The Lone Ranger

All we hear about from camps, supervisors, and partners is teamwork and crew.  However, how many times do people say one thing, and do another.  How many guys are always right?  How many guys know everything?  How many guys are going to do whatever they think is right on the court no matter what their partners think or do?  Those guys are insanely arrogant.  Big bad tough guys.  While they may be good individual officials, they are bad officials.  They are Lone Rangers.  They are Crewanomas--Cancer of the Crew.

These are things that Lone Rangers tend to do:

1.  Call out of their area.
2.  Call things like GT and BI from the L, under the basket.
3.  Split hairs on travels when the other guys do not.
4.  Make any call that the other guys are not making.
5.  Overselling calls.
6.  Getting into it with players.
7.  Making really obscure calls that do not fit the game, and having to explain them to everyone.
8.  Irritating coaches by dealing with them in an arrogant True Grit fashion.
9.  Making a big show about warning coaches/players in front of teams/benches.
10.  Making a habit of telling coaches "ask him" or "it wasn't my call".
11.  Talking to coaches about partners' issues when it doesn't help the situation.
12.  Unnecessarily bring attention to themselves.
13.  Give quick T's.
14.  Talking much more than listening--to partners, players, and coaches.
15.  Play the "I know but you don't" card of "knowledge hoarding".

There are many more examples.  The common thread?  These traits are mostly about ego and control.  Officials have the ultimate power in basketball games.  We can forfeit the game, eject people, disqualify people, and do pretty much whatever we want to.  However, as history shows, the people who use ultimate power benevolently are the ones who escape getting decapitated when their time is done.  Treating the coaches and players with respect will ultimately serve you well, and it will carry over to being considerate of your partners.  Being the tough guy rarely works.  Why do it?  I have my theories.  It doesn't make me feel like a man to scold men who don't make millions and work tons of hours fueled by passion as a basketball coach.  It doesn't make me feel like a man to show a 20-year-old kid who really think she got fouled that I can sit him down whenever I feel like it if I don't like how he looks at me.  It doesn't make me feel like a man to believe that I was great in a game but one or both of my partners didn't have a clue as to what they were doing.  That's not why I do this.  That's not what crews or teammates do, either, on any successful team.  The world has enough TO's and Ochocincos.  That's why the Bengals suck.  It is the stripes on the helmets?

The longer I officiate, the more different things I see.  The one thing I will not miss when I hang them up are the Lone Rangers.  I love the movie Road House with Patrick Swayze.  The movie actually stinks, but the line, "Be nice, until it is time not to be nice," is one we should all think about really hard.  No animosity, no anger, no grudges...work hard and conduct business.  Each game--each half--should have a fresh start.  Treat everybody that way.  We're there for the game first, ourselves second.