I still love this game!

What an interesting week this has been for me as an official. The high school season has begun and it has been no picnic. Yesterday I had to deal with a freshman girl’s coach who ventured five feet on to the court, and when I told him, “Coach, you can’t be on the court, you know the rules,” he decided to be an arse with me for the rest of the game. On Sunday, after refereeing grade six girls basketball, a parent came up to me and proceeded to be disrespectful and demeaning. What is with people today?

Coaches are, for the most part, nice to deal with and I can communicate with them all. It is funny though when I come across a coach who tells me how to do my job, but only after I instruct him on a rule which he surely already knows. Today I talked with a fellow official who shared with me their negative experience with the same coach! I had no idea and I had been told the story before about the disrespect that this coach has for officials, and apparently authority in general. I think it is a definite sign that a coach has no clue when they approach me when they: (1.) Proclaim their infinite knowledge, (2.) Tell you how they have been coaching for such a long time, and do not know you, and (3.) Do not know how to say anything in a sentence without first conveying, “I’m not trying to be the bad guy here…but…” I would love to say here what I think of a man who is a one-sided communicator, but there really is no point. He is forced to live with himself, and if he has been a freshman coach for as long as he claimed, he is never going to get any further without changing his own ways. That is larger than anything I could ever say or do to him.

As for the sixth grader’s parent, she really is not worth my breath or acknowledgement. I will say this; there were three women at the scorer’s table that clearly witnessed what she said to me. One was the coach of a team I was to officiate next. When the woman finished spouting her emotional poison, I said aloud and to no one in particular, “What a bitch.” The coach came over to me and said, “I don’t know how or why you guys volunteer for this. I really admire what you do and people like that don’t deserve to have you officiate their games anyway, they aren’t worthy.” I thanked her for her kind words. I had already figured out what that woman’s problem was. On the court, her daughter was flopping around like a rag doll, trying to draw fouls. She was highly dramatic, and was trying to suck me into it. After she complained verbally and physically by hopping up and down in place, I warned her to stop it or it would result in a technical foul. I gave her a chance, and she didn’t blow it, she left that up to her mother.

It is funny again how players reflect what is taught to them off the court. The coach’s girls lost, due to a lack of composure, very similar to the example that they were shown. The parent’s daughter was only mirroring what she learned at home, high drama and disrespect. I cannot fault any of these players for what they do on the court, I always look to the tree who bore the fruit. No one takes root without a learning foundation, I feel sorry for the kids who have to learn through such bad examples. I know that I had horrible coaches growing up, but my parents were always the quiet ones in the stands, who understood the love I had for the game, win or lose. If I did my best, they were happy, and that was all that mattered. I just hope the game of basketball can withstand this negative barrage lately, with the NBA being what it is and bad examples all around. As long as I am around there will be someone who still stands by morals and love of a game deep in my roots. I can still laugh and remember that this is the best game on earth.