Yes, we take a test!

Recently I had to take a test that is regulated by the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations). The OSAA (Oregon State Athletic Association) and our association mandate it to be completed on time. It is comprised of one hundred true or false questions that are very wordy and sometimes misleading. To be certified as an official within the associations mentioned earlier, you must score at least an eighty. To become a playoff or state tournament official, you must score at least ninety. I am only in my third year of officiating, last year I studied long and hard and only scored an eighty-one. This year, I did not study at all and I scored an eighty-nine! I guess a year worth of experiences can teach you more than a book can.

Still, doing well on a test does not translate into doing well on the court. I do not know too many people my age that could handle the high-pressure situations as I have over the past couple of years. But then again, how many twenty-nine year olds do you know that have twenty years of experience within one avenue or facet? Think hard because I doubt you can name more than five to ten people you know, if that. I am extremely confidant in what I can do on a basketball court and I love the game. Loving it and learning from it and applying it are what basketball is about for life and me. Not many people get to love their jobs; I am one of the lucky few.

Soon, I will be writing a piece for REFEREE magazine on Goal Setting, which is a major part of my life in officiating. Without goals, you just would not make it anywhere, which goes for life in general. My new goal is to communicate more effectively with players and coaches. I will use an example from a tournament I did on the weekend in a nearby town.

The visiting team was up by over ten points and they were running up the score. There was less than two minutes remaining and the play was occurring to the left of me, as I was the trailing official. My partner was to the right of the play and I had the angle to call a kid whacking the shooters arm while he was in the act of shooting. It was an obvious foul and I was within five or six feet of the play to make the call. The visiting team’s coach went ballistic, jumping up and down and creating a scene. I told him to calm down and that I was not going to tolerate any more antics like those that he had just displayed. After the game had ended, I again approached him and asked him to be more conscious of his reactions and how they teach the grade five boys to disrespect officials. Of course, the coach just would not listen because he was right and I was wrong.

In the championship game, I had wiped the slate clear and started anew in my mind for this same coach. I feel, new game, new frame of mind and all else is done and over with. The coach had the audacity to accuse me indirectly through my partner that the game was over with before it had even started. But please, let us consider the fact his team was out hustled, out played, and at a disadvantage height wise. They were simply blown away in the final by a superior team and none of my calls, nor my partners, were consequence to their undoing.

Where in a test are you going to find the answer to that kind of situation? I just ignored the coach and his garbage and called a great game, it was too bad the fellow had to be an emotionally unstable loser for his boys to model themselves after. After all, when a coach or player cannot find enough respect for you they obviously do not have any for themselves. You will not find that in a test or rule book either.

Reinforcing Respect

The other week in the NBA, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers jogged back from a play where he missed a shot and pouted to the referee. He pointed directly into the face of the official and no doubt said something personal to the official; however, the referee made no call at all. I was sitting there stunned; I had become frozen to the seat of my couch because the official took the abuse of some so-called role model. I do not pretend to like Kobe Bryant, nor do I pretend to know what the officials in the NBA are told to call. I simply look at a play in which another official was disrespected by a “superstar” athlete for millions of adoring fans to see. I believe this to damage the entire profession of basketball officiating and to put asunder upon the name of all good officials who would “T” up a two-bit hood for being so blatantly disrespectful.

These overpaid babies in the NBA whine over the millions of dollars they make per year, claiming that they have a family to feed; right Sprewell? Each and every call a referee makes is a personal attack on them, not a personal foul against the other team! It is absolutely ludicrous to think that what reactions these players have on the court to officials and to each other does not spill over into the public. Kids today are mimicking their heroes of the hardwood, the Allen Iversons, the Kobe Bryants…the stars of the league. Right! There was a day in the league where integrity and honor abounded, players complained when there was blood dripping from their forehead, not a slap on the hand. The garbage that happens today is just making me tune out and find a new source of entertainment.

I had to officiate grade five children the other day at a middle school and I did the game solo. Right at the point where one boy harshly fouled another and then went after him, bumping chests and egging him on to fight, was when I had another look at the influence of the NBA. Fights, disrespect, garbage, this is what children have to model themselves after on the basketball court. It is sad that a person who is good and charitable is often overlooked in the media for a sensationalized athlete without an ounce of respect for himself or others. I know I sound angry, I know I sound callous and morose, but how are we as officials supposed to get respect on a court when our so called professional peers are taking crap from a person who just barely got off the hook for allegedly raping a girl in Colorado? How do children learn today from creeps and high rollers? I have many questions and I make up the answers on the court as I go along. I gave a technical foul to that kid and made his coach remove him from the game and talk to him. After all, how are children to learn from a television that being disrespectful to opposing team members and officials reflects back upon themselves, their coaches, their teammates and their parents and family members. Children can think for themselves, but there is responsibility that we all must take in the raising of them. We can no longer depend upon responsible, respectable role models in our society today. Make the right call.

David