A Complement to the Ref?

Not all schools have experienced adults working the Scorer's Table at High School Volleyball Matches…… Recently I worked some games when the Scorer's for the Freshman games were players on the JV team and then the Freshman players assisted at the Scorer's Table for the JV game. Things can go wrong sometimes……

So I do appreciate veteran Scorekeeping crews. Once you work long enough you come to know the Scorekeepers at some schools and develop a deep respect for their work.

Recently I arrived to a Volleyball Match at a High School which always has a veteran crew at the Scorer's Table.

The Scorekeeper, who does all their home Basketball games greeted me and commented he did not know I was also Refereeing Volleyball.

I explained this was just my 2nd year at it so it might appear I'm still not a Volleyball Ref.

He chuckled and said, "Well, as a basketball Ref, I do not always agree with the calls you made, but I do respect how you are always very professional about how to Referee." I take that as an ultimate compliment from someone who has seen a LOT of Basketball games and a whole bunch of Basketball Referees over the years.

Image by popo.uw23 via flickr.com

I do not expect everyone to like all my calls. Hey, sometimes I don't like some of my calls. Coaches, players and fans all see the calls from their perspective and own biases.

So to hear someone does not agree with all my calls does not bother me.

Being told I am truly professional in the way I Referee? Now THAT is something I am very happy to hear!

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Great Fans Deserve Credit

The most obvious fans are the most obnoxious. Frequently their antics overshadow the really great fans.

I worked a game recently with some truly great friends fans and it started during warm-ups……

Referees try not to have much dialogue with the fans. Almost anything that can happen is not good. A Referee's comment intended to be funny can quickly be turned around into a not so happy response. And when opposing team fans see the Refs being too friendly with their opponents fans they start to suspect the Refs may not be as impartial as possible. That's NOT a good way to start off the game!

But the seats in some gyms are within a few feet of the court sidelines and when the Refs stand near the sidelines during warm-ups some fans like to chat with us. That presents a conundrum for the Ref. Do we stand there ignoring friendly chatter and appear arrogant/pompous or do we turn around and acknowledge a friendly or humorous comment?

The other night the fans were quite chatty, so I turned around and asked, "Did you pay extra for Court Side seats tonight!“

Image by Sheila Herman via Flickr

"Oh Yeah," one fellow said, "big bucks for us Season Ticket Holder's!" (Tickets are the same price regardless of where the fans sit in High School gyms.)

They seemed friendly, so I followed that up with, "Did you pay extra for the 'It's OK to yell at the Refs Ticket?"

"Yep, I bought that, too!“

To which I said, "Well, you'll be likely getting your money's worth out of it when you see some of the crazy stuff I called in this game!“

The several folks along the sidelines laughed and said something along the lines they were looking forward to having fun.

About halfway into the 1st Quarter I was in-bounding the ball near those same fans and I heard a lady behind me say to a fellow fan, "Really!!?? You mean I've been cheering for the wrong team?" (I am supposing she was an out of town relative or neighbor that had come to cheer for the first time?)

I turned to the lady to comment, "If you don't know which team to cheer for you better not be complaining about my Ref calls!“

Starting the 2nd Half I went to in-bound the ball and asked the sideline fans in general, "I haven't heard much yelling, how are we doing?“

"Oh, you guys are doing great!" Several said. Another said, "I'm not getting my money's worth out of my 'It's OK to yell at the Ref' ticket!" (That's always reassuring!)

As we left the court at game's end and I glanced at the sideline fans and got a "thumbs up" signal from several.

That was a whole lot more fun than having to eject a fan……

Refereeing can be very entertaining……

US airways 12/20/2014

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Ya Gotta Love Summer BasketBall!!

I Refereed some high School League Basketball this afternoon.

Image by popo.uw23 via Flickr

I'm an average High School Referee.

The guy I was working with, well, here's his brief resume-

Arena Football Referee (Yes, that's the professional League the AZ Rattler's play in).

Pac 12 Football Referee

Has worked just about every post season College Bowl Game there is......

Junior College Basketball Referee working several years at post season play Offs & Arizona State Championships

High School Basketball Referee working several State Championship Games.

I suppose you could say he knows a little about Refereeing...... 

Had a game today- Home Team is up by 10 points with 1 minute to go.

My partner is on the Baseline.

The center for the Visitor Team gets the ball near the basline & drives the basket.

A Home team dad hollers out, "Travel!! That's a Travel! How can you guys miss a call like that!!??

I was standing right in front of the dad & commented, "The player's Pivot Foot stayed down. No Traveling Violation."

"You guys are horrible Refs!!"

I kinda think I'll trust my partner's experience on that call more than a biased dad in the stands 50' away from the call. Wouldn't you?

In another game the Coach has complained on just about every call his team had the ball on offense that we were missing calls......

Funny, now that I think about it, I don't remember him complaining we were not calling enough fouls against his players when they were on Defense. Odd, isn't that?

Anyway, round about the early part of the 2nd Quarter, after yet another pitiful whine about not calling a foul when his player drove the lane, my partner (yeah, the same guy whose resume I just listed) says to the Coach,

"Coach. You've complained to me every time I've run by your bench. I suspect you're hollering at my partner, cause I can see you yakking at him, when he runs by, too.

Both of us have worked mutliple AZ State Semi Finals & Championship Games. We have a pretty good idea of what a foul is in this league. So please, let us Ref and you focus on coachng!"

With that the coach finally stopped his yapping at us.

Ya Gotta Love Summer Basketball!!

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OH WHAT A GAME!!! Part B

My final 2014 basketball game, a State 2nd Round game (the winner went to the quarterfinals) was a real barn burner in the Prescott High School DOMED arena. Yes, I said domed. First time I've worked a game there, too.

Prescott HS Gym image via The DailyCourier

With the arched roof, ALL the crowd noise rolled up to the ceiling and then came crashing down to the court!

And there was WAS LOTS of noise!

Phoenix Christian girls versus the same Fort Thomas Indian Reservation team we had in Miami. I think even the Circle K Clerks made it to Prescott. Seemed like 2000 screaming "Braves "fans. Yep, just like San Carlos, for Thomas is on an Apache Indian reservation and they are called the "Braves”.!

As I took my designated position to observe pregame warm-ups one adult Braves fan pointed to me and says, "We know you! You reffed us in Miami!”

"Yep ", I said, "the AIA said we do not call enough fouls on your team in Miami and sent us back to call some more. "

He laughed and replied, "well, I'm going to be watching you tonight! “

To which I said, someone needs to watch me. Who knows what kind of crazy calls I might make! “

As I went to inbound the ball to start the second half I walked past the same fellow and asked how I was doing. He said, "you're doing great but I want to talk to your buddy about some of his calls!!”

Phoenix Christian, down by two points with 10 seconds left in the game won by one point scoring on a breakaway layup and making a foul shot on the same play in a game that neither team had more than a three point lead throughout the second half. The Fort Thomas point guard fell down driving to the basket with five seconds left and her teammate, that recovered the loose ball, had her shot clank off the rim as the buzzer went off.

It was a great game to work!!

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OH WHAT A GAME!!! Part A

David Dixson and I traveled to the San Carlos Apache Indian reservation to work a girls first round state play off game last night – San Carlo's High School "Braves" (Yes, they call themselves the Braves) vs Sedona Red Rock "Scorpions”.

We arrived at the gym 1 hr & 15 minutes prior to Game Time and saw there was already a line of about 200 people waiting to get into the gym for the game!

As the Athletic Director (AD) lead us into the gym one adult fan in line started chanting, "Refs, Refs, Refs". The AD stopped, walked over to the fellow and said, "Gary, we won't have any of THAT tonight!”

The gym WAS PACKED for the game! 2,043 "Braves" fans and at least 3 "Scorpions" fans made the 5 Hour drive from Sedona...... Yes, you read that right, THREE scorpion fans made it to The game!

This may have been the BEST game experience Dixon & I have worked in our 8 years as a Ref Crew in terms of the games pace and action AND in the calls we made. It was nonstop excitement, run & gun all night long!

San Carlo's jumped out to a 11 point lead in the 1st Quarter hitting several 3 point shots but Sedona battled back to tie it at Half Time.

The lead went back & forth through out the 2nd Half with Sedona taking a 1 point lead with about 30 seconds left only to have San Carlo's take back a 1 point lead soon after.

During a loose ball scramble after a missed shot by Sedona, with 5 seconds left, a Sedona player was fouled. One of the better shooters for Sedona. It was the 10th foul on San Carlos, so the Sedona player went to the Free Throw line to shoot a Double Bonus. ( 2 Shots).

As I stood in the Free Throw lane to administer the 1st Free Throw I noticed a rather large Braves fan standing up near the Scorer's Table shaking his index fingers back and forth angrily suggesting I had messed up in awarding two shots and it should only be “1 & 1“ Bonus.

I generally do not interact with fans much, especially when they are irate.

However, sometimes during Time Outs when I am in-bounding a ball in front of some fans I'll ask, "Did you have to pay extra for these Court Side seats? They almost always say, "Yes! After which I'll ask if they get free popcorn & sodas? Sometimes, if the crowd seems friendly, I'll ask, "Did you pay a premium price for the "OK to yell at the Referees" ticket?” The best fan response I've had to date for that question was, "I thought that was included in the standard ticket price!" Apparently it is!!

But this time I stopped, looked the fellow in the eye, pointed to the Score Board which clearly showed 10 fouls against the Braves, held up 2 fingers and motioned for him to sit down.

The Braves fan looked at the clock, shrugged his shoulders and sat down as he gave me a dismissive "wave off". He wasn't happy being wrong, but at least he knew the Ref's made the call right!!

I'm thinking we have a good shooter, one of Sedona's best, at the line who might make BOTH shots to tie the game or take back the lead and was thinking thru the process of what Dixson and I would need to be paying attention to if either scenario happened. Both teams have used all their Time Outs, so San Carlos would not be calling a Time Out. They needed to get the ball far enough down Court in 4 seconds to take a decent shot at the basket and hope for a last second win, etc.

Would Sedona risk a quick foul since San Carlos was in the "1 & 1" Bonus and give San Carlos a chance to win the game at their Free Throw line? What if there was a missed 2nd Free Throw shot – what did I need to Watch for in the rebounding action? A sneaky push from behind, a grabbed arm, a player stepping into the lane too soon, etc. Making sure I am in a good position to get a "good look" or "good angle" on the rebounding players.

A LOT goes through a Referee's mind in a situation like that! 20+ years of last few seconds game experience flash through the brain in nano seconds – many of them mistakes I've made, vowing NOT to repeat them and cost any team a game by my own idiocy, etc.…

I was hoping she would make 1 Free Throw to tie the game so we would have an Over Time game. I was having so much fun I did not want the game to end!! The Sedona shooter miss BOTH free throws but the Scorpions caught what could have been a lucky break when the ball went Out of Bounds under the basket off a San Carlos player.

image by Rob Royce via Flickr

The ball was in-bounded to Sedona's tallest player who turned for a shot only to discover she was slightly behind the backboard. Her altered shot attempt banged off the rim but was rebounded by another Scorpion player who also missed a shot right in front of the basket. That 2nd errant shot was rebounded buy a jubilant San Carlos player as the buzzer went off.

GAME OVER. San Carlos wins by 1 and advances on to the State Play Off.

I feel bad for the Sedona girls – 2 free throws AND 2 shot attempts from within 3 feet of the basket with 5 seconds left and they miss every shot…… I expect it was a long drive home.

But I also have to be happy for the San Carlos team that came from behind in the last minute despite having 3 players Foul Out in the 4th Quarter and still managed to pull out the win!

Our last game for the season is a 2nd Round State Play Off Girls game in Prescott this Saturday.

2/19/2014

San Carlos HS - San Carlos, AZ

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