The Coach Just Had to Ask

I recently worked a Pre-Season Scrimmage where the Home Team Coach questioned the very first call we made...and nearly every other call after that.

This Coach has a reputation for doing that and really annoying Referees.

When I called Traveling after his player fell down while holding the ball after getting a rebound (an automatic Traveling call!) the Coach hollered, "She tried to dribble on her way down! That's not Traveling!"

"Coach," I replied. "I did not see any attempt to dribble. Even if she tried, she fell to the ground while holding the ball, so it's still Traveling."

"No, no, she was dribbling while on the ground! Didn't you see that?"

"No, Coach, I did NOT see that and now your version is changing...Please just let the Refs referee and you can focus on coaching. OK?"

He replied, "Hey, I'm just asking. I can ask, can't I?"

"Coach, you were NOT asking. You were attempting to influence me to change my call, which strictly speaking is a Unsportsmanlike Technical Foul."

"I'm just asking!"

"Coach, you 'ask' about almost every call that goes against your team. Quite frankly, us Referees get tired of all your asking and after a while just quit paying attention to you. THAT can be quite a problem if you want to call a Time Out and we figure you were just 'asking' about something else again and ignore your request."

After that he did not "ask" about any more calls the rest of the game......