I know my limits
 

AAU tourney today. I never sign up for more than three games because I know my quality goes down dramatically in game 4 and beyond. I did three pretty good games and was feeling good. Then it happened.

Only one ref showed for the next game, and he was on pain meds for a bulging disk in his back. There is no way he can do a one man game, and no else can stay to help.

I end up doing games 4, 5, and 6 with a good but incapacitated partner. I did OK, but in game 6 I miss a foul on a steal that results in an easy layup. I wasn't in position to make the call- the legs had stopped responding. The coach on the wrong end of this call yells "That's bullcrap" about 5 times as loud as he can. I finally cannot ignore him and T him up.

While we are shooting I tell him "I know I missed a call, but I cannot let you yell at me that loud and that long". He agrees and the rest of the game goes reasonably well.

I felt guilty for a bit, because he was right- the missed call was bullcrap. But I refuse to feel guilty now. This one is on the ref that was a no-show. I have to look at the bright side. I got some advanced training in game management under extremely adverse conditions. GIGDGO.

5 times? :eek:

Exponential Outcome
 

"That's bullcrap!" FIRST T :(
"That's bullcrap!" SECOND T, EJECTION :eek:
"That's bullcrap!" THIRD T :eek:
"That's bullcrap!" FOURTH T :eek::eek:
"That's bullcrap!" FIFTH T :eek::eek::eek:

Wow, these things kinda add up after a while, don't they? :)

"That's Bullcrap!" I wouldn't T up for if it was once or twice. Only after a few times I would.

"That's Bullsh*t!" immediate T.

A few times? How many? 14? :rolleyes:

Whatinthehell is the difference? He's still crapping all over you. And you're putting up with it.

It was literally five times over about thirty seconds. I know I should have got him on the first or second, but he had only whined once or so before that and I knew I had missed the call, so I gave him some slack. Probably too much.

And it sounds like next time you will handle it differently. Live and learn. Chalk this one up to gaining experience.

As I have said many times before, and you may have discovered yourself, I question myself more and regret the T's I don't give more than the ones I do.

Get em next time! You don't need to take that "crap!" ;)

I think it is more a matter of how the message is delievered in this situation. Screaming across the court deserves a lot less tolerances than a quiet word IMO.

My take...

It's really easy to be a hard *** here when commenting on somebody else's game management. It's an area where I've learned many veterans tend to say one thing, and do another. And what they do tends to be way more reasonable. So take such advice with a rather measured grain of salt. Including what I'm about to say...

You missed the call, and you know it. In that situation I think it would be compounding one bad call with another to whack the coach without attempting to address his concern first. So maybe the coach gets a pass on the first one. But you must take (or make) the first available opportunity to have that little chat you finally had with him. What happens next depends on how reasonable he wants to be.

PS. All this is predicated on the coach's initial outburst being something you can live with passing on. If not, then whack away and it's on him.

I agree it's best to talk to the coach, but in this situation, the clock was likely running the whole time. Not a lot of opportunity to have a sportsmanship chat with a coach who should know better while action is on-going.

I'm going to disagree. There is just as much time in a running clock AAU game as in any other. The convo should be quite short. And it's easy to tell the clock operator to stop the clock if it is an issue. One problem with these games is that too often officials don't educate coaches about expected behavior. I've had pretty good luck in these games just by having the dialog with anupset coach that most officials won't have.

As a newer referee, I am hesitant to hold up play for even a short discussion. I think you are right. If it is at all possible to get to the coach it may help. But, you also seem to know what to say, which is a good skill to have. In this case the coach knew I was not the scheduled ref, because he heard me talking to an administrator before the game. I think that is part of the reason he settled down quickly when I talked to him.

Running clock shouldn't affect this conversation. Coach needed a talking to.

I used to try and hurry things along during running clock games, but no more. It's not my issue that the clock is running - I am going to perform my duties in the same way I would if the clock wasn't running.

I think the point Snaqs is trying to make is that there is on-going action in the game and there may not be a good opportunity right away to have a word with the coach unless you stop the game to do so.

Well that could be true in any game, running clock or not. The running clock has nothing to do with that.