Holding Your Temper...
Fall 2013 It is just before Christmas Break and I worked a game with a good friend of mine Z. We officiated a freshman and sophomore girls game as a two man crew. The freshman game was rather calm with a few shouts from fans but nothing memorable. The sophomore game on the other hand was quite the learning experience. From the beginning of the game it was rough. The home team was known for their 'Jump Stop' passing/catching technique. After white would catch the ball they can pivot on either foot. Their opponent's (Green) fans would start yelling travel. Now if you have ever officiated before that is the most common thing shouted (along with 'over the back' which I will talk about another time). Game banter and direct shouting of plays is normal, but they yelled it EVERY SINGLE PLAY. It got old. Around 5 minutes into the game I did end up calling a travel on the home team and the visiting fans became even more audible. 'Wow she actually knows what that call is' and 'Why would you start calling that now, you haven't all game' were just a few of the many things exchanged. Z did what any good partner would do and gave the crowd a warning. Again Game banter is acceptable, targeting people is not.
Within 30 seconds of the warning I was table side trail (Near Half Court) when a break away occurred. I took off like normal down the sideline. Knowing that the floor was about to change textures, I glanced ahead to see where the baseline was. During this time the girl who had the break away got too close to the sideline (OF COURSE right in front of Green's Coach) and I did not catch her dribbling once on the line. She scored, and I got an earful. Calmly I talked to the coach and things seemed to cool down until the next play.
Still in the first half, Z was at the baseline when the visiting team was passing the ball around. One of the girls went up for a shot and the ball was blocked. It made quite a loud noise and Green's Coach was again off the bench giving me an earful and how that should be a foul and 'DIDN'T YOU HEAR THAT SOUND?!' I said 'Coach he had a better look than I did and It appeared to be all ball' Once again the coach sat down but by this time by blood was starting to boil. The fans were getting restless on both sides and the coaches were getting louder.
Before the half the visiting team was shooting and their ball was blocked and went out of bounds. It was called green but the Green Coach was again in my ear yelling at 'How can that not be called a foul.' At this point I had had enough of Mr Loud Green Coach and gave him the first technical foul I had ever given in a game. Needless to say although his behind was parked on the bench, his voice still carried. Soon half time arrived and the home team was up by more than 15 points. Due to the nature of this sprinting game Z and I talked over a few plays and tried to find ways to tighten up the play.
The second half was just as intense. The girls fouled more (by the end both teams were in double bonus). The problem with the second half is that the home team started to flounder so their fans were trying to match their opponents' voices and yell at us. One obscure play Green was driving the basket and a White player stood their with hands straight up. Her teammate disrupted the play by reaching across the lain and hitting the green girl on her arms. As I went to report the foul the fans, bench, and even scoring table told me I had the wrong player. 'Foul should be on 11 since she was in the lain' and 'You have the wrong girl'. Before free throws were administered, I had to explain to the scoring table that 11 was standing still and 6 came across and hit the shooter.
The home team continued to make dumb fouls and it came down to the last three plays. The visiting team just scored a basket to get within 2 points of their opponents. After a timeout the home team goes to inbound the ball and bounce passes it under their defenders arm and directly out of bounds. This is NOT what the fan behind me saw apparently. He told the people next to him and it was a trickle effect to the rest of the gym. Needless to say I quickly tried to inbound the ball to the visiting team on the sideline 3 feet up from the corner. The visiting team did score and they were tied. Of course: Timeout was issued. The home team was able to get the ball in and score to be up by 2 points with 3.7 seconds to go. Timeout visiting team. Green inbounds the ball at half court- to a girl just beyond the arch- swish! Bottom of the net, ball drops, and time runs off before the home team can inbound the ball. The entire place erupts. I run downstairs with Z and just need to cool off. I had never been so wound up for a game in my life. I just sat there for about 10 minutes, collecting thoughts, trying to lower my blood pressure, and returning to my normal skin color.
Thank goodness that game was the last one before Christmas Break. I don't know if I would have been able to walk on the court again the next day if I needed to.
Two days later I ended up talking to a friend who worked at the 'Home' school. He is friends with the coach and athletic director. They did not have bad things to say just that it seemed inconsistent. With that said it was a terrible game of basketball and would have been ugly even with three people. The AD did say that I kept my composure and made calls with authority still. Z on the other hand seemed to have lost interest in the game (Which he did). He lost his mechanics and needed to make the calls necessary to complete the game.
This is one of the longer posts I will end up having. I figured start with one of the worst and grow/go from there. Officiating is a hard job and no one is ever rooting for the figure wearing stripes.
