nightmare of a game
 

Freshman boys game tonight that I wasn't supposed to work but somehow ended up working. I knew I was in for a long game when not 2 minutes in I heard a fan sitting behind the V teams bench yell, "You guys need to call some more fouls or I'm gonna do something about it." Tweet! Took about 5 minutes to get the fan removed as he didn't go easily.

2nd quarter, V team fouls and it was their 10th team foul so it should have been a 2 shot foul. I, like an idiot, administer it as a one and one, first shot was missed, V team gets the rebound, and in the process, #42 from the H team gives him a bump so I call the foul. This was the 10th team foul on the H team. #42 doesn't like the call, turns to me, and asks me what game I'm watching. Tweet! Technical foul on #42. H team coach comes unglued. For whatever reason my partner never caught on to the fact that we had screwed the pooch, but I realized our mistake, trying to calm the coach down telling him it was a correctable error. End up having to warn him. So I confer with my partner who still doesn't have a clue what is going on, tell him we are going down to this end and correct the error by giving H team one shot with lane cleared, then we go down and shoot 4 shots on the other end. V team coach asks what is going on so I explain to him. No problems there, he's happy with the explanation.

To make matters worse, #42 has a mouth on him the rest of the game, silently dropping a few F bombs. I talk to him, trying to calm him down and keep him in the game. Finally he explodes in the 4th quarter after a no call on a shot that he missed. I did not see any contact, therefore no foul. He starts to run up the court, then turns to me after V team has secured the rebound, and not so politely tells me to call the ****in foul. Tweet, second technical, and the ejection sign. As I'm trying to tell the coach what happened, #42 runs up to me and gets in my face, wanting to fight me after the game. oh boy! thank god the coach had half a brain and literally pushed the kid out of the gym and told him not to come back to the bench until he had settled down.

Aside from that, my partner called an intentional foul on H team that in my mind should have been flagrant. on an inbounds pass by V team, defender makes no attempt to steal the ball, but wraps both hands around the ball handlers neck from behind and throws him down. By this point both sides of the gym are hooting and hollering at us. As soon as the horn blew to end the game, I booked off of the court and didn't even wait on my partner, who felt the need to gather up the game ball and take it to the scorers table. Ugh!

H team AD and I had a good discussion after the game and guaranteed me that he would speak with the player that was ejected and that he most likely would not play again at that school. What a night!

I have a freshman doubleheader tomorrow morning starting at 9 am.

Who's going to be more asleep, me, or the 14 year olds?

Yuck. Great job talking to the coach and AD. I wish more refs had the cool temperament to talk out of trouble instead of a quick "T".

Has a mouth on him the rest of the game? Dropping a few F bombs? And you did......nothing?

Lah me......

All you did was delay the inevitable and take a ton of crap while doing so.

I hate to say it, but if you won't take care of bidness, then don't complain about it. You reap what you sow. Sorry, but there it is imo.

You don't, can't and shouldn't try to reason with idiots. Give 'em one warning and then whack 'em. It's amazing how much quieter your games will become if you start doing that.

I agree with JR, your problem's right here. First of all, how do you know he was dropping F bombs if they're silent? If #42 has already had a T, he'd better be a model citizen the rest of the game. Absolutely nothing good can come from keeping a player like this in the game. He will poison the experience of everyone on the court.

Maybe I'm just reading to much into your post, but .....you justifiably call yourself an idiot (a bit harsh maybe), make 2 negative comments about your partner, disagree on his call (which makes me wonder where you were supposed to be looking), then leave your "only friend" behind to "book" off the floor.... Whats wrong with this picture?

In our area I don't think we,officials, give out enough T's. Talking can be good but in my limited experience talking puts off the inevitable. I've maybe talked 2 or 3 players/coaches from jumping off the ledge. Most fling themselves off willingly.

My experience is everybody listens to whistles.

Just so you know I'm a pretty cool cat on the court so its not a temperment thing with me when they get to experience the consequences of their mouths, and or actions.

IMO...bad job. What the heck were you thinking about????
Despite your P's misguided need to feel he's got to gather up the ball and give it to the table, you can't book and leave him out there alone. He's your partner, for better or worse...you are a team.
I mean think it through. Obviously, because of EVEYTHING that transpired in this game from the fan ejection, the player ejection, player putting his hands around the neck of another player, both sides of a gym hooting and hollering at you, YOU felt the need to get off the court quickly as there might be trouble. So you decided to get yourself "out of Dodge" and leave your P out there alone. What if something happened between him and a fan/coach/player on his way off the floor alone?? You looked out after you own a** and sc**wed your P. I guess your actions should not come as a surprise based on the way (as other have already pointed out) you threw your P under the bus in your post.
You have a responsibility as a partner to your partner. You have an even bigger responsibility if you are the more experienced official in this type of hostile game situation. Take some leadership...if you had not pre-gamed it, use the time during a T/O late in the game to remind your P that when the final horn sounds that your both getting off the floor and to the dressing room quickly and together.