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Blowing The Whistle on the Fans
With the Franklin Academy girls' team and the Chateaugay boys' team headed to the Final Four state basketball tournament in Glens Falls, that leaves only the Exceptional Senior Games to wrap up the 2006-2007 hoop season. These games will be played on Tuesday at Ausable Valley Central School.
I watched over a hundred high school basketball games this winter, and the final 24 games were from my courtside seat as announcer for the sectional and regional games. That gave me a great opportunity to watch the outstanding officiating during the games. It also gave me a chance to hear comments made by fans, as they evaluated the officials from their vantage point in the bleachers.
I'm disappointed at the lack of originality shown by fans this season. Year after year I hear the same comments, such as "Come on, ref, open your eyes!" and "Call those both ways!" If fans are going to berate officials, I'd just like to hear something new for a change. My grandmother used to yell those same comments at Andy Simays and Eddie Gallagher way back in the Sixties.
Mike Roberts, one of the best basketball referees in the North Country, chuckled the other day when he heard a fan comment. Mike said, "He must have read the Heckler's Guide." I'm sure during games the refs have heard them all!
Often those fan comments are just so illogical. During one of the regional games the same fan kept yelling, "Come on, ref, you're missing a good game!" That was when the fan's team was down by about 15 points. Is that what the fan calls "a good game"?
It took the man sitting next to him longer to come up with his saying: "Come on, ref, you're blowing the game!" No, I think the ref is blowing a whistle. The players were blowing the game by missing shots near the basket and throwing the ball into the bleachers.
Sometimes the fans offer to be helpful. "Wanna borrow my glasses, ref?" This is a variation of the "You're blind, ref!" barb. This would never do, though. If the fan gave away his glasses, he would never be able to see all the wrong calls those refs are making.
Sometimes the ref isn't right, no matter what he does. A fan yells, "Blow the whistle" when he thinks his son has been fouled. But the next time down the court, when his son is whistled for charging into two players under the basket, the same fan yells, 'Let 'em play!"
And some fans let the refs have it even when they think the ref made the right call. Maybe you've heard this one: "It's about time you called that, ref!" Or, maybe in the third quarter of the game, a team takes a timeout, and the ref reports it to the official table. That gives a fan the chance to yell, "That's the first call you've got right today!"
The poor ref just can't win. And I don't know how they take it. I sure wouldn't. I'd set a Section 7 record for most technical fouls given to fans. I'd be stopping the game while security guards escort heckler #1 and heckler #2 out of the gym. I guess I don't have what's called "thick skin."
Especially when those fans resort to barbs about the refs personal appearance. Like: "Did your hair get in your eyes, ref?" when said to a bald referee. Or, "Did you hit the buffet line before the game, ref? " when said to a ref who might be a pound or two overweight.
I guess this yelling at the refs will never stop. I guess it's just part of the job when you put on the black-and-white striped shirt. These refs pass rules tests and a rating system and earn their certificate to officiate. And then some fan screams, "Where'd you get your license? In a Cracker Jack box?"
Next basketball season I hope those fans get a little more original! Otherwise, we've heard them all.
Comments
Foxy, as you know, I have been involved in local youth sports, whether as a coach or on the board of directors, for many years as my kids were growing up. I often felt that the best officials were those who not only officiated but took the time to talk to the players, instruct as necessary while trying to instill a sense of sportsmanship. Of all the officials I have worked with, I would have to list Mike Lagree and Nick DeMarte (hockey), Steve Criss (basketball), Goose Gagnon, Lenny Duquette, and Mugsy Favro (baseball), and Barry Norton and Pete Kowalowski (soccer) among the elite in this area in terms of not only maintaining control of their respective games but also working to keep players' emotions under control. To the man, each has told me that they could give a hoot what the fans say--in fact, most have a good laugh over some comment or another made by a bleacher official. One of your bloggers made the comment that they couldn't pay him enough to do their job. They certainly don't do it for the money--it is for the love of the game.
(Foxy's note: UPS Dave, thanks for the great comments and names of some great officials.)
Posted by: UPS Dave | March 13, 2007 8:06 PM
What a gentleman Eddie Gallagher was! No one likes to have a call go against them, but if it was Eddie making the call, you could accept it without question.
Posted by: Miney Rowlson | March 13, 2007 1:11 PM
Foxy:
You're right on the mark as usual. That is why not only across Sections VII and X, but nationally, there is a huge shortage of officials. No amount of money is worth the abuse, insults and threats thrown toward officials. I must admit, for the most part, fans of North Country sports are courteous. But, there are those few who think they know every rule, have perfect judgement with 20/20 vision from a hundred feet away. Any official will tell you they're not perfect. Just like the players, they are doing the best they can. It's easy to blame the official for a loss. But what about the outfielder who dropped a ball in the first inning allowing three runs to score. Or the basketball player who missed a layup in the first quarter in a one point loss. Rightfully so, you rarely if ever, see a loss blamed on them. Why should it be different for the official?
Any participant in athletics should expect a certain level of good natured ribbing. It's part of the game. But it is those few fans who ruin it for everyone. Just once, I would like to see these "self-proclaimed experts" wear the zebra stripes or don the mask and chest protector and play the role of official. I would wager there would be a lot less attention paid to the officials and more on the players.
(Foxy's note: Vin, you've been around the sports scene a long time, so thanks for the viewpoint!)
Posted by: vin scully | March 13, 2007 12:24 AM
Refereeing is just like making political decisions --- whatever you decide is going to upset someone!
(Foxy's note: You've got a good point here!)
Posted by: The Donald | March 12, 2007 7:10 PM
Hello Foxy, I couldn't agree more on your comments about basketball fans and their comments. I officiated two games this past weekend in a 5th -6th grade tournament for which one was a girls game and one a boys game, and during the girls game the pace was moderate and play had a steady flow with little to no crowd comments, as this was a small floor so it was easy for us to hear everything said if if they wanted us to hear it, so for us officials it was uneventful. Turning to the boys game it was a differnet story, there were two good, aggressive teams with a high caliber of skill who were playing to win the tournament, the pace of the game started out as a feel out process which lasted about one minute for each team and then it became a running game, as the game went on we made some calls of 3-seconds, holding, and shooting fouls as well as on the floor fouls and a lot of jump balls, both teams were very aggressive and there were a lot of things they both were doing, as fouls, but it was aggressive play and we then called the most flagrant fouls and let them play, and as you well know we could call fouls on every possession for both teams. As the game progressed we received many views of different infractions that supposedly had taken place by our bleacher officials from both sides, making calls for us and shouting their comments to help us clear our heads of any confusion we might have had, at one point i even offered my whistle to one of them but he refused the offer. I think that many of these bleacher officials should jump down and take the oppurtunity to officate or volunteer to do so and get the real feel of what it takes to be an official of any sport and what it takes to be able to turn it off to the ones who are yelling at you all night. sorry for the length of this response but it starts to become a sore subject with me especially when it starts at this age group, it is something that will never go away i'm afraid.
(Foxy's note: Yes, Wally, you are right. Those same fans will be at the high school games in a few years, yelling the same comments!)
Posted by: Wally Pulsifer | March 12, 2007 11:13 AM
You could not pay me enough money to be a referee, umpire, linesman or any of those related duties. My second favorite north country sport (1st being volleyball!) was men's softball. Back "in the day" when men's softball was a family sport and we all hurried up after dinnner to get ready for the game, the women were notorious for fanning the flames against the poor umpires - they took some wicked abuse from us. In this light tho, there were also some comical moments - one of my funniest memories is Hector Duquette jumping up and down and stomping after the umpire (no matter how big he was) declaring all of the comments that you mentioned above! The umpires just didn't know what to do with him, but (almost) always there was a handshake and pat on the back at the end of the game indicating all was forgiven- until next time!
Posted by: miss d | March 12, 2007 10:43 AM