Running Backwards

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by Loudwhistle2

. . . I've told him numerous times not to run backwards because its dangerous and it reveals to the whole gym who the new guy is . . .

This, from the "I can't believe how stupid we were back then" department:
I recall the very first state-sponsored rookies' officiating clinic I ever attended back in '76, where running backwards was something we were made to practice in that initial "get your feet wet" training seminar. Whether this was really the state-mandated mechanic or some renegade clinician's idea, I don't know. They lined us up just about shoulder-to-shoulder along the backcourt freethrow line, backs facing other end, practicing running backwards and starting and stopping as the clinician dribbled the ball downcourt. Dumb. Kinda the equivalent of smoking cigarettes as a cure for asthma, or building the Corvair with the gas tank in the dashboard, or a BATF party where the order of things was Beer, other Alcohol, then Tobacco, then Firearms shooting. Wow, were we stupid back in the day. But those days sure were fun!