"I'm 52 years old, and in all my years..."

[Mark Padgett]

Back sometime in the early 90s, I worked a MS boys holiday tournament at a local HS gym that had two courts - one standard HS size and the other was what you would call MS size. The games were 20 minute running halves and they started one hour and ten minutes apart. On Friday night, I worked three games starting at 6:00. On both Saturday and Sunday, I worked four games in the mornings starting at 9:00 and four games in the evenings starting at 5:00 (including the "championship" game at 8:30 on Sunday night), so I had both afternoons to rest up and eat. A lot of my games were on the MS sized court, but not the last four on Sunday night. If I remember correctly (and at my age, that's not a given) the games paid $12 each, so I made $228 for the 19 games - in cash!

Needless to say, all my partners and I worked "convenience mechanics".

Oh yeah, we got as much free soda pop as we wanted. I must have downed at least 12 bottles of Diet Pepsi that weekend. Good thing the bathrooms were right next to the courts.

BTW - when I got home late on Sunday night, my wife said, "You home already?"

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

Needless to say, all my partners and I worked "convenience mechanics".

I worked a summer tournament at the local college that I attended in the summer of 97 or 98. I worked like 7 games on Saturday and 8 on Sunday. These were high school teams and we did the same thing. Hell after the end of day one I was exhausted. By the time we were done on day two I could hardly walk. There was no way I could run or do much during live ball periods, let alone dead ball periods. The most switching we did was during FTs, but that soon stopped as my partner and I (who worked all the games together) were so tired we were just trying to get through the games without getting hurt. I learned that I cannot work that many games in a row and needed a significant break to continue. Never again.

Peace

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Hell after the end of day one I was exhausted. By the time we were done on day two I could hardly walk.

I have just one word to say to that - meds.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

I have just one word to say to that - meds.

And I needed lots of them that weekend.

Peace

[just another ref]

About 20 years ago there was a tourney held to raise money for a car accident victim. I didn't know all the details, just knew it was a one day thing, and was offered 50 bucks to come and call it. How do you say no to something like this? It was a friend of a friend thing, but I agreed. It started at 9 a.m. We had 5 minute halftimes, 5 minutes between games, and a 30 minute break at noon. The rest of the time, we were playing. It ended around 10 p.m. They were so grateful they gave me 80 bucks instead of 50.

No claims about positioning, hustle, or anything else.

I did have a pulse at the end.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

It started at 9 a.m. We had 5 minute halftimes, 5 minutes between games, and a 30 minute break at noon. It ended around 10 p.m.

I assume that you switched, and moved to the proper reporting area, on every single foul, for the entire thirteen hours. And I also assume that you never inbounded the ball across the lane (I don't do the blue font thing).

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

I assume that you switched, and moved to the proper reporting area, on every single foul, for the entire thirteen hours. And I also assume that you never inbounded the ball across the lane (I don't do the blue font thing).

Don't remember all the details, but I do remember that it felt like my shoes were filled with live coals.