This week tho, David Dixon & myself had the chance to Referee a Sectional First Round Playoff game at 5:15PM which was followed by another Play Off Game at 7:00PM.
So instead of dressing and leaving, we cleaned up, then dressed in our street clothes and went to watch the 2nd game.
Image by Susanne Jerome via Flickr.com
As we were sitting in the stands at Half Time of that following game, a fellow I'd never seen before walks up, shakes our hands and says, "You guys worked a great game tonite!" A bit surprised at the unexpected compliment I smiled and asked, "Which team were you rooting for?" He replied, "Neither of them. I just came to watch some Tournament Basketball."
"Well THANKS!" We both said, and I added, "It seemed from the crowd's reaction that the fans for neither team thought we did a good job, so we really appreciate your compliment." (It HAD been a raucous crowd at a "neutral" site. The school Athletic Director & his On Site Security had been quite busy trying to calm down fans from both teams. Multiple lead changes, a 2 point margin at half time and the game winning basket was scored with 2.8 seconds on the clock for a 1 point win in a VERY intensely played game! Indeed it was a GREAT game to work!)
The fellow stopped, turned back and said, "I've seen a lot of High School Basketball Referees work over the years. Forget about the fans. You guys ARE good!"
He never said who he was or what his experience with Refereeing was. He just turned back around and walked back to his seat, which turned out to be clear on the far side of the gym and in the upper level from where we were siting. So his coming to compliment us was not just a matter of passing by us on the way to the Concession Stand at Half Time. It was a deliberate effort to speak to us and required some effort on his part.
Fan comments, pro and con, after a game are common. But the way this fellow spoke- in particular saying, "I've seen a lot of Referees WORK," was a very interesting comment.
Fans will say "you 'Reffed' or 'Refereed' a good game," but fans do not say "worked."
"Worked a game," is a phrase common to Referees, tho. Perhaps that fellow was a former referee himself?
So we have no idea who this fellow was or what prompted him to make the trek clear across the gym to compliment a couple of relatively nondescript Referees he'd never seen, but we certainly do appreciate his doing it. Definitely takes the sting out of a coach recently saying we were the worst referees he'd ever seen!!! (I think that coach might have been a bit biased, tho......)
A couple more Play Off games to "work" before the season ends for us and we are looking forward to more intensely contested games and lots of fun "working" them!
2/10/15
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