At the end of basketball officiating season, one interesting topic came up when friends and family talked about the sport of basketball with me.
They didn’t want to hear about individual plays or players, thrilling finishes, overtime heroics, or even my split-second, game-changing decisions. They wanted to hear about the technical foul I blew the whistle on. Down to the smallest details. He/she said, “You said something.”
For those who don’t know, a technical foul is a penalty that a referee imposes on a player or coach for bad behavior. Often, but not always, it’s something of a grotesque anatomical nature that they told me or suggested to me.
a “Technical” or “hand” The rules call for two foul shot penalties. two “Mr. T” You will be automatically disqualified from that game. Some school districts add additional sanctions to their eligibility requirements.
This often led to the disappointment of eager inquisitors. I have been blowing the whistle for over 50 years in high school and amateur leagues such as Dunkirk, Fredonia, Gowanda, Silver Creek, and Ripley, managing what would be considered relatively little in terms of skill. Some years I failed “Tee up” Anyone.
Blowing the whistle was a necessary part of my job as a basketball referee. He doesn’t commit many technical fouls.
Maturity and selective hearing have biased most of my skills toward my early years as a referee.
As a baseball umpire, I had very few ejections and relied primarily on stern warnings to keep the peace.
Coaches knew they weren’t allowed to discuss balls and strikes. Other decisions, such as fair or foul, out or safe, catch or no catch, may be respectfully challenged by a partner.
A protest may be filed if the rules are misapplied or ignored. A third party (usually a rules interpreter) then makes the final decision. If the referee is wrong, the match will be restarted from the point of protest. In many cases, there is no compensation.
On a volleyball court, coaches are almost prohibited from communicating directly with the first official on the net. Instead, players relied on their captains to discuss rules and rulings with match officials.
In all the years I’ve been playing volleyball, I’ve only given out a red card penalty (1 point) once. This was to silence an overzealous junior national team coach who ignored repeated warnings. Volleyball is a very civil sport. Basketball not so much.
The last technical foul I committed came at Forestville, where I officiated countless games. It was a junior varsity men’s match. Based on their win-loss record, the visiting team was the overwhelming favorite to win.
Well, the visiting team played poorly that night, giving up the lead to the Hornets who took advantage of an opportunity late in the game.
The foul made things even worse for the visitors and the coach commented loudly about my suspicions. “terrible” phone. It didn’t respond. He was just frustrated with his team’s poor play.
The next time I went down to the court, I whistled another foul, the fifth disqualifying foul on the visitors’ best player.
After walking to the scoring table to report the foul, I had to wait a while for the substitute to legally report and enter the court.
As I was standing in the middle of the court, the visiting coach yelled at me, “You’ve got to be here! “Hello, referee. Hey, referee.”
Realizing his team was likely to lose, he took a few steps away from the team’s bench area and greeted some parents who had just come to watch the varsity game.
Standing in the middle of the group, he added sarcastically: “That call was worse than the last one!”
He and his supporters found this very funny and laughed in unison.
That was enough for me. He was noticeably distant from his designated coaching area and complained of repeated phone calls. That’s a double no-no. To make matters worse, he deliberately tried to embarrass me. I reasoned that there were multiple grounds for a penalty.
he was visibly upset “hand” I immediately guided him on his way.
“What did I do?” Then he wanted to know. “I didn’t swear. I’ve never had a technical qualification in my entire career. I don’t have one. What the hell did I do?” he whined, looking incredibly pathetic.
I felt he deserved a response and replied: “Unsportsmanlike conduct. Now, sit down.”
In the end, I think it turned out he had gone too far and he remained silent for the rest of the match.
All the while, I laughed and got an enthusiastic thumbs up from my fellow umpires. That’s the best compliment for a referee.
Gigi
Bill Hammond is the former sports editor of the Evening Observer.
bill hammond
Blowing the whistle was a necessary part of my job as a basketball referee. He doesn’t commit many technical fouls.
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