Game Log 1/21/2008: I was good; the fans were not.

Well, I suppose that a rough night was overdue, since I've cruised through the season so far.

Freshman boys. Two good teams, a first-year partner. First half was smooth--only ten fouls. The only issue was that I called 8 of them. I chatted with my partner at halftime about how, even if he didn't feel like there was anything happening in his area, we needed to be careful because he looked a little like the weak link. White led by 7.

Second half--well, to be honest, I feel like we were doing pretty well. Then, right at the end of the third quarter, there was a table screwup. Partner and I double-whistled on a foul on Blue 34. I released to him, since I had called most of the fouls at that point. He went to the table and signalled Blue 34. Problem was, the visiting book heard 44, who was a star in foul trouble. Blue bench was angry, and called time out. The assistant came out to say "Will you talk to each other, please? Will you talk to each other?" Problem: I had no idea what he wanted us to talk about. Problem 2: He was an assistant on the floor. I just escorted him back to the bench.

We didn't know what was up for a while, but eventually, I figured out what had happened. But by then, I'd had to warn the Blue coach and assistant. Partner separately warned them later (a T would have been in order for that, of course), but he basically settled down.

Then came a PC foul against Blue. It's possible I missed it...I picked up the secondary defender later than I would have liked...but he sure seemed like he was stationery early enough. Waved off the blue hoop. Coach was fine. Player was not...he made a snide remark later (no T...I was walking away and would have had to have turned around, picked up his number, then called it).

The worst part was the parent who left the stands (which were on one side of the court) to yak at me from the other. "You're a ten point difference!" he said. "You don't look like you've played the game!" he said. "There, call another charge!" he said.

A guy who will walk across the court to hound me is not welcome in the gym. I'd actually have put up with that from the stands, but he found his way to the other side of the gym to get closer to me and to be in a position where he wouldn't be heard.

Next dead ball, I asked the White coach to get the AD to get the guy out of the gym.

(Overreaction? I'm not sure. I guess I could have waited to see if it lasted another trip down the floor. Suggestions?)

Anyway, he shut up, perhaps because he saw me pointing at him from the White coach. Blue coach said: "You need to worry less about that stuff." Whatever, coach...I was already trotting away from him as he said it.

The AD didn't make it out to the freshman gym until after the game, so the chirping butthead fan never left. The AD was cool, though, saying "I can't believe anyone would get worked up about a freshman game." Then came the telling statistic: "That team was undefeated."

Was is the operative word there. They were outplayed, and decided to blame it on me.

Anyhoo. For about a half hour after the game, I was in the "why the hell do I do this" mode, but I'm better now. I had a fine game...nothing to be embarrassed about. Let's bring on the next.

GOOD: Demeanor in a pressurized situation, helped out partner
WORK ON: Assistant coach management, tune out especially obnoxious fan, pick up secondary defender earlier
NEXT: Freshman girls tomorrow.