First Talk, Then T - A Basketball Ref's Diary

Are two bad games in a row the start of a crisis? - Recap, Saturday, March 18, 2006

Some things one has to learn the hard way. I am not sure whether this saying applies to refereeing in general, but it surely does to yesterday's game.

Consistency, anyone? There it was, again! On another level, but still ... actually, it was even tougher to learn the lesson here, in front of such a crowd, with the league's assignor in the stands, and so much at stake for both teams. Our assignor put it this way "I could have lived with 50 fouls instead of 40.", and "There were at least 5 calls that nobody in the gym needed." So, subtract 5 bad calls on ticky-tacky contacts, and then add between 10 and 15 calls, desperately needed to control the wrestling event we had at some points.

What did I learn?

• Consistency is everything and on this level nobody will accept anything else. It doesn't help to call everything, because nobody wants to see those calls ... More good calls? Yes, great! But more bad calls don't help anybody!
• There are good refs with a lot of experience as I had with me yesterday, and there are incredibly good refs as I was working with in my first two games! And there is a big difference between good and incredibly good ... Even one of my partners yesterday warned me in the pre-game that it would be different!
• Stay on top of things until the final buzzer. You cannot lose your concentration before the last horn sounds! We had an intentional free-throw violation (ball didn't touch the rim) by the losing team (Can anybody explain why a team would do this??? May be to get the ball back into the game without the clock running? I mean, he could have made the FT, the clock still wouldn't run and the ball would still be at the hands of the other team, only with three points instead of four separating them from the other team. The losing team filed a protest, because we didn't call it!!!

Did I do anything good? Yes!

• I had a couple of gutsy calls (and they were right, i.e. well deserved and needed, too!).
• I adjusted to my partners when I found out that they were not able or willing to adjust so much to me. That way I didn't stand out, even though I wanted (to call more, while they said we should slow down on our whistles!) As you can see from the assignor’s statement above, probably both of us had a point here. They wanted to eliminate the who-wants-to-know-fouls, I tried to stop players wrestling with each other.
• I thoroughly thought it all over when I lay in bed later on the train (a great way to travel, by the way!!!).

Anything else? No, unfortunately not. I'll wait for the tape to tell me more, and of course, I’ll write about it!

Good night!

posted by BBallRef @ 3/20/2006 12:09:00 AM