First AAU Follies of the Off-Season
 

3 boys AAU games last night, probably 17U.

First game is a blow-out. Losing team player gets fouled during a 3-point try as the horn sounds. Game over. No free throws, as they would not affect the outcome of the game. Losing coach insists the kid gets to shoot his free throws. Says to me "If this was the NBA, he'd get to shoot them". All I could do was shake my head.

As soon as both teams arrive for the second game, I put 4 minutes on the clock for warm-ups (which is specifically provided in the tournament rules). Coach says the game's not scheduled to start till 7:40 and insists we put 6 minutes on the clock for warm-ups. I tell him the rules say 4 minutes, and that's what we're going with. He insists I put up 6 minutes and says he's not putting his team out on the floor till 7:40. I ask him, "Is this really how you want to start this game, fighting over 2 minutes?" He says, "Yes!" So I said, "Well, we're starting at the end of the 4 minutes. We can start with you having 5 guys on the floor, or we can start with them shooting free throws for your T." We started 5-on-5 when at the end of the 4 minutes.

Third game is close, but very low quality play. The score was 8-6 after about 9 minutes of play. Ugh. Early in the game, as the ball is live and in play, I'm Lead watching the 2 post players. B5 bends down and tries to untie A5's shoes. I have never seen this before. I was so surprised, I blew the whistle to say, "Hey, don't do that nonsense". Then realized I probably had to call something. So I T'd him up.

That wasn't even all of the crap in those games. I was very glad to get home.

Get Up Every Morning And Something New Happens Every Day ...
 

I would have done more than shake my head: "Coach, it's not the NBA."

I'm surprised that it took some thought to charge the technical foul. My only hesitation would have been deciding between a "regular" technical foul, and a flagrant technical foul. I probably would have gone with the former.

If you hadn't caught him, he'd have tied his shoes together.

+1

You'll get rule set confusion like that from time to time. I had a sixth grade rec game a few months ago: Team A scores, goes up four. Coach B requests and is granted the time out, then asks me to advance the ball after the time out.

I explain that rule only exists in the NBA, and the coach concedes, but let me know an official in his previous game allowed that for the other team. :eek:

Three Stooges ???
 

Better yet. How about a good old fashioned hot foot?

Wait? Sorry. I thought this was the Baseball Forum. Never mind.

Migrant Basketball Official ???
 

I hear about this guy all the time here in Connecticut. Now he's working up in Maine? Man. This guy really gets around.

I forgot to include that I called 2 intentional fouls from behind during fast-breaks (one shirt-grab, one bear hug).

My partner called an intentional foul for fouling the inbounder. He was going to call it a technical, I had to correct him. During the free throws, I had this conversation with the coach who got the free throws.

Him: Is it a flagrant or a technical?
Me: It's an intentional personal, Coach.
[Long pause]
Him: So is that 2 foul shots or 4?
Me: [rolling eyes] Just 2, Coach.

James 5:11 ...
 

Quality of a great basketball official: Having the patience of Job.

Sounds like we were on the same floor.

I swear that some coaches think all of the rules are on that tournament sheet at the table.

Had a coach reach into his bag this summer to try to prove that they only got two TOs for the entire game rather than per half. He never brought it to me, though. Good thing for him that I was right.

Ironically, the only time they seem to know there's a difference between the rule sets is when you count a basket after a foul.

Huh??? What difference? (The only one I can think of is a charge after the release of a shot....counts if it does in NCAA, doesn't count in NFHS).

Official: Score the basket, 1 FT.
coach: This isnt the NBA!

2 plays later following a timeout in the 1st half

coach: Dont we get it at halfcourt.
Official: Only in 4thQ under 2 min & its the 28' line... in the NBA!
coach: Well, when do we get to advance in HS?
Official: :rolleyes:

That's why I said "ironically," because they pick the one rule where it's the same and claim "we're not in the NBA." Then, they want traveling called when the shooter catches his airball, they want the ball advanced after a TO, or they want some other NBA rule to be applied.

Bingo!

A classic.....
 

At a Bigshots event in Richmond, Va. over Memorial Day weekend, a player from a team from Baltimore(ever seen "The Wire") that neighborHOOD, came off the bench when one of his players on the court was swinging at a referee.

Well it turned into a HUGE throwdown...cops from VCU and the Richmond PD came into the Siegel Center....

The funniest thing was that one of the kids mother's came down and of course she was saying her kid was not at fault, but she handed the boys child for him to hold while he was being interviewed by the police.....

"Yes officer, when I am not an 18 hoodlum fighting on the basketball court
I am an upstanding father in the community!!!!!"

And in a complete irony, the referee involved in the fight had been assigned to that teams next game!!!! No he didn't work it someone else did...

Was he from Hamsterdam? :D

Funny, I was going to work that tournament for the local assignors but I didn't hear back from them in time...glad I missed it. :cool:

VG summer game the other night. After the first game, I'm standing at the table getting ready for the next game and all of a sudden a fan is standing in front of me. He says something about the travels, and I just look at the door. "I'm going anyway, but you need to...." I cut him off, "You need to go." He started to repeat himself before I cut him off again, "Just go."

So many things I wanted to say.

"Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

Classes begin in the fall come out & get your certification, then YOU sir, can call all the marginal travels you like in YOUR ballgames :D

Too much verbiage :cool:

Real season, I agree... Summer time, I get my point across.

When addressing a fan? The season, it matters not.

I was tempted, but I would have been more likely to use sarcasm.

"So, how long have you officiated?"

Or I could have been sincere,

"Do you really think I need a stranger to come up to me in order to get me to care more about what I'm doing?"

I hear you BNR. I'm a 4-6 nights a week, Jan-Dec kinda guy & I deal with much more BS in the off-season for less pay... so I do what I do.

"Go stage your intervention elsewhere."

I was really tempted to light him up, explaining to him that I was driving 40 miles round trip to work two games for $28, missing another night with my kids. I'm doing these games to get better at what I do.

But, instead, I said, "Just go."

Personally, I'm not discussing much with fans, winter/summer/spring/or fall. In fact folks must detect the a-hole in me b/c it's been about 7-8 years since I've had a fan come up to me after any type of game.

Conversations with fans are always better when they run into you at Applebee's or TGI Friday's :D

I respect your discipline!

I know that feeling! When I was working games while my daughter was a newborn, I was ready to tell a few fans to stuff it mainly because I was running on no sleep. :)

Learned long ago that fans really don't give a damn about our rationale/thought process/rules/etc. They just want to vent and/or blame. This lesson was taught to me by a co-worker/friend who is an avid HS sports fan. He'd have D1 officials working his games and I'd still hear how terrible they were.

I'm glad that I was in St Louis visiting my grandson, or I might have been there also.

VB summer tourney, A1 dives for a loose ball, then lays there as B1 and B2 come in and try to grab it. A coach gets a TO called in time.
B coach says it was a travel.
My mistake was responding. "no, it's not."
Coach, "Yeah, you know everything."
Me: :/

I re-learned that lesson yesterday, sitting amongst parents.

As I'm finishing my workout at my office's exercise room, I get a text from my kid (high school junior) that his friends' high school playoff baseball game is going into extra innings, 1-1. This is a little surprising, considering his school was the region's #8 seed playing the #1 seed and top rival. The game is mile away, so I make the quick drive to see the finish.

I sit alone among my town's contingency on the third base side, though surrounded by familiar faces. Maybe I should have taken a spot behind the plate, because it bordered on embarrassing being around some parents. I really don't know why I was surprised -- yelling at the plate ump on balls/strikes (never mind that our position to judge is lousy), yelling at base umpires to "ask for help" (like that ever works), or screaming that a center fielder dropped a ball (not even close!) when making a semi-diving catch. Oh, and yelling at the kid for making the catch! ("You should be ashamed of yourself!") I had to contain myself from pointing out what @$$es they were making of themselves.

Still, it didn't ruin a 3-2 eleventh inning victory, sparked by our star basketball center, er, first baseman, drilling one over the left field fence. I just hope I remember to sit amongst people who aren't motivated solely by their kids' victories.

Sportmanship ...
 

All three of my children participated on various high school sports teams. When I attended their games and an opposing player would make a great play, I would politely clap. I was always the only one in the crowd who applauded. They would all look at me like I was from Mars.

These types of comments make me chuckle.

The reason why most of us participate in dialogue, go to camp, watch video, etc, is so that we do know things, and can apply the proper ruling.

A phrase I like to use, if I have to, is, "not that one, sir".

John 8:7 ...
 

Full disclosure. I will admit that I did occasionally "moan" about a referee's, or umpire's, call. No yelling. No name calling. No disrespect. Just a simple, "Oh, c'mon ump."

I wondered yesterday how many times I yelled "but he was moving!" after an offensive foul.

Had to tell a coach last night that if I'm close enough to hear his comments to his AC, then he's talking to me.

Rabbit ears. :D

Stop getting so close, then...:D

"So move."
"Know where you're supposed to be."

I ignored those, although the second one came from the AC (my back was turned, but I knew his voice), so I should have probably rang him up.

I was back at the division line for the first of 2 FTs, waiting to call in some subs. And he wasn't using his inside voice.

As I told an airman many years ago when she tried to get mad at me for listening to her conversation, "Don't have a private conversation in public if you don't want others to hear it."

Bingo! I hate when they use the excuse of "not talking to you" while talking about you loud enough for you to hear.

Had one of those a few weeks ago with a coach addressing his player. I told the coach he needs to keep those comments out of my earshot.

Tourney in CT last weekend:

New partner, never met her before. 1 minute into the game, I'm the trail, a shot bounces on the top of the backboard, falls back into play and my partner (lead on the endline underneath the basket) whistles out of bounds. Ughhh, long day ahead: PCA -- fail; Rules -- fail. At the first timeout, I say, "On that shot a minute or so ago, looked to me like it just bounced on the top of the backboard. What'd you see there?"

"Oh, well I'm from Massachusetts," (so am I) "and up there, top of the backboard is out of bounds." I tried to explain the rule but she just said, "We can do it your way." So we did it "my" way for that game, but be forewarned: she's out there and was unswayed by my attempts at polite reform.

So it's not just the fans, coaches and players, fellas. The horror show is across the board.

Same tourney, different game. A1, inbounding on the endline, passes to a teammate across the free-throw lane, the ball hitting the net as it enters the court. Team B coach asks, "Isn't the net out of bounds?" Just when you think you've heard it all, you discover there's a whole other level of thought you never knew was possible.


I went the sarcasm route -- never advisable -- and said, "That'd make scoring pretty tough, wouldn't it?" and luckily that was the proper tack with this coach, who laughed and gave an "Oh ... right" look.

AAU is like an outlaw society.

It had to be.....
 

Benefit Of The Doubt ...
 

Maybe he was thinking of the "side baskets" we occasionally see in the "down position" on a few of the courts where we may officiate. Usually with Catholic middle school kids, I say, before handing the ball to the inbounder, "Be careful, that (pointing up) basket is out of bounds." I hate to admit it, but here, in my little corner of Connecticut, we have a few high school courts like that.

Impossible. I'be worked with That Girl this summer, and she's not from Massachusetts.

Being from MA, I take offense at that. :mad:

Yup. As did I.

I think she thought, because we were in Conn., that invoking her out-of-stateness would make me think, "Oh, there must be fundamental differences in the basic rules of basketball from state to state" and cause me to just let her consistently enforce her fantasized rules from outside her PCA.

She wasn't banking on me being from the next town over from her. The MSBOA patch (with the state outline) on my sleeve didn't tip her off that her alibi wouldn't check out. Alas geography, much like basketball, just isn't her thing.

But you'd never convince her of that. She was definitely "that girl," as one of you so eloquently (and visually) put it. Sadly, she was no Marlo Thomas.

Scrapper, if it's any consolation, she wasn't an IAABO official.

It's not a consolation, but it definitely explains a little bit. Not that all IAABO officials know all the rules, but the non-IAABO officials -- in my region, anyway -- are really bad. Really. Bad.

I hear you. In our neck of the woods, we have two IAABO boards and a "women's" board. I'm not sure what the board's intent was when it first began, but members of this board (who are both male and female, btw) can now officiate both girls and boys high school hoops in our area. And, obviously, those of us on the IAABO boards can also officiate both genders.

So I'm not really sure what the point of the rogue board is, but it's a painfully weak lot, with a few pleasant exceptions.

Maybe someone can help me out here: One of the things they do on "their" board is have the trail stand tableside on free throws, which conflicts directly with our mechanic. I also find it incredibly ineffective because A.) they're right in position to take an earful from the coaches, and B.) they are COMPLETELY oblivious to subs (which might be the case regardless of their position).

I've asked some of the officials on their board why they do this and their answer has consistently been, "That's the NFHS mechanic."

For reasons A and B, if no others, this couldn't possibly be true, could it? Any non-IAABO officials weigh in here?

ODog, I think I can help a little.

If you're in Western MA the women's board you're talking about appears to be borrowing from the women's board in NY. In NY you have to be certified separately to work girls' H.S. ball since they/we use modified NCAAW mechanics (you also don't have to be IAABO to be a member of the women's board). Those mechanics include the T going tableside on shooting fouls.

I think he's talking about two-whistle mechanics, and I believe they (NFHS) did move to table-side trail on FTs. Three-whistle always has had T tableside anyway.

Female official? She'll work the state HS finals in about 3 years and have a full D-1 schedule in about 5 and think it's because she's a great official.

I T'd up my daughter when she was seven hours old. 20 years later I still can't call that second one.

Diamonds, Daisies, Snowflakes ...
 

Brewster, New York.

I am indeed talking about a two-whistle game. That's insane to me that any federation would want the T to stand tableside on FTs in a two-whistle setting.

Forget putting yourself in the line of fire of barking coaches. You'll get your share throughout the game regardless of where you're positioned. But having your back turned to the scorer and all of the subs is just stupid.

Filling in for Padgett in his absence? :D

I'm teaching mine to signal "T". She's almost there and I think she has the ejection mechanic down more or less.

I personally like going tableside...the not being able to see subs/scorer situation is a non issue, because all one had to do is peek over the shoulder to see what needs to be seen and if you miss anything, there's nothing stopping the lead official from beckoning subs in. Texas has been going tableside in two man even before NFHS went to the mechanic.

As far as talking to coaches, I'd rather deal with coaches near me with a quiet word, then have a coach try and yell across the court. When NCAA-M moved their officials opposite after foul calls, I noticed (at least for TV games) that this happened a lot more often.

Going tableside is all I know but I don't see the big deal about it. It is very rare I've had a coach get to the point of getting T'd up as a result of me being tableside and I think he would have gotten himself stuck anyways.

Likewise...on it being all I've known and never really having issues with coaches.

I happen to prefer being table side as the calling official. We did that for a couple of years in three-man, but too many officials engaged the coaches too much rather than just when they needed to. I preferred it because it gave the coach a chance to ask the proper questions without yelling or delaying the game during free throws.

As for the T doing subs table-side. That's how it's done with three, and it's not a problem. Take a quick look before and after the last FT, then your eyes are on the play anyway. I don't think it's any harder to take one last glance from either side of the court after the final FT is made.

I'll bet she already knows the coach's mechanic for "what was that?"

Arms extended out perpendicular to the body, palms up, exasperated look on her face? Not quite yet...give her another year or so. :eek:

Except in 2-man the Trail is supposed to be down watching the free throw shooter and a lot of officials stay way up high to deal with subs and never get down to where they belong.

Well that's just poor coaching.