Wackiness on final regular season game night
 

Anybody else notice there is more weirdness on the last night of the regular season every year? Some combination of teams ready for playoffs and teams ready to be done with a rough season brings out the worst somehow. A couple years ago I had a double flagrant tech. Last year just an oddball partner with oddball calls. Last night, one of my friends tossed a coach in his game. I didn't have that but lots of other unusual things:

I had an intentional foul for an elbow that was borderline flagrant, and one of my partners had a T for a player entering the court without being beckoned during a live ball. I also had some unsportsmanlike conduct by a player that I very easily could've handled with a T but went with a stop-and-stare followed by the coach disciplining her.

The weirdest part of all was during the senior night festivities just before we started the 15-minute clock for pre-game, the alarm system went off. Nobody moved for the exits and they just ignored it. Within a few minutes the alarm was silenced but the blinking emergency lights were still strobing when we were ready for starters and the anthem. The visiting coach didn't like it, so the game management found some towels to cover them up and we went ahead with the game. Strange.

In all honesty I can say that after my first couple of years most weird things just stopped. Part of that is when I sniff things in a game about to get funny, or out of control I do one thing. I nip it in the bud.

Players / coaches / officials get more tired near the end of the season, and more fed up with the actions of the others. This leads to more Ts.

Years ago the fire alarm went off during the second quarter of a boys' varsity game. We stopped the game and then two minutes later one of the sheriff deputies at the game said it was a false alarm and we started back up.

MTD, Sr.

Ain't no rest for the wicked.

One time I had team A up by 40+ points. Team B calls time out with 10 seconds left. Their coach calls me over to tell me once the the ball is inbounded all of his players are coming off the bench -- just for comedy relief. It was wacky but it was a funny wacky. No Technical, we just let the clock run out. It was odd looking 13 players on defense!! :D

Had a mouse run onto the court. Cheerleaders ran screeming....A dad from the stands jumps down and just stomps the bugger. Calmy looked at the bench and says "Anybody got a towel?"

I'm Glad That We Waited ...
 

Senior night. We had to wait about ten minutes for a senior's mom, who is running late, to show up. Coach tells me that now he knows why his player is always late to practice.

That's a good one.

Not basketball, but in football, the water sprinklers went off mid-3rd quarter for a few minutes. That was probably one of the weirder things in one of my games. However it was the first game of the season. Perhaps football and basketball are exactly the opposite in that respect!

These days, game management should clear the gym according to established procedures when any kind of alarm goes off. Sitting around and waiting to see what it's about simply is no longer an option. Schools have established lockdown and evacuation procedures. Any alarm must be considered authentic and serious until clearly established otherwise.

I have a hunch this isn't a universally applied standard.