Sell-out game admin
 

Men's wreck league (I know, I know, but I wanted to work on stuff for an upcoming camp). For the most part it's a bunch of decent guys who just want to get a sweat on and seem to enjoy it. There are a few former high school hot sh!ts who think they still have game and they think they can dictate to us. We usually hand out some Ts and it settles them down.

Last night was different though. I'm working three games with a newb who also wants to get better. He works part-time at the gym and has some understanding of the league but has some work to do.

First game was a blowout with lots of Ts. Two and half minutes left I hand out a flagrant and decide it's time to end this game. The team up by 50 was still shooting threes and the team that was down was arguing amongst themselves so I felt good about putting an end to it. Second game went OK until the team with hot sh!ts tightens up because they're losing to a bunch of scrubs. OOB call, ball gets kicked toward my partner and he T's the guy. Later another OOB, this time a player who also works part-time at the gym throws the ball against the wall. My partner Ts him.

Game finally ends and we're waiting for the third game to start. My partner and I are opposite the table and benches and the guy who threw the ball against the wall approaches and says to my P "Are you talking about me? Say it to my face, homie. Don't talk your sh!t unless you say it to my face."
I tell him "Get outta here. There's nothing to talk about."
"I'm not talking to you, homie. I'm talking to him."
"Keep walking, there's nothing for you to say."
He goes off saying that I need to mind my own business and all the typical B.S. Now I raise my voice and repeat that he's got to get out of our faces and leave. We go back and forth. The manager of the gym, who's also an official, was by the table and I yell across the floor "XXX, he's gotta go. He needs to leave." XXX walks over, doesn't say a word, lets the kid continue. I've had enough and walk away while the kid rips into my P. XXX continues his discussion with the kid, presumably as a manager talking to an employee.

When they separate I let XXX know that I didn't appreciate how he handled the situation. His response was to let me know that he'll decide how handle things, that it's his gym, etc. "If you don't like it, don't work in this gym anymore."
"That's how you want to handle this? I can't tell you man to man that I think you didn't handle this right?"
"You need to dial it back and let me do my job. You escalated that situation by yelling at YYY. All I hear is you yelling and then calling me from across the court. You didn't need to do that."
"The kid wouldn't get out of our faces."
"I'll handle it how I want to. This is my gym."
"When I'm on the court I don't have the authority to get someone out of the gym?"
"They pay to play in this league. They pay my salary and yours."
Clearly I've got nothing left to say and walk away. Shoulda known better. The third game was a forfeit, by the way. One team didn't show up.
Ugh.

Taillight Guarantee That I Won't Be Back ...
 

Good advice from the idiot (hard to believe that he's a fellow official). Take it.

The hardest part would be sticking around to do the third game. It's "fulfill your contractual, and professional, obligations" versus "Bye bye". I, personally, would go for the former, but, unlike Arnold, I would never be back.

Another option would be to not start that third game until YYY was out of the gymnasium. That would put some pressure on your idiot fellow official, and put the spotlight in his lap (really bad mixed metaphor, sorry).

Friendly words regarding how this could've ended better:

*Don't engage with the guy. If he's saying anything other than "Sorry," start walking away
*If he keeps it up, start walking towards his boss (both of you) and explain to his boss what was happening

There's nothing positive that can come from talking to someone in a rec league who received a T especially after a game. Let him get himself in trouble.

Yup. I'm D-U-N with that gym as long as he's there. It's a shame because there are a lot of fun youth league games there. Ah well.

More good advice. Thanks. Teddy Valentine I'm not. :D
I guess YYY's hard-ass attitude got under my skin. The good news is I get to put your friendly words in my experience bag at a POS wreck league game, rather than something quite a bit more important. Silver lining and all...

I would've grabbed my stuff after Game 2 and gone home. You should've.

This happened to me one time. I grabbed my stuff and told the admin "good luck" and left. Never looked back, never regretted it.

I was working a HS scrimmage back in the mid-90s when I lived in the south. Essentially a pre-season game with two schools playing each other, I think they called it a jamboree. IIRC, I was in shorts and came dressed -- it was like a camp setting except I didn't pay for the privilege. :D

The one coach start acting like a complete ass. Finally after I told him once or twice to knock it off, he said, "I don't care if you T me up, none of this counts." I had never considered a technical -- we weren't even keeping score.

At this point I walked over to a chair and started changing my shoes. The coach asked me what I was doing and I told him I was leaving. My partner begged me to stay. I told him if he had any sense, he would leave too. I left.

Our assignor wasn't mad at me -- he was mad at the other guy for staying and he made a point to tell the entire association at the next meeting that there are no technical fouls in scrimmages -- that you were to "put the ball on the table and go to the house" since we were doing them as a service to the local schools and we weren't being paid.

Dad gummit. I'd be feeling a lot better about it than I do right now. :mad:

Does this league use an assigner?

Yeah, I let him know and he was hot about it. He said he would tell the guy to find his own refs for those games but I'm not sure how that will play out. XXX knows a lot of officials and I kinda feel like the disgruntled customer at Starbucks. There are a million other customers they can count on so I can spit in the wind all I want. We'll see if word gets around...

Don't be so sure. A league gets a reputation for not backing its officials, it finds itself with newer and newer officials each year. I wouldn't be shy about this. I can also say that an official like this guy who starts circumventing the local association to assign games is going to find himself with fewer and fewer games to work.

There may be drawbacks to a closed system, but this would be one of the benefits.

Even in a dinky six-team adult league? :)

I know it's different everywhere, but a league like that around here would find it hard to get officials. He would need to find officials who had no desire to work the good stuff.

How long does it take to get used to the altitude?

Not as long as you might think. ;)