Vote of Confidence?
 

Yesterday, I got a call from my assignor to double check that I had my assignment for tonight. (I didn't) It seems I am to go to the only 4A school that we have. Okay.

"Who's with me, chief?"

"Oh, yeah. Glad you asked. It's (the older guy who has been around for several years but never gets varsity games unless we're REALLY busy) and (the young guy that started officiating last year). You'll be in charge. Handle it now."

I'm not sure if either of these guys has ever done three man.


:cool:

JAR - and as always, we anxiously await your game report! ;)

Well its pretty well spelled out, you are going to be "the man" tonight! Good Luck, don't let your guard down for a second.

Let's just say it was an experience. Girls game was a blowout, very easy. Boys game was hotly contested the whole way, biggest lead was 10. Home trailed the whole game, cut it to 2, but couldn't pull it out. Early in the second half, after a couple of trips which resembled a pinball machine, I realized that I was going to have to expand my coverage area somewhat. After that, we (mostly I) regained what I considered an acceptable level of control. Home coach is, uh, quite excitable even when he's ahead, and tonight he was over the edge a bit. Whacked him late third quarter. Lots of fouls down the stretch. I'm guessing I called roughly 75% of them, one partner 18%, the other guy..............didn't call very many. In retrospect, I feel like I did what I had to do, but one always wonders if it was too much when forced out of the ordinary.

As if all that wasn't enough, we had (you're not gonna believe this) an inexperienced timekeeper tonight, who stopped and started the clock incorrectly several times, further complicated by one time when the clock "stuck" and simply wouldn't work until it was reset.

When we ran off at the end, some of the fans threw money at us. I got all excited and gathered some up, but it turned out to be counterfeit. Thirteen dollar bills with Mark Padgett's picture on them.

Okay, I made that last part up, but the rest is true, to the best of my recollection.

Finally, I talked to another of our association guys on the way home, and it turns out that he and his partner heard the 4th quarter of our game on the radio. Announcers apparently made repeated reference to "one official making all the calls" and at one point said "he called that foul from seventy feet away." But I was pleased to hear that one of these home town guys said that the officiating did not affect the game and that the visitors simply outplayed the home team, executed a better game plan, and seemed to want it more.

THE END

until tomorrow when the home coach calls the assignor and the assignor calls me (maybe)

It sounds like you were "the man" hope you're not feeling bad about calling most of the fouls even though some were out of your area, you had to! Imagine the disaster the game would have been without your expanded coverage. My VB game tonight was a blow out. Felt like you said ping pong I had trouble keeping up with the ball since the other team stole the ball about every other time down the court. HOme coach pulled out his starting 5 in the third quarter and put in his JV's. I happen to be by the Hbench about 2 minutes later and hear coach say to his sitting varsity " they (the JVs) look a lot better than you guys did"

Shocker! :p

How did the young official in your crew do?
Any lessons that may useful to us newbies?

Yeah...and I wasn't there. :)

Primary, primary, primary.

When you are on ball referee your primary hard and call all the obvious fouls and violations.

When you are off-ball, referee your primary hard and get those subtle things that can mess up your game: elbows; displacement in the post (offense & defense); grabbing jerseys; bumping cutters of their course; illegal screens/picks.

If you have to split hairs on a call don't blow your whistle.

Do those things and your more experienced partners will be happy with you.

The young guy was largely invisible. He did make his OOB calls on his lines, quickly and decisively, but he called very little else, especially in the second half.

My advice to him, and you, is to not be intimidated by your surroundings. I had called a two man game with this guy at a smaller school last month and thought he did an excellent job, but I think too much stuff was thrown at him at once, bigger school, bigger crowd, faster pace, three man mechanics. He kind of shrunk from the task.

It is truly a small world. Today I went on a short road trip. On the way home passing through the town of the visitors from last night, I pulled in at Burger King to use the rest room. First thing I see is the bus of the home school from last night. First person I see is the head coach. We exchanged waves. When I came out of the rest room he followed me outside and we talked. He was mainly asking that I plead his case with the assignor against sending two out of three officials with such limited experience to call an important district game at this level. There was very little I could say, since I felt the same way before the game ever started. I didn't want to throw my partners under the bus, but the fact is, they were already under the bus, and we both knew it. I directed his attention toward myself instead.

"I know this was not the prettiest game. I obviously extended my area and made a lot of calls, but I felt like I did what I needed to do. I don't know how you saw the game. You may think I was most of the problem."

He responded at least somewhat in agreement.

"I know you were forced to fix some of their mistakes, and to make some calls when they just would have called nothing. It just looks bad to the fans when one guy has to make all the calls."

No argument there.

[QUOTE=just another ref;657076 I didn't want to throw my partners under the bus, but the fact is, they were already under the bus, and we both knew it. I directed his attention toward myself instead.

"I know this was not the prettiest game. I obviously extended my area and made a lot of calls, but I felt like I did what I needed to do. I don't know how you saw the game. You may think I was most of the problem."

He responded at least somewhat in agreement.

"I know you were forced to fix some of their mistakes, and to make some calls when they just would have called nothing. It just looks bad to the fans when one guy has to make all the calls."

No argument there.[/QUOTE] Ouch. As one who has many times been the "problem" partner, I can honestly say I hope I never have to work with you. I've already got all the tire tracks I need running across my face...:(

You're gonna have to go back and highlight the tire tracks in my post, because I don't follow. What would you have said to the guy?

Did you really need to infer to the coach that your partners were bad and that you had to make a lot of calls to make up for them?

That's exactly what the red-highlighted statement above told the coach.

Imo you threw both of your partners under the bus. Not very professional at all. Your assignor is gonna have a helluva job now trying to get both of your partners accepted at that school in the future, no matter how much they improve.

Nothing.

If he has questions about individual calls that you made, answer them. But never intimate that you were making those calls because your partners won't. Don't discuss your partners in any way with a coach. Save that for your assignor.

How would you have felt if you found out that a partner of yours had told a coach that he had to make a lot of calls because you weren't making them?

Didn't have to infer anything. He saw the game. He isn't blind. I offered myself up to take the blame.