Everyone's wish has been granted

[chseagle]

Originally Posted by Welpe

Eagle though I personally give you a hard time here, I admire how seriously you take your responsibilities. As Juggles put it, I wish I had a professional table crew at all of my games. Sorry that this is happening to you, I hope this is only a brief hiatus for you all.

Here's a copy of the e-mails between the AD & I:

I am curious as to why in Gym 1, we are being relegated to shot clock operations only? We have been following through what is being asked of Table Officials in Appendix 4 of the 2011-2013 NFHS Basketball Officials Manual under the headings 4.0.2 Selection of the Scorer & Timer & 4.0.3 Training the Table Officials (pages 85-86).

We have been attending the Boys' Officials Association meetings in Tri-Cities & they are very appreciative that we are taking the time to attend to have a better knowledge of the rules & the response is that they wish they had more table crews like us working the Varsity games.

I am not trying to cause waves of dissent, however we have previous experience with Varsity Contests doing the 3A/4A Regionals & the NWAACC Basketball Championships at Toyota Center so we have experience in using of the Daktronics AllSport 5000 Scoreboard Controller, as well as the one game we did last year at CHS due to ... being sick. We have noticed that ... lacks the ability to remain impartial & she cheers for CHS while at the table. ... also has been slow at times in stopping the clock & posting information on the scoreboard, which can impede the flow of the game. ... is also not following Intermission timing rules by buzzing 45 seconds & a minute to resume play between quarters, or not being present at the table to buzz the minute warning horn pre-game & at halftime.

As evidenced by the materials on the clipboard I carry, I take table crew operations seriously. Some of what we have been witnessing is due to lack of rules knowledge, & we would like the opportunity to show our capabilities during a Varsity contest.

We are willing to do Varsity Timer/Scoreboard as volunteers, as we know in the past that the Varsity Timer has been getting paid. We are wanting to do all we can to save NFSD & CHS money.

AD Response to follow

[chseagle]

At this time, and for the previous two years, no one has been paid to work the tables at league contests. ... is our clock operator, but has been ill the previous two games. I appreciate all you and your family do for us. At this time we would like your family to continue to run the gym 2 table. I believe ... will be back to run the clock in gym 1 for varsity contests. ... will continue to run the clock for the JV contest in gym 1. At this time we have not received a complaint from the officials as to how we run our tables. I know there are times when you or your wife cannot attend so I will try to find a person to run the shot clock in gym 1.

Just because there have been no complaints, does not mean there have been issues.

Here's my response to this e-mail

Due to feeling highly under appreciated, we are no longer assisting with Connell High School athletics. The decision does not come lightly as like I stated below Molly & I are following the recommendations posted in the 2011-2013 NFHS Basketball Officials Manual (Appendix 4 pages 85-86). We have taken time & effort to do all we can to keep up to date on all the latest rules & regulations, yet we are continually being relegated to Gym 2. We feel that we are only truly appreciated by the Boys' Officials Association, where we have been attending meetings, & they wish more table crews would be more willing to learn like we have been these past 2 seasons.

Saturday was our last game day, starting with Thursday's game against Highland new table personnel for gym 2 & security/crowd control for both gyms will need to be found. I will also be notifying the Boys' Officials Association of our decision so they know we're no longer attending the meetings.

As I quoted in this response & my initial e-mail, we have gone out of our way to keep up to date on the rules & regulations, yet for some reason even after working state qualifying & a JUCO Tournament we can only do JV & C-Squad games. No one else that does table there has similar qualifications (except for home district playoff games), nor are able to competently run the new scoreboard.

[SCalScoreKeeper]

I don't understand your AD-If I'm an AD and have the opportunity to put people who worked state tournament qualifying games and a JUCO tournament on my Varsity table crew I do it because I also have a responsibility to the officials working my contests to provide competent personnel at the table-regardless of level.Eagle-is the cheering clock operator an teacher at the school?

[chseagle]

Originally Posted by SCalScoreKeeper

I don't understand your AD-If I'm an AD and have the opportunity to put people who worked state tournament qualifying games and a JUCO tournament on my Varsity table crew I do it because I also have a responsibility to the officials working my contests to provide competent personnel at the table-regardless of level.Eagle-is the cheering clock operator an teacher at the school?

the cheering timer is an alum of the school that's only 1-2 years removed from being a student there. She was filling in for the lunch lady who normally is the Varsity timer who has been ill (supposedly the past couple of game nights).

The lunch lady/Varsity Timer is normally only ill one game night a year & it's a rarity that she misses games. To not be there for 2 games in 6 days is highly unusual.

[SCalScoreKeeper]

I think your AD's choice to put a recently graduated alum who can't maintain objectivity as varsity timer over someone who has demonstrated ability and objectivity is an disgrace to the game-Especially for someone like me who worked his way through the ranks to earn the varsity official scorekeeper's position.How was the lunch lady she was filling in for in ability and objectivity?

I started in the summer of 2004 (between Soph and Jr years of HS) as a JV and Varsity boys summer league scorekeeper.Then with both varsity scorekeeper positions taken for the '04-'05 season I served as a ticket-taker and continued to work summer league to gain seat time.I shared varsity boys scorekeeper duties for the 2005-2006 season (even getting a chance to fill in for the first day of our annual boys tournament) and earned the right to work my first playoff home games as an official scorekeeper 9 days after my 18'th birthday.I have been a full time varsity scorekeeper since the 2006-2007 season working both regular season (home and away) and summer league games.

I too echo Welpe's sentiments and hope this hiatus is temporary for you all and you are back courtside working somewhere soon!

[chseagle]

Originally Posted by SCalScoreKeeper

I think your AD's choice to put a recently graduated alum who can't maintain objectivity as varsity timer over someone who has demonstrated ability and objectivity is an disgrace to the game-Especially for someone like me who worked his way through the ranks to earn the varsity official scorekeeper's position.How was the lunch lady she was filling in for in ability and objectivity?

I started in the summer of 2004 (between Soph and Jr years of HS) as a JV and Varsity boys summer league scorekeeper.Then with both varsity scorekeeper positions taken for the '04-'05 season I served as a ticket-taker and continued to work summer league to gain seat time.I shared varsity boys scorekeeper duties for the 2005-2006 season (even getting a chance to fill in for the first day of our annual boys tournament) and earned the right to work my first playoff home games as an official scorekeeper 9 days after my 18'th birthday.I have been a full time varsity scorekeeper since the 2006-2007 season working both regular season (home and away) and summer league games.

I too echo Welpe's sentiments and hope this hiatus is temporary for you all and you are back courtside working somewhere soon!

Concerning the lunch lady's work ethic, she is not quite to the point of being completely impartial as there are times she does cheer but she does not become overly exuberant like the recently graduated alum.

The lunch lady, at halftime, starts the clock & leaves the table for 9 minutes & 30 seconds most of the time I've noticed so when I was shot clock I had to sound the 1 minute warning. Same thing can be said for pre-games, she'd set the clock, start it and wouldn't return to the table until right before the minute warning or about 15-30 seconds after. The other thing that neither has done is to double check the books at halftime for discrepancies.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by chseagle

Concerning the lunch lady's work ethic, she is not quite to the point of being completely impartial as there are times she does cheer but she does not become overly exuberant like the recently graduated alum.

The lunch lady, at halftime, starts the clock & leaves the table for 9 minutes & 30 seconds most of the time I've noticed so when I was shot clock I had to sound the 1 minute warning. Same thing can be said for pre-games, she'd set the clock, start it and wouldn't return to the table until right before the minute warning or about 15-30 seconds after. The other thing that neither has done is to double check the books at halftime for discrepancies.

This crap drives me nuts. I meet with the captains at 12:00 and go right to the table after the captain's meeting (about 11:30, if I can help it). How hard is it for the scorer and timer to actually be there then?

How am I supposed to have my meeting with the timer if she's gone from 20 minutes until there's less than a minute left? Then, after no meeting, I don't get the proper horns (including the second horn I always ask for on timeouts and the 5 second horn on injuries/DQs) and I feel like we're not on the same page the entire game.

And around here the timer gets paid, so part of getting paid, IMO, is being there when I want to have my meeting.

[chseagle]

Originally Posted by SCalScoreKeeper

I think your AD's choice to put a recently graduated alum who can't maintain objectivity as varsity timer over someone who has demonstrated ability and objectivity is an disgrace to the game-Especially for someone like me who worked his way through the ranks to earn the varsity official scorekeeper's position.

I too echo Welpe's sentiments and hope this hiatus is temporary for you all and you are back courtside working somewhere soon!

My story is kinda like yours is.

I started out as a frosh in HS doing floor sweeps between games & at halftime. From my sophmore year on, I was the Boys' Basketball manager (did JV & C-Squad scorebooks), so I learned early on about the table having to remain neutral. The only difference is that I took time off from basketball after HS to do some other career opportunities. I've been back doing table operations for the past 4-5 years until tonight.

On a regular basis, I'm having to coach/train the personnel doing the scorebook or coaches on how the table should be setup best to limit CEs.

I've even trained the gentleman that does the JV timer in Gym 1 on how to work the new scoreboard. I can reprogram the new scoreboard as I am very familiar with it, the AD's knowledge of the board barely scratches the surface. The lunch lady/Varsity timer (as far as I know) has not had any time on the new scoreboard so she'd likely have to be trained as well. The alum had a fly-by-night training immediately (by me) before the Girls' Varsity Contest & is prone to making errors.

[SCalScoreKeeper]

What did you think about the Florida article I posted Eagle?

[fiasco]

Originally Posted by SCalScoreKeeper

I don't understand your AD-If I'm an AD and have the opportunity to put people who worked state tournament qualifying games and a JUCO tournament on my Varsity table crew I do it because I also have a responsibility to the officials working my contests to provide competent personnel at the table-regardless of level.Eagle-is the cheering clock operator an teacher at the school?

Yep. Sounds like there's some school politics going on...

[just another ref]

I have to ask. Who, other than you, has noticed/pointed out/complained about the deficiencies of this/these other table person(s)?

[chseagle]

Originally Posted by just another ref

I have to ask. Who, other than you, has noticed/pointed out/complained about the deficiencies of this/these other table person(s)?

That I can be unsure about as it seems the AD is not being very forthcoming when it comes to giving out information as of late.

I do know however that we have a better rapport with the floor officials than the other table personnel, due to in part of attending the local association meetings & our knowledge of the current rules/regulations.

[chseagle]

Originally Posted by fiasco

Yep. Sounds like there's some school politics going on...

Ironically it is school politics as the one gal is from a prominent family in the area that gives contributions to the school (the alum). The lunch lady has just been there since before I was in high school & it's as if she has nothing better to do in the evening.

The lunch lady is doing slightly better as I've been coaching her on the new rules/regulations, just unsure how well she can run the new scoreboard. (If it's true that she's back)

[SCalScoreKeeper]

School politics never cease to amaze me-read this story out of Florida.

Estero High parent berated former cheerleading coach in emails prior to firing Naples Daily News

Estero HS censoring cheerleader coach coverage - WFTX-TV Fort Myers/Naples, FL

Basically a coach was fired after a parent lobbied a school board member who improperly used her position on the board to convince the superintendent that this coach needs to go.The Fox 4 series of reports also shows the AD attempting to tell a reporter that he can't interview the cheerleaders regarding the termination of their coach.

If anyone would like to show their support for this young coach sign here is the link to a petition you can sign asking for her reinstatement:
http://www.change.org/petitions/lee-...ro-high-school