I'm kinda bored can anyone tell me a funny officiating story, I love hearing these!!

I've got one. I worked a game last night and neither of the coaches said anything to me or my partner. Fans never said boo either. And the kids didn't either.

Now that's funny right there. I don't care who you are.

Good one!!

OK. I'm a lurker from the softball board and we don't have much going on now so here's an outdoor story for you. I was doing the bases in a state men's tourny. Ball hit to deep left field and batter/runner takes a big turn at 2nd. SS who went out to relay the throw in decides to throw behind the batter who dives back to 2nd. I'm in a set position to watch the tag that the 2nd baseman pulled down just a little too soon. I get up the next day to a Sunday paper with a photo captioned "Ump calls runner safe while players look on" You can see the ball in the air and a look of horror on both players because they've seen where that ball bounced off of me and at that point I was wondering why there isn't any pain, oh wait, there it is, mommy. Jim

See...now that funny. I haven't been doing this long enough to have any funny stories. So come on with them.

I do remember a varsity game where the home team had not won a game, ever! They were up by 6 with just seconds left. There was a whistle and a violation on the home just before the buzzer sounded. Well the home team thinks they had just won their first game and all the players come off the bench to celebrate. Well the officials end up calling a technical foul on every player who left the bench (obviously the wrong call) and the visiting team was awarded 10 free throws and went on to win by 1 point. The sports page loved this game!!

Girls JV game last night. Loose ball and 2 girls "fight" for the ball that ends with me making a jump ball call. Coach is wanting a foul and says to me "Isn't that a foul?" he said it several times and I look back at him and say- NO. The girls on the bench behind him start laughing and he sits down and is quite the rest of the game.

If you are looking for some funny stuff, do a search on Davism, or Davisms.

Boys JV, two years ago. Packed house waiting for the Varsity game. JV game is in OT. The home team is undefeated. This is my first game of this caliper. Home down by a duece. Home team has the ball, with seconds remaining. Visitors foul down in the corner away from the benches and right in front of the crowd. There is now three tenths of a second remaining on the clock and the home team has the ball in the corner crowd side. I get set and was about to administer the throw in when my partner blows his whistle as loud as possible and starts waving his arms and pointing to the scoreboard. He is actually yelling, "It's over, It's over!" I ran over to him and clarified the rule that with three tenths of a second a player cannot take a shot, but can tap the ball in. I thought we were going to die that night!!!

Butt pats...
 

I never understood this whole male butt patting thing during games. However, it doesn't bother me at all.
Male players have occasionally given me a tap on the posterior, which I think basically means that they believe I am "one of the guys". I take this as a compliment and never react when this happens.
In a boy's varsity game several years ago, after I called a foul on what a player thought was a clean block, he said "oohhh" and went to pat me, but he held up short of contact, and spun himself hard almost losing his balance.
I grabbed his hand a little, and ask him to line up for the FT.(with wide grin on face)

Here's one from last night. Coach on the team that is behind by 20 in second half "how come they get an "and one" when they get fouls and we don't"? I of course without batting an eye "because they are making their shots when they get fouled!"
A little background on this game. The home team beat a really good team last week. I asked the coach when I came to the gym if it was a misprint in the paper. He assured me that they beat them. I had officiated a game for the visiting team earlier so in the back of my mind I thought the home team should win by about 30. I am still thinking that it was a misprint in the paper because the home team lost by 25. I guess that is why we play the games.

It was funny to ME anyways. . .
 

JV game, first of the season this year. A1 is at the line and misses the second free throw. B1 catches the rebound and stands there for a second as everyone clears out and heads downcourt. Then he takes two steps back, that's right, out of bounds, and inbounds the ball to his teammate! Naturally I am the only one who sees this in the whole gym. I blow the whistle and he looks at me like I'm crazy. I said, "I don't know whether to call you for out of bounds or traveling!" He still doesn't know what I'm talking about, and I had to stop smiling long enough to explain to his coach why I was giving the ball to the other team. I don't know if he ever really believed me, but that's what the kid did!

That's not a funny story, that is a fairy tale.

Re: Butt pats...
 

I spent some time working an adult women's rec league, got my butt patted more times than a...well, I got my butt patted a lot.

Another Rec league story (YMCA):
 

5th grade boys, ball rebounds long (over the head of the players under the basket). A tall, lanky player attempts to secure the rebound, but as a result of a modest push from the closest defender he stumbles out of the lane (several steps) carrying the ball.

(Tweet), Fist goes up, crowd quiets as it awaits the call.

Note: Crowd is parents and grandparents of players very well-behaved, never a problem in this league.

A teammate of the "stumbler", shortest kid on the court and a great hustler (in both senses), slightly excited, petitions: “Excuse me sir!”

I paused, before reporting the foul, to give him my full attention. He continues, “He was pushed. You shouldn’t call that a travel!”

I crack a big smile and in a playful manner state (audible to all in the gym), “Young man, do you have aspirations to become a lawyer?”

Many in the crowd get a good chuckle. The “challenging” player gets closer to me and whispers, “What's a aspiration?”

I softly responded, “You take two of them and the problems should go away.” He gave me a puzzled look, then a smile and moved on.

I report the foul and the game goes on.

Years ago, I was doing a rec league game and former NBA player Maurice Lucas' oldest son, Maurice Jr. (Reece) was in the game. Maurice was watching from right next to the bench.

The other team was shooting a two shot foul. After the first shot, which missed, Reece jumped into the lane, leaped up and "ripped down" the rebound, yelling as he did it. He then stood there with the ball while he realized there was another shot.

Maurice yelled from the seats, "Reece, get your head in the game." Reece looked real sheepish as he handed the ball to my partner. Maurice then said, "nice board, though".

Here's another one: prior to a game, I noticed the center for one of the teams (girls varsity level) was wearing her watch. I told her to remove it. She walked over to the stands and handed it to her dad, who was sitting a few rows up.

During the first quarter, my partner and I called her for 3 seconds at least four times. After the fourth, her dad yelled, "let her put her watch back on".

The other night, 9-10 girls, ball out-of-bounds. I say "Red!" and point in the appropriate direction. Nobody moves, they all just stare. I try again: "Red!" and this time I point at the spot for the player to take it out. A little girl in a white shirt quickly steps to the spot. I say again, "Red!" and look at her with raised eyebrows. She keeps standing there, holding her hands out expectantly.
I try one more time, "Red!" Apparently she thought that I was either color blind or not too bright, because she grabbed the front of her own shirt and stretched it out in my direction (so I could see it better?) and said, "I'm white."
__________________

It's these types of games where we measure our progress as officials.

Boys HS varsity, 2nd round (of three) state playoffs.
Thirteen minutes left in warmup prior to start of game.

WHAM! Monster dunk by blue #42, star center on #2 ranked team at that level in the state.

I get his # and go to the coach (A), who is visiting with the opposing coach (B). I said:
"Coach, we are going to have to start with a technical on #42 for a pre-game dunk."

Coach A: "Was it pretty?"

Me: "Oh ya, a 360 from just inside the free throw line."

Coach A: "Well, OK. As long as it was pretty."

The teams were hyped for the game and we had 3 block/charge calls in the first 3 minutes. The first 2 went against team A, the third went to team B. Coach B decided at that time that he wanted a "T", too. I accomidated him, and It was a great game.

Blackhawk


[Edited by Blackhawk357 on Feb 20th, 2003 at 08:46 AM]

Laughing at myself
 

A couple of years ago, I had a ninth grade boys game at 4:00pm followed by a boys JV game at 6:00pm at a different school. I dressed at work and left early to get to the first game. After the game I just changes back into my brown dress shoes and hustled over to the next game, barely making it on time. It never occurred to me to change shoes and my partner never said anything. Did the whole game in my brown dress shoes.

Then my first varsity boys assignment came up. I was psyched. Got to the game an hour and a half ahead of time. Met with the other officials and go to the dressing room. We talk, I get much needed advice and begin to change into the stripes. I look into my travel bag and I neglected to pack my referee pants. Fortunately, I was wearing black dockers to the game, but I have to laugh about the absentmindedness that came over me.

Re: Laughing at myself
 

Unfortunately, I find that I have increasing episodes of absentmindedness as I get older. Fortunately, I have had many of these episodes, but can't remeber them.

This isn't funny, it's pathetic!

Padgett's story reminded me of one. Girls HS Varsity scrimmaging boys Freshman team. I notice one of the girls on the floor has a watch on. I point it out to one of the coaches, who is refereeing. The next time down, the girls have a fast break, and the watch wearer is racing down the court on the wing. As she goes by the coach/ref says to her, "Hey, what time do you have?" She immediately stops, comes over to the coach, tells him the time, then takes off again.

Let's see, I've got two stories, and they both involve naked fannies...

1) At a hot, miserable womens softball tournament that was running about 2 hours behind. One entire team lined up between innings and did a group chant:

"Potato chips, potato chips, munch, munch, munch. Mr. Umpire, here's your lunch."

And they all mooned me.


2) After refereeing a JV girls game (early in my refereeing career), we're relaxing in the coaches room. (Typically they put referees in the visitor's locker room - teacher's room.) Of course, the blinds to the room are all down, and the visiting JV team is showering and changing into their street clothes. My partner is leaning back in his chair back against the wall. Unfortunately, it caused one of the blinds to quickly retract back to the top. (thwip! thwip! thwip!)

You ain't ever seen young girls move so fast in a locker room...

I thought..
 

That these type of games are where we measure our body fat.

Re: I thought..
 

You mean using a caliber? ;)

I hope YOU didn't see young girls move so fast, I hope you all immediately turned your backs, I hope no parents got the idea that there was anything even remotely resembling intent behind this little escapade...

I hope from then on, you were in a room AWAY from any possibility for this to ever happen again.

That's classic! :D

I was working a rec game a few weeks ago that came down to the wire. Maybe 3 seconds left, B down by 3 points.

We had a bonus situation for team A, and I administered the 1-1.

The shot was missed, and a team B player rebounded.

And all ten players stood still, thinking there was another shot.

Unfortunately, the timer didn't start the clock, either.

We stood there for a while and finally the guy with the ball realized that I wasn't moving. I actually found the whole situation funny, since these were high school alumni teams who spent the whole day trying to tell me how to officiate (I only gave out three technicals :) ). Finally, the timer started the clock and the game ended. Very anticlimactic.

Rich

I didn't add that you've never seen referees move so fast, either. It was all completely harmless, nothing ever came of it.

We don't get the luxury of choosing our room, the school and the association get to work that out.