Game Log--12/5/2005

First varsity game...and it was a great one. I felt fantastic all night. Didn't have a moment where I felt uncertain or out of it. There were a couple of minor issues, but no major carping and no big problems. I am a much better official than I was the last time I was on the varsity list. I actually was a little disappointed that we weren't observed tonight...I was that happy with just about every aspect of the game.

Highlights:

Coach management. It helped that both coaches were calm, but I nipped a potential problem in the bud. White's assistant coach was carping about illegal screens. Once I figured out it was an assistant talking, I showed her a stop sign. At the next dead ball, I went to the head coach and said "I'll listen to you all you want, coach, but I can't have your assistant barking at me." End of problem. And we called some illegal screens. (We'd called several already, actually...some were clean, some were borderline, and some were bad, but we were on them.)

Working with a partner I like. That's the best part about being back on the varsity list--quality of partners. In our pregame, I said: "I'll want to call some stuff early. I'm not a 'let 'em play' kind of ref. It's better to be tight early." He totally agreed! Then, 30 seconds into the game...I had a foul away from the ball. My favorite early call...an off-ball screen. It announces: "Guess what, players! We're here, and we're watching off-ball! Get used to it!"

They didn't, unfortunately. We called a LOT of fouls, especially in the second quarter. But the third quarter was better. It was a one-point game after the third--two fairly good teams still working off the cobwebs of the offseason. But Blue put it away with three straight treys early in the fourth and wound up winning by nine.

I was relaxed enough that I actually told a joke to a player! We were told that a player had just picked up her fifth foul, but there was some confusion. While my partner was at the table working it out, the player was (understandably) upset, telling me she only had four. I told her we had to go with what the book said, and he was working it out. My partner came back and said she had four. I said: "You've had a midnight reprieve from the governor. You're still alive!" She was shocked...and then laughed. And she played very well until she picked up her fifth foul about a minute later.

I didn't catch myself looking off-ball almost ever, except for maybe one brief point early in the third. Physically, I was motoring along well.

Yay me.

THINGS I DID WELL: Off-ball coverage, coach management
THINGS TO WORK ON: I still could use less voice. And my association patch fell off. Velcro simply won't do...I've got to sew the sucker on. It's embarrassing to run to the coach to get back my patch.

NEXT UP: I have commitments the next few nights, so I won't work again until I do a freshman game and a varsity game on Friday night.