Run Clock Run

[LarryS]

Sometimes you can’t win.

My first game Saturday morning…girls varsity. Less than 10 seconds in the half, ball goes OOB off B so team A to have throw-in near the division line in their frontcourt. I’m trail, tableside getting ready to administer the throw-in. I hear Coach A say “Time”. I blow my whistle and say “Time out...white”. You can probably guess what had happened. He was not requesting a TO, but was reminding his team to be aware of the time on the clock. In his defense, he started explaining before I even had a chance to finish saying those three words. I stood there for a moment, declared it an inadvertent whistle and prepared to continue. Coach B stands up and starts to complain. I told her it was my mistake; I would do the same for her if the situation were reversed. She was not real happy, but didn’t complain loudly.

Fast forward to mid third quarter. Again, I am trail this time opposite table. Closely guarded situation in front of me with B1 looking to get rid of the ball. I hear “Time Out” from across the court. Not gonna burn me twice...may be a fan. I look at Coach B and she is making a T sign and repeats the request. OK...tweet. Guess what, in the second I looked away B1 had dropped the ball and was struggling to get it back (it was between her feet) and A1 was trying to slap it away for a steal. So I just granted a TO to team B when nobody had control of the ball. GEEZ. Coach A starts to go nuts, I walk over and tell him the TO was granted when I heard it, and at that time, team B had control (just forget about the delay in the whistle). He just stood there looking at me, so I added quietly, “Besides, you got a break before halftime”. He wheeled around and took a seat.

Rest of the game seems like a lifetime...have you ever noticed how slow a clock runs?