Closest I've come to a heart attack in a long time

[Mark Padgett]

Two rec games last night. First was 6th grade girls, then 7th grade boys. Both games were decided by one point! Home team won the first 32-31, visitors won the second 48-47. Near the end of both games I told my partner that if the game went into overtime, it was his fault. Oh yeah, we had about five intentional fouls in the last minute of each game. I made sure the team that was ahead would get the ball back.

BTW - my partner, who is in his third year and told me this would be his last (he doesn't really like the game), called a foul on one girl for "a bear hug" and even gave a mechanic like a hug! He called two reaches before I had a chance to tell him not to do that and also called an inbound violation when the inbounder stepped on, not over, the line. I corrected that.

The first game started at 6:00 and the second game wasn't over until almost 10:15. YUK!

The highlight of the night was when some old guy (and he must be really old if I think he's an old guy ) told me he remembered me officiating one of his grandsons a few times starting back in 1993 and continuing with his other grandsons up until the present! I told him I didn't remember that, not because I didn't know his grandson, but because I can't remember 1993. That brought a smile to his face.