Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Stressed out

Sunday was tough. I got up late, around 9 a.m. and had breakfast at my hotel. Then, after getting packed I took a train at 11 a.m. The train was 5 minutes late when it arrived, and I knew that I had to catch another connecting train and had only 10 more minutes between arrival and departure at the station where I had to change between the two of them. Anyway, of course I was late, and the I was stranded. In a place where I could only take a train back to where I just had come from or to some distant place that wouldn't be of any help getting to the city where I needed to be. In order to get there on time I had to rent a car, then I drove 120 miles, and arrived on time for coffee and pre-game conference with my fellow referees. Never mind the 100 Euros I spent on car and gas, but I hate driving to a game and arriving just in time. It's tiring. You can't take time off, you can't take a nap as you would on a train. You can't watch tape on your laptop or write a preview for your game log and blog as you intended to do. ;) Anyway, at least I was there.

The game was not that good. A lot of run n gun, many turnovers, one coach who wasn't happy with his team and the referees. For one, I was crew chief and I think I did ok in this rather unusual role (I am never crew chief in 1st division). Yet, I was not happy with my performance, not at all. I made a couple of mistakes, like two mystery calls, I felt tired, I lost my concentration midway through the game. But what I hated most about that game was the way I handled the unhappy coach of the away team. I was emotional, and showed that he really annoyed me, questioning every single call against his team. This can not happen, but it did. :( I wanted to let him know after the game how I felt about this, but he wouldn't talk to any of us then.

After the game I drove home through the night. I had to drink a lot of coffee and take a short nap at a gas station. Did I tell you that I hate driving to and from games? Especially after games when you are really tired and your brain feels like a bowl of milk soaked cornflakes.

So, after the game I swore, once again, that I would never again drive to a game, if I could avoid it. And I will always take an earlier train, just in case, you know?

Cheers,
BBallRef

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