Purely for science, I'd like to see the reactions of people in a gym including the refs when someone, non sarcastically, applauds (loudly/vocally) a correct call by the crew. Especially if it was a fan/spectator of the team the call went against.

When I do get that oft chance to see a game as a spectator, most of the time I'll sit by myself or with fellow officials. It certainly is entertaining to listen to the educated masses and their comments. Sometimes I just chuckle and shake my head.

It is however tough to "enjoy the game" sometimes as you observe the officials, coaches, and other nuances of the game others don't watch - after fouls, during dead balls and TO's, etc.

2nd year here. I told my wife that I can't watch basketball like I used to, particularly in person. It's actually been a little disconcerting to view my favorite sport and one I played and coached for more than 35 years from a brand new perspective.

At least you get to watch movies about sports and military. *cue 4 Yorkshiremen sketch*

“You Can't Go Home Again” (Thomas Wolfe) ...
 

Being an official has ruined my life as a basketball fan. Every time I go to a game in person, or watch one on television, I'm not watching the players, I'm watching the officials. This even happens when I go to UCONN men's, or women's game, and I'm not even a college official. I've had friends, or family, ask me, "Hey BillyMac, wasn't that a great pass?", to which I reply, "What pass? Did you see that official close down on the three point shot?".

When I eventually give up officiating, will I ever be able to go back to being a fan? Please tell me that I can go back. Someone? Please?

Wouldn't It Be Nice If All Fans Were Like This ???
 

Stayed for the boys end of a boys/girls varsity doubleheader. Small Christian school with not a lot of room in the bleachers, so I sat among a group of fans, who knew that I had officiated the first game.

Shot goes up and hangs on the rim for a split second before dropping into basket. Defensive player had touched the bottom of the net as the ball was on the ring. Fan asks me, "Isn't that goaltending?", which led to a quick, friendly, discussion about the difference between goaltending, and basket interference.

A few minutes later, a player is about to score on a breakaway layup, and a defender grabs his opponent's jersey from behind. As the players are directed away from the free throw lane for the two free throws, another fan asks me, "Why did they call a technical foul?", which led to a quick, friendly, discussion about intentional fouls, and the penalty for such.

This was at the same site where I had a fan ejected two weeks ago. Go figure?

I'm an observant official when it comes to the game of basketball with two teams involved that I don't personally cheer for. But you give me my hs/juco alma mater, give me my big four year schools I cheer for (big time UConn fan..both sides, TTU) and I switch off the official in me and become a fan again. That's why I've talked to my area director about when I reach varsity level (though we as an association don't call local conf. games) that I will not ever call the LJ/Lamar games at _any_ level, I just can't get that part of my past HS exp. out of me, so I know that it will hinder my ability to officiate properly.

So, I think it can be done Billy...but will probably just depend on the person.

I'm the complete opposite. While I can still cheer for my teams, I cheer for the officiating team first meaning if a tough call that's correct has to go against my team, I'd rather that happen then the wrong call.

Love the next day when my friends are *itching and moaning about getting screwed on a call against one of our teams and I have to set them straight.

Agreed. I don't become one of 'those' fans, I've hardly ever yelled at refs my entire time being involved in any sport. I grew up with a ref in the house and from early on had that respect for refs anytime I played. This past UConn game against OU, I think there was a call against Maya Moore and I agreed with it. I'm just able to turn off watching the officials as well as watching the game like I was officiating. Shoulda been a tad bit clearer on that.... *gets ready for the harping on this team pick of mine:D*
Since both the football and basketball seasons started this year, I've yelled at a ref only once. It was during a Cowboys game and they totally screwed or missed a penalty that would've helped Dallas and probably the outcome of the game. The person I was watching with basically dropped their jaw and looked at me like are you really yelling at the officials?

I can pretty much say I watch just about all contests through the eyes of an official. And that's not just basketball but other sports as well. DVR makes it that much more fun/easier, because I'll go back and watch the positioning of the officials, watch plays in slow motion, etc. I actually wish we had a poster here with a capture card so we could review more plays as a board. I know one other football officiating board I frequent has a poster who does that, and it makes for great discussion. *I'm rambling here*

I can say that I don't really watch any more sports as a normal "fan" but I'm glad I don't. I enjoy watching games now so much more now rather than whining about every perceived miss call.

How can you expect fans to understand LGP when coaches don't know it...and in some cases, officials!!??

It's a simple concept.

The blarge is the most complained about call in the game.

That's indeed part of it, but I believe the other part is just plain ignorance. It's not easy to battle stubborn, but ignorance is treatable.

Let's say A1 foolishly throws the ball out of bounds, or takes a couple of obvious steps before passing. The fans of Team A are not going to chew out an official over those calls, because they know A1 did something wrong, no matter how biased they are.

If A1 commits a charge, however, chances are they're going to squawk. Why? They don't know what to look for in making that call. The main difference between the obvious and the confusing is information -- although judgment often plays a role -- and sometimes I wonder if basketball could do more to pass along that information, rather than letting myths lie.

How Frequent ???
 

How can this be? I've been doing this for thirty years, and I have never had a blarge in any of my games, nor have I seen a blarge in any that I've observed.

Different perspective
 

I'll share my story on the thread subject. After about 12 years of calling hs boys varsity and some community college ball, I sat down as my kids reached hs playing age. I have to say, being in the stands as a parent of a player now was quite eye opening. At first I tried, as others have said here, to explain calls and rules to those friends/parents that sat nearby. After a bit, I gave up and just sometimes sat away from those that knew me and my background. Some folks would like the education, most thought I was only supporting my zebra brethren. They knew I knew all the guys on all the games and their preconceived notions surfaced. I found myself also in a bit of inner turmoil as I watched, just as the other parents would, my own kid perform on the court, and be involved in plays that were decided by guys I knew, mostly guys I considered top quality refs. Occasionally, the team would travel into territory of another officials association such as for regional or state play in games. Funny how my feeling of these crews changed since I didn't know these guys, and I became more of a "fan", occasionally being critical, especially, and I'll readily admit this, when I felt my kid got a bum deal. Only human nature I kept telling myself. When he moved on to play college ball well out of the area, and the few times I was able to watch him in person, I began to notice things that I made mental notes I would do if I ever came back to officiate. I felt I could become a better official, if by no other reason than kinda seeing it from that view. I saw what I perceived in hs and college as phantom calls, calls in the moment just because there looked to be something that needed to be cleaned up. Then I remembered doing the same thing at times and for instance maybe wrongfully calling the third foul first half on some nameless faceless kid on some meaningless (to me) mid season game..wrongful in that I might have been guessing on the play or trying to clean something up. I can assure you that player was not nameless to his parents or coach or their fans. That one foul could have changed the nature of the game for the kid personally and the team. I too had felt this as a Dad in the stands, and I vowed to try to do a better job when I came back, mainly in the area of referring the defense more. Try to be sure that kid has actually done something (by rule of course) to deserve that penalty, not just kinda been in the wrong spot. In discussion with my former comrades in stripes about returning to action, I was always quick to say I thought everybody should take a few years and watch from the stands as a parent as I did. Now this may mean only that I needed improvement, not others, but I did find it quite enlightening from a lot of directions.

Letemplay - good post!