I must be insane

[Rich]

My day:

I left the house at 4:10PM. Drove into some terrible traffic, picked up my partner, and drove 115 miles to work a boys varsity game. The last 25 miles was on a county road that's covered with snow. And it was snowing. We arrived at 6:50PM.

Worked the game. Started at 7:40 as the JV game went OT. Visiting team won 61-29. Total of 18 fouls, no bonus either half. In the car by 9. Now 90 miles from home having a cheeseburger. It will be midnight before I get home.

Yeah, we do this for the money.

[BktBallRef]

I'm glad we don't work anything farther than 60 miles away.

[26 Year Gap]

Had a lot of Vermont nights like that, but without the partner. Have a DH in town tomorrow night. I probably go 70-75 miles max one way now. Was about 40 miles away on Monday, but it seemed a lot farther.

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by 26 Year Gap

Was about 40 miles away on Monday, but it seemed a lot farther.

It probably seems too close now.

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

It probably seems too close now.

We'll see. Back there in January twice. Maybe they've repaired the road.

[zm1283]

Had a girls JV/V night tonight 10 miles from home. Left at 5:00 and was home around 9:00.

[Rich]

I just got home now. 12:40AM.

In the end, it was a good night. The visiting team is one I see often, and I've always had a good relationship with the head coach and the coaching staff. The home coach was a good sport the whole night -- he was getting waxed and took it in good humor. The AD is a (I believe, if he isn't he should be) Hall of Fame football coach who managed to stick some extra mileage money on the check because I was moved to this game at the last minute. And neither coach said a word the entire game, I got a fabulous workout as they ran me up and down the court well, and if we shot 10 free throws the entire game, I'd be surprised.

Of course, the ironic thing is that out of the 5 games I had/have this week, 4 are 3-person girls games and the one game where we got to run hard was the boys game tonight, worked 2-person.

Off to bed. Back at it tomorrow. Only about 75 miles from the house. I'm only driving about 15 miles of it, though, before I meet the driver.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Years and years ago (before MTD, Jr. was even in grade school), I worked the women's side of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference. I was the only Ohio official in the conference. Lots of Wednesday night games in December and January; minimum two hours to the nearest college for a 7pm or 7:30pm start. Ah, to be young again and have hair.

MTD, Sr.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

The JV game went OT.

Been there. Done that. I hate it when that happens.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

JV game went OT. Visiting team won 61-29.

Wow, you don't often see one team get outplayed that badly in a 4 minute overtime period!!

[fullor30]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

My day:

I left the house at 4:10PM. Drove into some terrible traffic, picked up my partner, and drove 115 miles to work a boys varsity game. The last 25 miles was on a county road that's covered with snow. And it was snowing. We arrived at 6:50PM.

Worked the game. Started at 7:40 as the JV game went OT. Visiting team won 61-29. Total of 18 fouls, no bonus either half. In the car by 9. Now 90 miles from home having a cheeseburger. It will be midnight before I get home.

Yeah, we do this for the money.

What time was scheduled tipoff? If you left at 4:15, picked up partner and then drove 115 miles It sounds like you were cutting it close? Working the Chicago area for usually scheduled week day 7:00 o'clock starts with uncertain weather conditions, I need to leave around 4ish myself, and that's for 35-40 miles distances on occasion.

Being in rural areas you probably have a better sense of travel time. Chicago, you just never know what to expect. Had a date a few weeks ago 8 miles from home, took me almost 45 minutes.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by fullor30

Being in rural areas you probably have a better sense of travel time. Chicago, you just never know what to expect. Had a date a few weeks ago 8 miles from home, took me almost 45 minutes.

Wow! I will never complain about Houston traffic again.

I'm working another chapter this year that is pretty far out, though I think my furthest drive this year is about 60 miles from work. I don't envy you folks with these really long drives.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by fullor30

What time was scheduled tipoff? If you left at 4:15, picked up partner and then drove 115 miles It sounds like you were cutting it close? Working the Chicago area for usually scheduled week day 7:00 o'clock starts with uncertain weather conditions, I need to leave around 4ish myself, and that's for 35-40 miles distances on occasion.

Being in rural areas you probably have a better sense of travel time. Chicago, you just never know what to expect. Had a date a few weeks ago 8 miles from home, took me almost 45 minutes.

In a perfect world, I would've left at 3:30 or so, but I do have a day job.

The 115 miles included the drive to pick up the partner. I ran into some ungodly (in Madison terms) traffic and had to detour after calling my partner and telling him to move to another place to wait for me. Then the unexpected 25 miles of snow-covered county roads added another 15-20 minutes to the trip, since I averaged 30-35 MPH instead of 60+.

In the end, we got there with 3:35 left in the 4th quarter, were dressed before regulation ended, and had to sit through an overtime period. Then there was the confrontation between the home (losing) JV coach and one of the officials on the way off the floor. That was a lot of fun. Actually, since that coach was a varsity assistant, it was a little fun watching him fume all through the warmups while sitting on the bench.

[jTheUmp]

I grew up in a rural area. If something was 20 miles away, you knew you could drive there in about 20 minutes (unless the weather was bad). Now that I live in a big city, there's nothing that annoys me more then driving on a multi-lane freeway at speeds under 50 MPH.

If I'm going to spend 2 hours driving to a game, I'd much rather drive 110 miles then drive 20 miles in those 2 hours. But that's just me.

Alternatively, as one of the veterans officials in our association is fond of saying "If I told you there was $75 under a rock 100 miles from here, would you go get it? Probably not. But if I told you that you could drive 100 miles and spend 2 hours officiating a basketball game in front of a hostile crowd for that same $75, you'd do it."

[fullor30]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

In a perfect world, I would've left at 3:30 or so, but I do have a day job.

The 115 miles included the drive to pick up the partner. I ran into some ungodly (in Madison terms) traffic and had to detour after calling my partner and telling him to move to another place to wait for me. Then the unexpected 25 miles of snow-covered county roads added another 15-20 minutes to the trip, since I averaged 30-35 MPH instead of 60+.

In the end, we got there with 3:35 left in the 4th quarter, were dressed before regulation ended, and had to sit through an overtime period. Then there was the confrontation between the home (losing) JV coach and one of the officials on the way off the floor. That was a lot of fun. Actually, since that coach was a varsity assistant, it was a little fun watching him fume all through the warmups while sitting on the bench.

My biggest fear is a game at new school with a little distance. You never know what to expect. GPS is a stress reliever but the fear of the unknown is still there. I also have a day job and on occasion cut it too close.

Bob Jenkins said it best. Allow yourself enough time, so if you're late, you're not