Incredibly Bad Night

[Mark Dexter]

First, the traditional pre-apology for venting.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm doomed/scheduled to have one horrible game per season. (Last year, it was the one that ended on a flagrant technical - http://www.officialforum.com/showthr...hreadid=3295).

Tonight, I had an excellent first game, a sloppy but well handled second game, and a good first half of a third game.

Then all hell broke loose. Gold started losing control of their mouths and reactions, and I ended up assessing 4 technical fouls (1 flagrant) before forfeiting the game. (Total of five for the night - still less than my record).

The supervisors and other refs were completely supportive of all of my T calls, and wrote as such in the official game report. I wrote out my own game report, and wanted to post it here for any critique you can think of - either the calls themselves and/or the report.

Thanks.
----------------------------------------------------------
(Gold) vs. (Blue)
Court 2 - 9:00PM
R, U1, U2 (me)

Background
I was at T opposite, with R at L and U1 at C. L called a foul against the defense (Gold) on a shooting foul in which the ball went into the basket. Two points were scored, and as R reported the foul, I rotated into the L position to administer the one free throw.


Technical #1
Several of the gold players began to complain to me quite voiciferously about the foul. I assessed a technical foul to one of the players (42 Gold, I believe) and went to report the technical foul to the table.


Technical #2
As I was reporting the first technical foul, the captain of Gold (95 Gold) came up to me complaining about both the original common foul and the technical I had assessed to his teammate. I gave him a bit of time to talk and, when it became too much, I assessed a technical foul to 95 Gold.


I then proceeded to administer the 5 free throws - 1 for the common foul and 4 for the technicals. I administered the first FT and assumed that the player shooting the common foul throw would be the same for the technical throws, as he stayed in the circle. I then administered the four technical foul free throws (5 attempts were taken - Gold 95 had violated on one of them) and prepared to have the new T inbound the ball at the division line. At this point, a different blue player (the one who had actually been fouled in the first place) stepped to the line to attempt his free throw for the personal foul.

I went to the table, realizing that the first free throw had been taken by the wrong player, and would have to be attempted by the actual shooter. According to the table (Supervisor 1), the first free throw had been missed. I announced that the first free throw would be repeated, as it had been taken by the wrong person. At this point, gold began to get quite upset, so Supervisor 2 suggested we simply consider the free throw no good and give blue the ball at the division line.


Technical #3
Several gold players then became angry that we were going to set aside a rule, even though it would be to their advantage. Gold 75 took the ball in frustration and threw it into Court 1. I assessed a flagrant technical foul and ejected Gold 75 (he remained on the bench for the remainder of the game). We did not re-shoot the first shot with the correct shooter - just went straight to the 2 FT's for blue and then quickly put the ball back in play.


Technical #4
Similar to #1, a player (38 Gold, I believe) was complaining about a foul before a FT was taken. I assessed 38(?) a technical foul - we shot the 1 FT for the personal foul, then 2 FT's for the technical foul.


End of Game
With approximately 45 seconds left, the game was stopped for a violation or foul of some sort. The Gold captain (95) took off his shirt and threw it towards his bench. Several other of the players did the same in disgust. R was about to assess a technical foul (I believe it would have been one of the players' 2nd - automatic forfeit), when I forfeited the game due to failure to play and making a travesty of the game.


After Game
After the game was called, I went to midcourt and waited a bit. I then slowly approached the table. As I did, many of the gold players made comments to me. I was at the table when one of the players came up behind me and went as if to give me a pat on the rear, so to speak. Not knowing what to expect from him, I pushed his hand away before he made contact and told him not to touch me. He then claimed that it was I who had touched him first. He did, however, feel the need to give me an actual pat on the buttocks before he left.

[BktBallRef]

Only the Referee can declare the game a forfeit. You might have come out looking less the bad guy if you had let him handle it, and possibly allowed someone to handle a couple of the Ts as well.

Just my thoughts.

[Edited by BktBallRef on Jan 16th, 2003 at 01:58 AM]

[Nevadaref]

Tony is slightly mistaken about #1. You correctly went from T to L after the L called the first foul, since you were opposite the table. The L will become the new C.
However, after you called the first two techs, you should not have administered the free throws, but gone opposite to the C position. This would have put the official that called to original foul back at lead to administer the 5 free throws. Hopefully, he would have remembered his shooter and thus prevented that error from happening.
Tony is right on about #2.
I'll add a #3. You guys were totally wrong to set aside a rule. Your job is to follow the rules, not to decide to whose advantage it would be. Put the correct shooter on the line and shoot that shot.

[BktBallRef]

Originally posted by Nevadaref
Tony is slightly mistaken about #1. You correctly went from T to L after the L called the first foul, since you were opposite the table. The L will become the new C.

My mistake. I though Mark called the first foul. His post was so long, I didn't read it carefully enough.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by Mark Dexter
He did, however, feel the need to give me an actual pat on the buttocks before he left.

I've always said that being "callipygian" can sometimes be a greater asset to an official than having "presence". This is a trait that new officials should work on diligently!

[ChuckElias]

Originally posted by Jurassic Referee
I've always said that being "callipygian" can sometimes be a greater ***et to an official than having "presence".

Trying to give a hint as to the definition, JR?

[mikesears]

Originally posted by ChuckElias

Trying to give a hint as to the definition, JR?

ROTFLMCAO - Rolling on the floor laughing my callipygous *** off.

Hillarious! Jurasic, how'd you even know this word?


cal·li·pyg·i·an ( P ) Pronunciation Key (kl-pj-n) also cal·li·py·gous (-pgs)
adj.

Having beautifully proportioned buttocks.

[Ridge Wiz]

Mark,
Sorry to hear you had such a difficult game. But I'm glad to know a senior member of this site has difficult games also. We had our assoc. meeting last night & spent about 40 minutes discussing one HS that has similar troubles on a regular basis. So we have our problems too.

[mick]

Originally posted by Mark Dexter

Technical #1
Several of the gold players began to complain to me quite voiciferously about the foul. I assessed a technical foul to one of the players (42 Gold, I believe) and went to report the technical foul to the table.

Mark,
At this point could you have disarmed the players with a "Relax, fellas", or a "Take it easy", or a stop sign?
mick

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by mikesears
[/B]

ROTFLMCAO - Rolling on the floor laughing my callipygous *** off.

[/B][/QUOTE]

[stripes]

Originally posted by Ridge Wiz
Mark,
Sorry to hear you had such a difficult game. But I'm glad to know a senior member of this site has difficult games also. We had our assoc. meeting last night & spent about 40 minutes discussing one HS that has similar troubles on a regular basis. So we have our problems too.

No disrepect to Mark, but you become a senior member of this board simply by posting a number of times. Again, no disrespect to Mark, but a total idiot could become a senior member just by replying to every post. (Take me for example, I'm a senior member too.)

I hope everyone learns something from this wreck. We get into situations like this and sometimes what we try to do to reel the game back in (calling T's in this case) does not make the game better. My first thought as I read through the scenario was, where are your partners in all of this? It read like there was only one sherriff in town.

[BigJoe]

Mark,

I was wondering the same thing as Stripes. What happened to your partners? When I call a T if at all possible I try to get away from the table and players. We work mostly two man and it isn't always possible. But with three man you should have been able to go opposite the table on the end of the players. Usually shooting free throws with the lane cleared the players tend to congregate toward the bench. If there is additional talk then your partners can get the next T. But I have never had a game get as out of hand as the one you describe so I can't talk from experience. I only know that the adreniline gets pumping when you call a T and sometimes ones emotions take over.

[moose69]

I'm a little confused, how can the Umpire forfit a game. Rule 2 section(help me out guys, no rule book here) 5 maybe?? says that only the referee has the power to forfit a game.

Like i said, I don't rememeber the section in the fed book as to where this exactly is located. I'm not as familiar with NCAA mechanics, but is it any different in the college ranks?

Thanks

Tyler

[Dan_ref]

Originally posted by stripes


...but a total idiot could become a senior member just by replying to every post...

Hey JR, I think it's for you...

[Dan_ref]

I think Mark found himself in "too-many-mens-rec-league-games" hell and couldn't find the door to get out. Cut him some slack guys, we have ALL been there.