Utah People?

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Travelling Man

*I commend your noble efforts. I was reffing a USSAA set of games a few months ago, one of the parents accosted me after the game and said "thanks a lot" in a manner that was noticeably dissatisfied with the outcome--they had lost by 2 pts in a close game. I told the male parent "your team just missed a lot of free throws". He scowled at me. But I don't care, I'm not cow-towing to a fan. I understand the stereotype of officials being "composed", but I had to make a stand. I think word got out because seemed like folks/fans went out of their way to act 'nice' to me since.

You were accosted? Physically or verbally?

If it was verbal, that's really not the same thing as a referee being attacked. We have a board member who was part of a game where his partner was body slammed by a player. Another of our long time members was hit by a water after the game, before he could get off the court. Those are comparable situations. Irate parents after a summer game? That's standard procedure.

And if it was verbal, don't respond. I know it worked for you this time, but you'll get far fewer headaches if you just ignore the idiots. More bad can come than good. Responding like that is the quickest way to escalate a verbal situation to a physical one.

If you were accosted physically, you definitely shouldn't have responded. You should have called 911.