Fun but long night
 

Worked four 8th grade boys tournament games last night, three of which were decided by a couple points. A few high lights:

• Two players ran full speed into each other at half court while going after a lose ball. The came from different directions and I deemed it incidental. One of the player's father loses his mind, comes down from the stands and starts screaming about needing to protect his boy, yada yada. The guy seemed like he was about to come onto the floor when the AD corralled him and escorted him out. My partner thought I should have had a foul.

• Same game as above, home team player goes up for an uncontested layup. While he is airborne, a visiting defender comes in and clotheslines him across the head. I immediately come up with intentional but am thinking flagrant. I ended up letting my partner talk me out of flagrant. Should have gone flagrant.

• Head coach in one of the games loved him some sarcasm. I talk him down a couple of times but in the third quarter I finally have enough and said "Coach, that's enough. No more." His response was to scream back at me "WELL I'VE SEEN ENOUGH!" And aI almost got through the year without T'ing up a coach too.

• Last game of the night, called a 5 second closely guarded violation on the visiting team. A fan yells out "You need to learn how to call 5 seconds, BLUE!" That actually made me laugh. The coach complained "He was three feet away!!" Ah vindication. :cool:

It was some of the best basketball I've worked all year but that was too many games. Thankfully I had a partner not only show up but a partner that was pretty good, too. I got to the gym at 4:00 and didn't leave until 10:00.

Those train wrecks are tough. I suppose you could get a double foul on it if you had to call something in that situation. Tough to know who got there first when YHTBT.

On the first one, it's definitely a HTBT situation, but my rule of thumb is "incidental if they arrive at the same moment, otherwise call the foul on the second player"

As for my schedule:
1 game tonight (Boys B-squad... 10th graders).

5 games tomorrow (youth rec league, 11U, 12U, and 14U)

4 games on Sunday (adult men's rec).

Should be interesting.

In #1 HTBT -. But to partner saying you should have a a foul :( If he thought your no call was that big a deal - he also had a whistle. Yet - he didn't use it. I know primary area and all that . Just sayin ........


Schedule - Tues - Varsity DH
Wed - JUCO
Thur - MS triple
tonight - Varsity DH
Sat: 6 games competitive MS tournament
Sun: 4 games competitive MS tournament

jTheUmp - can I ask a simple question (no hidden agenda, no condescending attitude...just curiosity...)....why do you choose to work 9 games in 2 days?

• Same game as above, home team player goes up for an uncontested layup. While he is airborne, a visiting defender comes in and clotheslines him across the head. I immediately come up with intentional but am thinking flagrant. I ended up letting my partner talk me out of flagrant. Should have gone flagrant.

Gone...toss the kid and your partner for not having any stones.

Short answer: I'm crazy.

Longer answer:
1) I use the rec league games as a way to work on my mechanics and to gain experience, because I'm a relative newbie to basketball officiating.
2) The rec games are relatively easy to work... shorter-then-regulation courts, 20-minute running time halves.
3) Keeps me busy and gives me a little bit of "crack-and-hookers" money. (Crack-and-hookers money = money that I can spend on something utterly frivolous, NOT money that I literally spend on crack and hookers).
4) I asked the rec league assigner to work 2 days a week if possible. The way this week worked out, the only two days that I was available and he had games were on Saturday and Sunday.

Because money spent on crack-and-hookers is a necessity, not frivolous.

...always listen to Bob...? :eek:

:D

So you're deducting it? :D

I get one of these per season - where just 1 coach wants a foul. I ask who gets the foul when they "got there" at the same time, or I say that "same time - so I'd need a double foul". I don't recall my reply never working.

I have found that this play is a great time to "anticipate the action, but not the call". Being in great position for these crashes goes a long way for credibility.

Sounds like a definite flagrant.

This would probably fall under the 'meals and entertainment' deduction.:D

Welpe
"Two players ran full speed into each other at half court while going after a loose ball. They came from different directions and I deemed it incidental."

I had two bad crashes like above last week. I mean they were the kind where the crowd goes silent. After the second one, ball is secured by opposing team and I'm running down the court to the lead position and since the gym was still quiet from collision, I hear from the stands, "well they were both going for the ball" (amazing, I felt like bowing down to the fan who said that) No coach or spectator said anything negative about the crashes, but the crashes were about the worst ones I've ever seen! Big kids too, 200 pounds plus, both fairly athletic. I think you made the right call, even when its ugly, real ugly, sometimes its a no call. What goes through my mind on these collisions is. "Dang, I hope nobody got hurt!"

I had the same complaint from a coach this year after that call.

Coach: "Three feet, right?"
Me: "Six!"
Coach's look: Wow, I just learned something.

I had wanted to say, "That's for women's college, coach. We're 0-for-2 here." (MS Boys)