Game Log 2/13/2007: Season finale

The last game of the season was my first 2-man varsity game of the season. I have to say that I do NOT miss 2-man mechanics! I ran a hell of a lot more tonight than I have in any game this year, and they weren't running that much. Hooray for 3-man.

The skill level of these small teams was not all it could be, and the net result is that it looked like they were traveling a lot. Looked like isn't the same as doing it, of course. I had a good look at a lot of pivot feet staying on the ground while a lot of wacky stuff was happening elsewhere, while both coaches and the crowd yelled "Travel! Travel!" Knowledge of the rules is not necessary. Ick.

There was enough "Travel! Travel!" in the first half that at halftime, my partner said he thought we should go out and warn both coaches to start the second half. I said "If you think that's best." By the end of halftime, he was having second thoughts. The score was 11-6, which was enough to convince him we shouldn't start the half adversarially. He did wind up warning the home coach.

Meanwhile, I warned a visiting assistant. She did a LOT of bitching, and finally I'd had enough. The deal was, she was complaining about the stupidest thing! Here was the play that brought on the warning: Blue was on a drive. White was standing in her path, waiting for about a month and a half. Blue sees this and pulls up--not straight up, but sort of awkwardly a little bit forward. She releases the shot (a miss) and as she comes down, makes way, way light contact with White. White falls over onto her back...a pretty clear flop. No call.

Blue's coach says: "FOUL! CALL THE FOUL!" Um...any foul there is player control. Is that really what you want?

Another weird one. White goes up for a shot. Blue reaches in and gets all ball as she goes up, but White is stronger. She goes through it and leaves her feet for the shot...but doesn't release it. She just landed. Travel. Coach hollers for a jump. I tried miming what happened to the coach, but didn't communicate it well that way. Bad move. When I finally explained it to the annoyed coach, I wound up saying "She didn't have enough control of the ball." Partner put it better at halftime: "She powered through." I should have had the vocab at the ready. Tough break.

A weird play in the third quarter. Blue has the ball. Shot clock clicks down. Wild desperation three. The buzzer goes while the ball is in the air, and the ball just grazes rim (yeah, I know as lead I shouldn't have been looking, but when the buzzer went, I looked up. I'm human.). My partner blew his whistle as White gathered the ball under the hoop (Blue had given up at the buzzer). White was going to get the ball anyway, but it was a missed call. I wanted to talk to him to give him the out of an inadvertent whistle, but that was the moment he'd had it with the White coach. He said: "It's your ball under the basket, coach. Now sit down and stop talking!" I figured from partner's facial expression that, um, we weren't going to have a conference. I inbounded the ball.

On the whole, quite uneventful. A fine way to end the year.

I'll have a year in review up in a few days. Stay tuned for that, and for sporadic updates through the summer as officiating news breaks and stuff.

THINGS I DID WELL: Had pivot feet. Stayed in position. No errors in 2-man positioning.
THINGS TO WORK ON: Weird coach communication.
NEXT UP: I'd like to go to a camp in July, but my wife and I are moving this summer, so it's not a sure thing.