luv2ref

I agree about being the best advice...but there are other good posts..I said probably the best "post" not "advice". As there was more to what T2S2A had said in his original post. You just quoted only a part of the original "post". T2S2A gave us fans on some insight why we have a lack of "quality" officials. Thanks T2S2A, that helps. I apologize for not addressing the entire statement that T2S2A made. Good officials are like everyone else, they want to work the best games at the highest level they can, thus they move on to college. So to my constituents, other high school officials, that read this website; if you are a referee in most of your games, I ask that you make a concerted effort to make your crews better. Be constructive! I'm not saying that we all are bad; I want us to be great and it takes the work of us all to make it better. Referees; we also need to work hard to get better. I see a lot of games, but I have yet to see the call that an official makes that causes a team to loose a game. I think missed shots, missed freethrows, bad passes, bad plays, bad play calls, and turnovers contribute more to lost games than bad officiating. So, we are going to get better; but the next time you are at a game, keep stats on the play and on legitimate bad calls and see which occur more. JFYI: true play: team A up 2 pts.; team A player complains about not having a foul against his defender called fast enough; he goes to the line-misses both freethrows, his team gets possession again, exact same scenario, his team up 2, he gets fouled, complains, goes to the line and misses both throws. opportunity to go up six. he doesn't touch the ball again by coaches choice; official does what he is supposed too. they win the game and I promise you that freethrows were definitely part of his post game talk; but the calls by that official probably weren't. Happy and Safe New Year to all and good luck to all the teams.

Probably the best post of this thread. Not probably, this is the best advice we have had in this thread. Thanks, T2S2A.

1. Each school is responsible for providing a game administrator who is responsible for crowd control. But I think that it may be misunderstood as to what 'crowd control' is. It is only when a fan has gone beyond the point of no return when officials step in. Officials are few, so unfortunately we have to work at many schools more than we probably need to because of that. For that reason, officials know at most gyms who is going to be problems; why don't the GA's know this. If other fans hear it and officials can hear it, why can't the GA's hear it and step in before the officials have too. I'm not trying to advocate rabbit ears, but I am saying that GA's need to step up and do their job and not depend on the officials too. I have officiated several times in one of the greatest atmospheres in TN basketball and for the first time had to eject a fan there. Not for what they said, but for coming on the floor to say it. Needless to say, the fan had said so much in the stands that he thought we didn't hear him, so he came on the floor. Do you think others heard him before it got to this point? I believe so. What did the GA do; escorted him out after we requested it. I believe they should have addressed the problem before that point. GA's are responsibe for crowd control and for once I would like to hear that a rowdy fan was addressed before we have to address it. In our association we are repremanded for lazy and careless officiating. First by the referee of each crew and then by the supervisor, because the R fills out a report to him. 2. (Not a part of your statement) Players play with a great level of intensity and basketball is no longer the "no contact" game it used to be. I'm hoping that officials are calling contact and intense contact, especially, that is unfair. But even in the best officiated games players get injured. Volleyball, cross country, tennis, etc... all have their share of injuries and they are non-contact sports. With that said, officials don't cause players to get hurt. They definitely can control the penalty for contact, but the thoughts and intentions of players can't even be controlled by coaches, let alone officials. SSL.

Officials have been instructed by their supervisors and from the state office that "you suck" is deemed very inappropriate for any high school (or any level) athletic arena. Game administrators are very much aware that if the officials hear that phrase they will be asked to address the person who says it. Officials don't leave home looking forward to ejecting fans. In the opinion of some people, officiating is getting worse; but, when you are at games, you should also realize that some fans are getting worse. But that's the nature of the beast. Merry Christmas and Have a safe new year.

I, too, have officiated a long time and seen lots of officiating; but, I really refuse to publicly call out another official. I talk to people who have officiated or have a lot experience with officials about officiating. I talk to coaches about the demeanor of officials NOT about the job they do. We ALL have bad games occassionally. Officiating basketball is different from officiating football. Officiating football is different from officiating baseball. Officiating baseball is different from officiating soccer; and the list goes on and on. I don't know how long its been since you officiated basketball, but the game is ever changing. The players change every year. They get better. They are faster, quicker, stronger, and smarter. What I saw two years ago is not the same that I see today. When the three pointer first came into play, I believe it was a way to get the smaller player back into the game, because we were becoming dominated by big men. But, now the big men can shoot the three as well as the smaller players, so we are sort of right back where we started. PLAYERS CHANGE; so the game you officiated in November is not the same game you officiated in February. There is absolutely no way that I talk with just anyone about a job that my fellow football official did. I don't want them talking about me, so I don't talk about them. If there is a problem with their officiating, their supervisor is there to address it. I can't believe that we think that the TSSAA is just letting all of these 'terrible officials' go unsupervised. If we do, maybe it helps explain why the behavioral problems exist in our society; all of our educators have no managerial or supervisory ablilities and are letting our students run wild. Just like in other vocations or careers, whichever you choose to call it, we do have some people who need more work in officiating; but, I don't believe we have people who intentionally go out and sabotage games. I love teaching officials and sometimes think I do that better than officiate; but, I still refuse to publicly say that any particular official was terrible. Its hard enough coming from fans; but, it really makes me wonder what my partner and the coach are talking about if I'm working with an official who talks about the call I just made; constructive or not. And by the way, if I ever found out that an official sold me or my partner out, I will turn in every game assigned with that official, even if means not getting a schedule.

I went to Springhill to watch a Johnson kid from Marshall Co. that I heard was being looked at by TN. I've seen a lot of basketball games, but this game stuck out as one of the best this year. I did notice that the officials did talk to people before the game. One I don't know who he was talking to or about, but the other I found out was talking about trying to get another recruiting system set up in South Central TN. They are not always just gossiping. By the way, they did a great job. I want to commend the teams, coaches, Springhill High School, and 99 percent of the fans. The players played hard and well. The coaches coached hard and well. The administration seemed to handle everything from moving vehicles to selling popcorn. The fans cheered for their teams in a very positive manner. It was an atmosphere that epitomized high school athletics. I thought there was only one glich in the whole night, one lady that decided to blame the refs when the realization of Marshall Co. losing hit home. Other than that, to all the people that make up Dist. 10AA; Thank You.

Aren't rules made to keep the game safe and to keep one player from gaining an unfair advantage over another?

I don't want to come across as to say that all officials are great officials, because they are not; but there are more genuinely good people in officiating than some people that post here think. The guys that I have encountered through the years have good reputations and do great things for people in athletics and out. Coaches give a lot of time preparing for the upcoming season. Going to watch younger players at the middle school level, watching game tape to prepare for the games, going to summer camp with the varsity and the j.v.; spending hours away from home; etc... just to name a few. Officials watch younger officials at the middle school level, good officials watch game tape to get better for the next game; go to summer camp to work and get better, spend hours away from home; etc... just to name a few. Not making a point against coaches at all, just using some of their work to make a point to fans that don't think officials try to get better. There are coaches that don't go to the gym in the summer; there are players that don't go to the gym in the summer, and there are officials that go to the gym in the summer. The team personnel that don't go the gym in the summer are usually as good as the officials that don't go to the gym in the summer. So, it works the same for all aspects of the game. We have to go to the gym and get better before the upcoming season or we will be playing catch-up when the season starts; regardless of your level of officiating. Those that don't really care have a way of weeding themselves out. Every game is not played the same, so every officiating job can't be based on the night before. More times than not, we are the only entity in this equation that is expected to be the same each night. We strive very hard to be; but sometimes it just doesn't happen. Coaches have bad nights; players have bad nights; and guess what?, officials have bad nights. Coaches that have bad YEARS are asked to move on; players that have bad nights are expected to have them at some time; officials that have bad nights should expect to be put under a microscope and every movement, word, call, look scrutinized. The majority of these men and women work hard and I don't care who you are; these players at all levels are smarter and quicker than the average fan can imagine. I love officiating and enjoy watching officials work. But, I have found that I miss good players because I go to the game and get caught up in watching officials and leave not feeling good about the actual game experience. The next time you attend a game, try to focus on the players and not the officials. Decide that you are going to give them the benefit of the doubt. By the way, we often get a kick out of people yelling at us and we even have some gyms that we go into and know certain people are going to yell and have fun with it. We enjoy those fans that like to have good clean fun. But we don't like to be threatened or made fun of. No one likes that, I don't care who you are. I don't think you could have deaf ears when someone attacks you personally. Remember we send our kids to same school that your kids attend and they don't like it when your child comes to school and talks about how bad my child's mom is at officiating.

Couldn't possibly have been another crew, huh?! /dry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" I'm sure there were other crews that did just as well a job that night. Kudos are good, but don't make the other crews in your area think that they didn't have a good game by singling out one crew.

actually team A can inbound the ball, go down and score; the error be recognized at that point and still be corrected.

this is a procedure that all officials should follow. at the end of close games and games where both teams have been very intense; we come together to let each other know what could possibly happen in the remaining time of the game. for instance, team A is ahead by one with 15 seconds on the clock and will get the ball after a called timeout. team B wants the ball so they can score. team A will shoot ft's if team B fouls. but even if team A hits both ft's, team B will have the opportunity to score if there is enough time on the scoreboard. the officials will come together during the timeout and talk about situations like this. we had a game the other night and the team that was ahead only had 3 team fouls. with 20+ seconds on the clock, we got together and discussed what we should look for so that things don't catch us off guard. i told my partners to be aware for fouls by the team that was ahead. one of my partners said that was crazy; but when the game resumed, the team that was ahead let 7 - 8 seconds run off and fouled. now the offensive team has 12 - 13 seconds to get a shot off instead of 20+. good coaching!! good officiating!! we as officials have to know the game as well as players, coaches, and spectators. its like an onside kick when team a is behind and needs the ball; everyone knows its coming so the officials get ready for it just like the receiving team. hope this helps a little and sorry so long. also, they (officials) should have met where the ball was going to be put in play as opposed to midcourt.

Never seen this before; but, I have to question the ruling. I believe you have to count the basket for team A (fouling team) and give the ball to team B (shooting team) at the spot of the foul. If team B is in the bonus, we would go to the other end and shoot those freethrows. Other than a player control, team control foul, and correctable errors, anytime someone throws the ball in the basket in an act of shooting, points have to be scored.

most of the time when an official calls a technical foul, he or his partners have warned the coach before. its not very many times that we call a technical on the first occassion something happens. during the pregame meeting with the GA, coaches, and security, everyone is told that sportsmanship is to be exhibited throughout the night by the GA and the officials; so, technically all coaches receive their warnings at that time. if a coach comes onto the floor to talk to an official, he puts himself in a no-win situation as far as getting excited about a call. everyone in the gym can see his actions which always speak louder than what he is saying. a good official will walk to his team's huddle area to try to avoid any scenes (and will take a little more than he normally would take from the coach, after getting him off the floor). don't know what the coach in this situation was saying or doing, but, when he went out on the floor where everyone could see them, he again was in a no-win situation; he's going to get a stern warning or technical almost everytime. even if his complaint is legitimate, the coaching box area or timeout huddle area is the place to express it.

if the official had definite knowledge, he was correct in stopping the game and adjusting the clock accordingly. if the inbounds pass had not been touched before the whistle, the ball should have been taken back to the end line for a thrown-in with the adjusted time on the clock. in this case, the defensive team was penalized by an officials timing correction.