I had a pretty funny line this week that a lot of people seem to be enjoying way too much. A player in a game had a very goofy shot mechanic. He would almost double-clutch his jump shots, and would have the same hitch on his free throws. As you can imagine, the hitch in his shot caused lane violations the first couple of times he went to the line.
An opposing player got pissy and complained. My response was, "What do you want me to do? Goofy isn't illegal." The whole lane broke up laughing. Even the shooter thought it was funny.
Use at your own peril. Have fun.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Feedback!
The number of hits and readers has been growing exponentially the past 3 months. The following are some of places where folks are reading from: Everett, Philadephia, Albany, Tucson, Spokane, Keizer OR, Vancouver, Stanwood WA, Simi Valley, Omaha, Denver, Wichita, College Place WA, Petaluma CA, Brussels Belgium, Manchester UK, United Arab Emirates, Melbourne Austraila, and Toronto.
Who knew there is basketball being played, let alone referees scouring the Net in search of help or entertainment, in the U.A.E.?!?!?!
Anyway, I'd love to get either comments or e-mails from y'all. Any topics I can throw out there, questions you may have, or just a simple kudos would be much appreciated.
You can also spread the word to others if you like the blog. I'm getting close to enough traffic to be able to sell advertising. If I am able to do that, I will be donating any proceeds to help subsidize local youth basketball. If that is a stupid idea, let me know that, too!
Thanks again for reading my blog. It is very satisfying, and to be blunt, very humbling to me. Hope it helps.
Who knew there is basketball being played, let alone referees scouring the Net in search of help or entertainment, in the U.A.E.?!?!?!
Anyway, I'd love to get either comments or e-mails from y'all. Any topics I can throw out there, questions you may have, or just a simple kudos would be much appreciated.
You can also spread the word to others if you like the blog. I'm getting close to enough traffic to be able to sell advertising. If I am able to do that, I will be donating any proceeds to help subsidize local youth basketball. If that is a stupid idea, let me know that, too!
Thanks again for reading my blog. It is very satisfying, and to be blunt, very humbling to me. Hope it helps.
Integrity and Respect
Basketball is an emotional game. As referees, we have a difficult job to maintain our composure when targeted by angry question or comments. We always have to be the bigger person. Whatever comes our way on the court, the second that we treat a coach, player, administrator, or fan with any perceived malice or disrespect, we are automatically 100% wrong.
Virtually none of us go out on the court with the intent of making wrong calls. However, a lot of officials get extremely defensive, and even hostile at times, when under duress. Once that happens, it almost always goes downhill from there. These are the times when the red flag or perceived malice and disrespect can rise up.
If you always conduct yourself with integrity, and show coaches and players respect, virtually any bad situation will have a very short shelf life, and that is very good for your career as an official. I am by no means a perfect official, and it is plainly evident when I am irritated or annoyed on the court by the shaved head and look my my face. But I never lose the empathetic perspective I have spoken about here way too many times. Never hold a grudge from game-to-game. Never even hold a grudge from minute-to-minute. Nobody wins when that happens.
Part of having integrity is admitting mistakes. I made a very poor call last night in a game I worked, and it resulted in a starter having the sit the remainder of the half with foul trouble. I got yelled at by the coach, and did even acknowledge it at the time. At halftime, one of my partners told me it was a bad call. As I got that team out after halftime, I told the coach flat out that the call was bad. Think I liked it? No. Think it showed the coach and player a lot of respect? Yes. Did it prevent them from questioning me about other calls? No. But it was the right thing to do.
Part of having integrity is disagreeing in a respectful manner. I had a young coach who I had never worked for before question a bad screen call I made that I thought was a no-brainer. He then took umbrage with my next 2 calls against his team. He had a reputation or being easy to work for and not going after officials, so I was unsure as to how to deal with it. He proceeded to get on a partner about me. Before the end of the half, he asked me another question, and I told him nicely that I was 100% certain on every call I had made against his team (there were only 4 the entire half), and that he would clearly see the bad screen on the film. I also told him that I would never lie to him, and if I missed one, I'd have no problems admitting it. The rest of the game went with not a single question or comment from him.
Part of having integrity is being able to say "I'm not sure." The rule book is vast. Very few know them all 100%. After 13 years, I have a pretty good idea about it, although I'm probably never the #1 rules guy on any crew I am on. I had two coaches question rules where I was 98% sure we had it right, but not 100%. In those cases, the next day I looked up the rule and popped a e-mail to the coach, clarifying that we were right both times, with the intent that they would know that rule from that point forward.
What does this all mean? In the first situation, I got a nice note from the coach who appreciated my candor and for his behavior during the game. In the second, the next time I had the coach, he called me over and told me that I was right, the film showed that I was correct on all of them, and apologized for getting on me. The last two, they appreciated the e-mail and the help we gave them in learning more about the rules, and about our dedication to getting them right.
We all hear the exaggerated war stories about telling coaches off, giving them technicals, telling them to "shut up", running players out of games via technicals or common fouls, and booting fans from gyms. Most of those stories are about 50% fact, 50% what the referee wishing he he the stones to do. Or they really do those things, and make complete fools of themselves, usually without recognizing the laughing at them behind their backs.
The bottom line is, showing them respect and exhibiting the utmost integrity at all times builds relationships that allow you to manage games and situations a lot better. Yes, it hurts the ego some nights. Last night I was pissed off when I got into my car, but understood that it was how that game went, and I wouldn't have changed a thing I did (or did not) do. I was unhappy and embarrassed that the coach was riding my partner about me. I wasn't pleased that I was not 100% on a rule that the coaches questioned. But I continued to treat them with respect, and maintained my integrity at all times.
Think those guys are happy to see me in their games? Think that makes a difference to their kids? Think the fans recognize it? The answer to all of those is a resounding yes. Think about these things and remember to always take the high road whenever possible. More times than not, you don't ever see the positive consequences of doing so, but trust me, they exist far more than we all realize.
Virtually none of us go out on the court with the intent of making wrong calls. However, a lot of officials get extremely defensive, and even hostile at times, when under duress. Once that happens, it almost always goes downhill from there. These are the times when the red flag or perceived malice and disrespect can rise up.
If you always conduct yourself with integrity, and show coaches and players respect, virtually any bad situation will have a very short shelf life, and that is very good for your career as an official. I am by no means a perfect official, and it is plainly evident when I am irritated or annoyed on the court by the shaved head and look my my face. But I never lose the empathetic perspective I have spoken about here way too many times. Never hold a grudge from game-to-game. Never even hold a grudge from minute-to-minute. Nobody wins when that happens.
Part of having integrity is admitting mistakes. I made a very poor call last night in a game I worked, and it resulted in a starter having the sit the remainder of the half with foul trouble. I got yelled at by the coach, and did even acknowledge it at the time. At halftime, one of my partners told me it was a bad call. As I got that team out after halftime, I told the coach flat out that the call was bad. Think I liked it? No. Think it showed the coach and player a lot of respect? Yes. Did it prevent them from questioning me about other calls? No. But it was the right thing to do.
Part of having integrity is disagreeing in a respectful manner. I had a young coach who I had never worked for before question a bad screen call I made that I thought was a no-brainer. He then took umbrage with my next 2 calls against his team. He had a reputation or being easy to work for and not going after officials, so I was unsure as to how to deal with it. He proceeded to get on a partner about me. Before the end of the half, he asked me another question, and I told him nicely that I was 100% certain on every call I had made against his team (there were only 4 the entire half), and that he would clearly see the bad screen on the film. I also told him that I would never lie to him, and if I missed one, I'd have no problems admitting it. The rest of the game went with not a single question or comment from him.
Part of having integrity is being able to say "I'm not sure." The rule book is vast. Very few know them all 100%. After 13 years, I have a pretty good idea about it, although I'm probably never the #1 rules guy on any crew I am on. I had two coaches question rules where I was 98% sure we had it right, but not 100%. In those cases, the next day I looked up the rule and popped a e-mail to the coach, clarifying that we were right both times, with the intent that they would know that rule from that point forward.
What does this all mean? In the first situation, I got a nice note from the coach who appreciated my candor and for his behavior during the game. In the second, the next time I had the coach, he called me over and told me that I was right, the film showed that I was correct on all of them, and apologized for getting on me. The last two, they appreciated the e-mail and the help we gave them in learning more about the rules, and about our dedication to getting them right.
We all hear the exaggerated war stories about telling coaches off, giving them technicals, telling them to "shut up", running players out of games via technicals or common fouls, and booting fans from gyms. Most of those stories are about 50% fact, 50% what the referee wishing he he the stones to do. Or they really do those things, and make complete fools of themselves, usually without recognizing the laughing at them behind their backs.
The bottom line is, showing them respect and exhibiting the utmost integrity at all times builds relationships that allow you to manage games and situations a lot better. Yes, it hurts the ego some nights. Last night I was pissed off when I got into my car, but understood that it was how that game went, and I wouldn't have changed a thing I did (or did not) do. I was unhappy and embarrassed that the coach was riding my partner about me. I wasn't pleased that I was not 100% on a rule that the coaches questioned. But I continued to treat them with respect, and maintained my integrity at all times.
Think those guys are happy to see me in their games? Think that makes a difference to their kids? Think the fans recognize it? The answer to all of those is a resounding yes. Think about these things and remember to always take the high road whenever possible. More times than not, you don't ever see the positive consequences of doing so, but trust me, they exist far more than we all realize.
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