Union County AND GP Deserved Better Tonight!

[MMcCroskey]

Ok, we all know the old saw "the refs cost us the game" - we have all felt that way one way or another at sometime in our lives, but tonight at Gatlinburg, that saying went in a direction I have never witnessed in my life:

 

Those 3 refs cost EVERYONE, both teams and all fans present, the game - the game that should have been between 2 teams with talent and the desire to match that talent in a hard-fought game. Instead what we got was 3 refs that constantly and needlessly injected themselves over and over into the game with calls they went WAY beyond questionable.

 

The first quarter had to be the most surreal quarter of basketball, and there is no way I could do justice to just how horrible it was.

 

All that said, we somehow find ourselves in the final 3 seconds of the game, all tied, and like a bad dream that you can't wake up from, the nightmare continued. Not unexpectedly, the refs found a way for THEM to determine how this game was to end.

 

As the father of a GP starter, I post this because its the right thing to do, even though we WON this ballgame - if anyone from Union were to say this, it would be dismissed as sour grapes. Just to prove how bad it was, even after coming from behind to win this game by a single point, there was almost no celebration from the GP side, everyone present knew deep down there was no winning or losing of this type of ballgame.

 

These 2 teams, coaches and fans all deserved the game that simply never was. This isnt a matter of a few "questionable" calls, this was just wrong on so many levels it defies description. There is tape of this game that should be reviewed by someone, ANYONE in authority, and hopefully this sort of craziness will not be allowed to continue.

 

I'm proud of the GP team for battling, and the frank truth is I'm equally proud of Union County for the same reason. Both coaches showed great class in the face of what I can only describe as near lunacy.

 

It is my SINCERE hope that these refs will review their work tonight and take seriously the request that they carefully consider just how they handled tonight's game.

 

Someone once commented that the worst thing to happen to High School basketball was imposing 3 refs into the game - and after tonight, I can understand why more is not necessarily better.

[macejo20]

MMcCroskey,

 

I was there and I totally agree with you.

 

The TSSAA should take a look at the film and hold the officials accountable. Both teams played extremely hard in spite of the whistle. There were 42 fouls called and who knows how many phantom walks, double dribbles, charges, nickel dimers etc. What a circus!

[luvgolf]

The Smoky Mtn. Referee's Assn. has a reputation of being a notch below Knox. and Morristown. That's not saying much because they have alot of bad refs too. Ref's in today's game, especially in high school, seem to think that the fans are there to see them blow their whistles. A good ref will not "stand out" during a game. The refs at G-P were bad (especially the young one). What makes it worse is that the Dist. Tour. will be played at Pigeon Forge and they use Smoky Mtn. refs too!

[Thebballguru]

The Smoky Mtn. Referee's Assn. has a reputation of being a notch below Knox. and Morristown. That's not saying much because they have alot of bad refs too. Ref's in today's game, especially in high school, seem to think that the fans are there to see them blow their whistles. A good ref will not "stand out" during a game. The refs at G-P were bad (especially the young one). What makes it worse is that the Dist. Tour. will be played at Pigeon Forge and they use Smoky Mtn. refs too!

 

The Smokey Mountain Association is based out of Morristown actually there buddy....EVERY association has good and bad referees, as long as there is basketball this will be the case. As a fan of basketball in East Tennessee I have seen officials from every association work from Tri-Cities all the way to both Knoxville associations and Smokey Mt as well. The Smokey Mt officials do just as good of a job as the other associations do, although there are several guys from there who I have seen call that I question whether or not they are "ready" for varsity basketball. I have seen good and bad from every association...it is unfair to classify ALL the officials in Smokey Mt as bad because you don't like a crew or "the young one" because trust me when I say this-each association has their own "young one" (or two lol) that people are saying the same thing about there...

 

As far as the rest of your post goes, I agree that a good referee will not stand out during a game. Most of the time the best and smoothest basketball games are the ones where everyone leaves not even knowing the referees were there!

[luvgolf]

1st of all "guru"(OF WHAT) I' m not your buddy(You sound like a ref yourself). Ref's are hardly held accountable by their supervisors(I have seen this first hand). It's 4 sure TSSAA will always side with the refs. Training and accountability 2 someone is the only way officiating will ever improve.

[mrdrano]

When fans of BOTH teams say the officiating was terrible in this game, that says alot about the officials, secondly i agree a official should never stand out in a game, let the players win or lose it.

[Thebballguru]

1st of all "guru"(OF WHAT) I' m not your buddy(You sound like a ref yourself). Ref's are hardly held accountable by their supervisors(I have seen this first hand). It's 4 sure TSSAA will always side with the refs. Training and accountability 2 someone is the only way officiating will ever improve.

 

This does not even warrant a response but I will give one anyway to bring your stupidity to light. The hostility of your post makes you sound like you are one of those people who places the blame for losing on anything and everything EXCEPT where it belongs. You completely missed the point of my previous post and your ignorance in this post is quite amusing...I will elaborate for your obviously simple mind so you can understand a little bit better...

 

You say that there is no accountablity by the officials supervisors, and since you have "seen this first hand" then provide an example, prove your point...because I "have seen first hand" supervisors evaluate and critique officials quite often. Since you are such as expert on the TSSAA and the referee's associations (you say the guys in Knoxville and MORRISTOW are "a notch above Smokey Mt." which contradicts yourself because Smokey Mt. IS MORRISTOWN...but that was probly a typo right? HA) I am sure you know that part of the supervisors job is to go to games and watch different crews and tell them what they need to work on and improve and change after the game. I know 100% that supervisors from each association are in a gym somewhere watching their officials work and then critiquing them after the game because many times I sit with them throughout the game and hear first hand exactly what each person in the crew needs to do better...so please enlighten me on your "first hand" experience now....

 

The only thing in your post that is anywhere remotely close to being acurate is the statement you made about training, but is still not completely accurate. I'm sure of course you already know everything I am getting ready to say (or at least will claim to have known) but I will say it for everyone else who may be interested anyway as well as to educate "luvgolf's" complete ignorance on the subject...While it is the supervisors decision which referees are ready to work the regular season basketball games the state has certain qualifications an official must have to referee any post season tournament, i.e. District, Regional, Sub-State, and State tournaments. In order to be qualified to work these tournaments a referee must attend camp once every 3 years and also must pass an exam consisting of 50 questions with a score of 80% or better. The camps are usually offered in the summer and are TSSAA sanctioned with supervisors from all across the state as well as veteran high school and college officials watching and giving their advice and "coaching" the referee's in a sense...most of this is done one on one with the supervisor pulling each official to the side during the game and sending another out in his place so he can give correction to the referee and then allow him the opportunity to see the changes and how the official integrates the advice given when he goes right back out on the floor. There are also class room sessions at the camp where "all things basketball" are discussed. These camps are also a place where the junior varsity guys can go to help them learn to work in a 3 man crew and get better as an official as well as they try and move up the ladder to varsity basketball. The Exam that must be passed covers situations and rules that occur and are enforced often as well as unusual circumstances that rarely happen but always have the possibility of popping up when least expected. If either or both of these criteria are not met then that official is NOT going to work, period. The TSSAA DOES hold officials accountable as do the SUPERVISORS in each association, and they DO TRAIN the officials and work with them throughout the year to get better and improve...and regardless of whatever kind of ignorance you spout off with now these are the facts "first hand"!!!

 

There is good and bad in every single area of the state from one end to the other and there are a handful of referee's in each association who probably shouldn't be in some of the games that they are in, and definately have things they need to work on and improve at BUT to say that there is no accountability and to knock all the officials in one part of the state is completely ludacris. That is like saying that because a basketball team has 1 kid that is awful and cant even dribble that everyone at that whole school is awful at basketball...If you are going to bust on the referee's-who from the way it sounds may have called a contreversial game, especially if they had an un-neccessary foul/whistle at the end of the game to give one team the advantage in winning because that should NEVER happen...both teams should always have equal opportunity to play and win each game-then at least be educated with what you say and don't just spout of at the mouth trying to sound like you are smart and like you have all the "inside info that you have seen first hand" because it makes you look ignorant...and nobody likes ignorance...

[IrishBBall]

BETTER BAD THAT BIASED!!!

[Thebballguru]

BETTER BAD THAT BIASED!!!

 

LoL

[luvgolf]

I forgot more bball than you know or will ever know. U sound like a ref or supervisor. Refs r a necessary evil (like taxes). Most of them are more interested in making sure the coachers are in their box or listening to the fans in the crowd than observing what is taking place on the floor. It keeps getting worse , not better.

[Thebballguru]

I forgot more bball than you know or will ever know. U sound like a ref or supervisor. Refs r a necessary evil (like taxes). Most of them are more interested in making sure the coachers are in their box or listening to the fans in the crowd than observing what is taking place on the floor. It keeps getting worse , not better.

 

 

Keep telling yourself that...maybe one day someone will believe you!!!

 

There probably are a FEW referee's who listen tooooo intently to the crowd and concentrate tooooo much on keeping the coaches in their boxes (which is believe it or not a rule in high school basketball in TN) but MOST of the referee's are out there for the kids. NOT the coaches, NOT the fans, NOT the money, NOT themselves, BUT they are out there because they love basketball and they enjoy being a part of the game and they love the kids...don't let the actions of a few ref's who don't do their jobs the right way sway your opinion on all officialls, because most of them do a good job and and they work hard to get better and learn something new each game...

[luvgolf]

I hope you're right.The players give their best and i hope the refs are too.