The Official Forum - Your worst call ever?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by iref4him (Post 884530)

This is not the worst call ever made, but my toughest. I am a doctor. Two weeks ago a 31 year old man comes into my office because of a 10' fall. He thought he had broken his ribs. The CT scan showed he did break 4 ribs, but the CT scan showed something else. I had to look into this man's eyes, a husband and a father of 3 young children, and tell him that the CT scan showed he had lung cancer and it has spread to his adrenal glands and kidneys. Not a very good prognosis. It put all my officiating into perspective. Great calls, toughest calls, easy calls, and worse calls. When you tell a man that his life is over, basically, my worst calls in any games did not compare to this call. Moral of the story, keep the game in perspective, work hard, and count your blessings. I counted mine - my faith, family, friends, and health. I am able to officiate still is an added blessing - great calls and worse calls.

I know an official who got run over in a football game a few years back and a scan for broken ribs ended up diagnosing the lung cancer that eventually killed him.

What we do is a passion for us, it's important to us, but in the end it's just a game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iref4him (Post 884530)

Wow.

Thanks for sharing and putting it all in perspective. But for the grace of God...

Hey Doc, thanks for killing this thread. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by iref4him (Post 884530)

Thank you for sharing this. Helps keep things in their proper place in my life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bad Zebra (Post 883470)

During my first year of varsity ball (probably 10-11 years ago), I called a back court violation on a team...problem was, I used a volleyball line instead of the mid-court line for the violation. One of my partners quickly rushed over after my whistle and told me it was the wrong line...red faced...I report: "Inadvertent whistle..play on!"

He still reminds me to this day whenever we work together.

OMG........just after I tossed, I did that in a GV game, purged it until you just reminded me;)

Boys' freshman game, two-shot free throw. Lane violation by the shooter on the first throw. Ball goes out of bounds to the opponent because in my mind:

If the first or only violation is by the free thrower or a teammate, the ball becomes dead when the violation occurs and no point can be scored by that throw. The following out-of-bounds provisions apply IF no further free throws are to be administered:
a. If the violation occurs during a free throw for a personal foul, other than intentional or flagrant, the ball is awarded to the opponents for a throw-in from the designated out-of-bounds spot nearest the violation

Somehow I didn't see the if part of that penalty. Coach went ape-stuff! :o

must have been 10 yrs ago, at least.

JV game Lake Forest HS (IL).

i called a phantom foul on the center, it was his 5th.

it was Bill Cartwrite's son.

opps. sorry.

refprof

2nd game I ever worked. Boys freshman game (2 whistle) about 17 years ago. I was working with our local assigner and he told me before the game that he thought I would be a potential up and comer and he wanted to work with me to feel me out.

I called 5 seconds in the back court. I had a simultaneous whistle with my partner who was calling time-out. He closed in on me and asked "what do you have" and I said "5-seconds", he said "no you don't" and granted the timeout. During the timeout he politely explained you couldn't have 5 seconds in the backcourt..........which I knew, but allowed myself to get flustered. Then, about 5 minutes later the same coach was calling a timeout as a player was in jeopardy of getting a real closely guarded call and he was on the floor yelling to get my attention as I was too locked in on the play to notice him before he got onto the court. As I spun around to grant the timeout, I showed the "T" signal and he immediately sat down embarrassed. Once again, my partner came in and told everyone it was a time out and the coach looked up at me and smiled. He sincerely thought I T'd him for being on the floor and was mortified originally.

When I start getting arrogant about my officiating ability, assignments I receive, college conferences I get to work in (NAIA & D-II, not D-I) I think back to how much help I was given and how good the coaches really were to me when I was starting out. I will admit that I let my ego get the best of me at times, but it seems when I get that way, I run into a coach that gave me a shot or an old partner that tought me the tools to get to where I have gotten. I had a moment like this at our state tournament last week and this thread was my reminder once again that I am not nearly as good or important as I allow myself to think at times............

1968, Jr High boys game: great game, ends 77-78. Visitors' coach tells his kids to grab their stuff from the lockerroom, and get on the bus - they can change on the bus.
As I'm about to sign the book, the scorekeeper tells me she can't find the 78th point for the winning team. I send my partner to stop the bus, but he comes back and was unable to do so.
When everybody asks me what we should do, I say, "Who was the high point man on the team that we all thought won?" . . . "Give him one more point, and close the book." None of the coaches or players involved will ever know.

The Blarge with myself!!

First year of reffing, intramurals, and I had a Blarge (didn't know the term at the time) with myself. I called the block b/c the defense didn't have position and the offense for lowering his shoulder and running the kid over. Don't remember the outcome, although I know no Ts.

In summerball one time I called a fan a dumbass and then ejected him for coming on the court after me! :eek: