I noticed that the referee who tossed the ball to begin the Butler/OK game got an elbow to the chops. He was rubbing it for a couple minutes as the play continued, and seemed to have a little lapse as to where he was supposed to be for a minute.(C came up and nudged him over to T) Bet that smarted!
I got bopped pretty good this year on a toss. Welted up my cheek pretty good. :p

It happens
 

That is why I spread my elbows to give myself room before I do a toss. Gets the players to move back and prevents me getting hit.

Peace

I once caught the foot of a 6'-08" center in what our sons describe as the reserve parking space. It was the start of an NCAA Men's sanctioned summer league. He couldnt apologize enough about it. I told him not to worry. My wife and I already had two sons and she had had me fixed.

Your cheek welted up? Did you have your back turned during the toss? ;)

Re: It happens
 

In the last 1/2 of the season, I experimented with the two-handed toss and was quite pleased with the results.
I had never thought about it as being a defensive maneuver, but perhaps it is.

I know alot of guys who toss with two hands so they can cover up their face. Personally, I don't care if I get popped in the chops; I'm already ugly. I toss with one hand so I can cup my hoohoodilly and coin purse with the other. Given the choice, I'd much rather get elbowed in the face than kicked in the wedding tackle.

This past season, I did a girls' game and tossed a clean, straight toss, no problem. Ball gets tipped to my left. I stand still to let the players clear, and. . . WHAM! A girl just ran right into me. She was about two inches taller than me, so I caught her shoulder right in my chin.

By the way, I got nailed like that by a 6 foot, 190-pound wingman right after a lacrosse face-off once. I saw stars for a few minutes that afternoon, too. OUCH!

Hoohoodilly, coin purse, wedding tackle? I don't seem to remember those terms from anatomy & class. :)

LOL!! Or even in English on "euphemism" day!

I was doing a girls rec league game. After I tossed the ball, this one girl swatted at the ball. She missed, but caught my cheek flush. I told her that my wife doesn't slap that hard.

brian,
This is hard for me to envision.
How close were you to the thrower?
Did you actually toss (not bounce) the ball?
Which mechanics were you using?
mick

The girls were approximately 13. From watching this one girl slapped me, she couldn't really jump, but she was the best that they had. She jumped, instead of coming straight down with her arm, she came around with her arm, and caught me right on the cheek.

Aha! I see!
It was on the initial toss.
Ow!
...No whistle in your mouth I hope. :)
mick

Which toss were you thinking of, mick? :confused:

Chuck ;)

Chuck,
I'm old and cold, and I get confused sometimes.
Sometimes I see NCAA officials make an underhand toss to players for a throw-in.
Sometimes I see officials toss the ball elsewhere.
But, I git it now! :)
mick