Thursday bad cop, Friday good cop

[Rich]

My partner had a technical last night. Visiting head coach.

I'm T, opposite. We're at the other end of the floor from the coach. Shot goes up from the corner, partner no-calls, coach wants a foul. He's vocal, but it's nothing unusual. Of course, I'm just hearing this cause I'm looking into the paint.

Whistle, there goes partner, whack. Fascinating.

I have no idea why he called it, but I heard the exchange and heard my partner tell him he was 8 feet on the court out of the box. OK.

Partner and coach are having a controlled discussion, so in the interest of keeping things moving, I get a shooter and administer the FTs. By then, apparently my partner had enough of the exchange, so he went to the division line opposite. I went tableside on the second throw and as soon as it was completed, I went to the coach.

He vented to me for 20 seconds or so and I said absolutely nothing. I just listened, but it was the kind of listening where I couldn't tell you much of what he said afterwards. Finally, he said, "where am I supposed to go?" pointing at his box, which looked to be the normal 14-feet size. I said, "well, right now I need you to sit on the bench, since you no longer have a box."

At halftime, the home AD said he had just remarked to a colleague how the coach was 8-10 feet on the court waving his arms and yelling right before my partner whacked him. And my partner said he wouldn't have called a technical except it was hard not to see him with his white shirt flailing about all the way out onto the court.

The visiting team put the home team away in the second half. Had a nice chat during the last possession with the visiting coach. I like him and his program -- he just lost it for a moment. I wished him well next week, he asked where I was working and told me he appreciated me and that "you always do a good job." At least he didn't emphasize "you" like a coach did a few years ago when my partner whacked him.

Bad cop one night, good cop the next. Today I'm off and am taking my kid to the movies.