A scorekeeper after my own heart

[Mark Padgett]

Spring league V game this afternoon. Coach A has been kind of a jerk all game, as he was last week when I also had his team. About 15 seconds to go, and his team is down by one, 71-70. A1 fouls B1 in the act of shooting a three and the shot misses. My partner calls it. No real squawk from Coach A as the foul was quite obvious. B1 hits all three shots. Score now 74-70, B ahead. Timeout, team A. They come out, hold the ball until 5 seconds left and A2 hits a three. It's now 74-73 and the clock shows 3 seconds. Team B just lets the clock run out and the horn sounds. Game over.

Coach A runs over to the scorer's table and yells at the scoreboard keeper, "THAT WAS A THREE! THE GAME'S TIED!!!". The scoreboard keeper, who is a parent from the other team (each team provides one person for the table) replies, "Yes it was a three and no the game's not tied. You see, for the game to be tied, each team would have to have the same number of points. That's what the word "tied" means. Your team trailed by four points and adding three to that means you now have one less than the other team. It's a fairly simple concept they teach in first grade math. After watching you coach, I must admit I'm not surprised you don't know how to add up to four."

Coach A just stared at him for a moment, then walked back to his bench. It was all I could do to not crack up. My partner (one of the few refs around here who's actually older than me) was on the other side of the court with his back turned and was laughing so hard he had to cover his mouth.

Even the bookkeeper, who was a dad from team A, was chuckling. I just shook the scoreboard guy's hand and told him he could keep the clock for me anytime.