Late Team

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by ref3808

Officials should get a premium fee for working games on rubber on concrete floors.

I've got a Catholic middle school "varsity" game later this afternoon that will be played on a very thin synthetic surface on a concrete base. This school doesn't have an "all purpose room" large enough to play a game with eighth graders, so they rent the court from a nearby sports facility (basketball, and volleyball courts, batting cages, etc.). I worked a boys/girls doubleheader there a few weeks ago and by the second period of the first game my feet were hurting. By the end of the doubleheader my legs, ankles, and feet were hurting from halfway down my shin down to my toes. The next morning, I woke up as sore as I've ever been, and it took all day long, at work, to "walk off" the soreness. Two aspirin after the game, and two the next morning, didn't help a bit.

Another problem. I noticed a slight headache, more like a dizziness, as the games progressed. Over the center of the facility was a very large ceiling fan with blades with, at least, a radius of eight feet. Directly above the fan were two large fluorescent lights. There was always a flicker under one basket, and I'm sure that this was effecting my eyesight. At the least, it was very annoying.