I said that in the OP. My partner yesterday called maybe three fouls all game, and was otherwise extremely lazy all game. I thought there needed to be a foul called there, so I called it. Next time, I'll take everyone's advice into account, and learn from it. We're always trying to improve aren't we?

You're in a tough spot with a partner like that. A lazy partner who just wants to get the game over ASAP poses quite a challenge.

From my experience, you've got a small number of options. The first is to try and persuade him to do a little thing I like to call "referee". The second is GiGdGo, do your thing and let him do his. If neither of those works, and the game is getting away from the crew, then and only then do you expand your area a little to pick up only what must be called. If the game is unnecessarily rough, start by getting the off-ball stuff. And if you're going to maintain anything that looks like consistency, you need to force regular switches.

Notice I have suggested nothing that endorses reaching 40 feet to grab a plain old foul your partner has passed on.

YMMV

Let me try to have you think about it in this manner, who was watching the players in your primary area while you were observing the action and calling a foul in the backcourt?
What if a player picked that time to elbow his opponent in the mouth down on your end? :eek: You'd look pretty silly missing it. When you are responsible for a line (OOB call), you have to still focus 80%-90% of your attention on the contact in your PCA and glance at the action near the line out of your area of responsibility. A quick glance is all that you should be having down the sideline into the backcourt in such a situation. That isn't enough to determine whether or not to call a foul, and so that decision must be left up to your partner.

Point well taken. While this situation is unlikely to happen, it certainly could. I did call an intentional foul later in the game. Had the intentional happened before this particular situation, there may have been a player thinking retaliation.