OT: Who is the best player you ever officiated?

[Mark Padgett]

About 15 years ago, Portland had a WNBA team, the "Fire". They would hold practices at a gym on the west side that had about 10 basketball floors, only two of which were near full size. One day, a buddy and I were working a men's rec game there while the Fire was having a practice. Right after our game ended, the Fire coach came over to us and asked us if we could wait around and work a scrimmage they were going to have against a bunch of guy gym rats. They said the scrimmage was going to last 20 minutes with a short halftime and they would pay us each $40 in cash. We both said we would.

We tried to let a lot of contact go but made sure we called anything obvious and/or hard. Within a few minutes, it became apparent the gals were not anywhere able to play well against the guys due to the difference in size, speed and strength. I think the final score was something like 44-8. It just got to me that a "major league professional team" couldn't play well against a "pickup" team, even if there was a gender difference. It really put the WNBA into perspective for me.

The Fire coach came over and thanked us and paid us our money. We told her we'd be glad to do it any time.

BTW - for you Portland area guys, my partner that night was the late, great Jeff Strothers.