Refs and announcing

[bigfoot81]

Last Friday night I saw a high school girls basketball game in which I thought the official carried his duities a little too far.

Here's what happened: I was taking the stats at the table for my younger sister's high school basketball game. It was a Friday night home game against the number one team in their league. Big game. The announcer was a high school kid, but in my opinion, pretty responisble. On one play, the official called traveling on the visiting team. The announcer said, "Too many steps!" over the PA and the official told him, "No! Just say traveling" Later on in the game my sister happened to foul out and the announcer said that she had commited her 5th foul and had to leave the game. About 30 seconds later, a member of the visiting team fouled out and the announcer said pretty much the same thing. The same official came up to him and told him that he needed to call the game neutral.

Now, I'm not saying he was a bad official, but it's my opinion that he was concerned with things that really didn't affect the game that much and he should've just let the announcer go. The announcer wasn't saying anything abusive, personal, or deroggatory about the officiating, players, or coaches. Besides, there were administrators from both high schools present and the home administrator sits right behind the table.

What does everyone think? Was this official in line with what he did? Should an official be concerned with the announcing of a basketball game? When should an official step in and curb the announcer?