Free Advantage Disadvantage by Yale Jaffe Page A

to complete his uniform, he found his answer
in the Mechanics Manual.
    He showed up to his first game already dressed.
Billy would later find out that coaches and athletic directors
considered this unprofessional. At any rate, he survived his first
season mostly working freshman “B” games. Some of his partners were
vocal in pointing out his shortcomings; others said stuff only when
asked. A certain number of officials at the freshman level were
simply there to make some beer money. These people liked to work
double headers to make a little more referee dough. Others,
especially the young guys who wanted to move up attended outside
activities to get better. After one season, Billy was in neither
group. The refs working games to make extra money had horrible
habits – they rarely switched positions with their partners on all
fouls as prescribed in the Mechanics Manual. They hardly used their
whistle because they did not want to slow down the game, and many
did not really understand the rules completely. Billy worked his
quickest game with a crotchety sixty year-old veteran nicknamed,
“Keep the Car Runnin”. Another official who usually showed up angry
earned the nickname, “Chip the Technician”, because the chip on his
shoulder rarely allowed him to work a technical-free basketball
game.
    Freshman parents had a lot to learn as well. All
high schools hosting a game were supposed to provide the “game
management” function. Athletic Directors (AD) usually supplied
scorekeepers and ensured an appropriate secure facility for the
referees to get dressed and conduct pregame, halftime and postgame
wrap-ups. They also were in charge of crowd control. Usually, by
the time their athletes reached their senior year, most parents had
figured out how the games were called and what might have been
acceptable. Maybe it was a chicken and egg issue, but it was hard
to say why ADs had more crowd problems at the freshman level. Was
it that parents did not figure out that they are supposed to root
positively for their team (not against the opponents or referees)
or that the officials assigned to ninth grade games were the most
inexperienced or simply didn’t care?
    While working a freshman “B” game at suburban
Cregier High School, a grandfather of one of the players
particularly annoyed Billy’s partner. The old man stood up on a
time out and verbally berated this official. The referee told the
grandpa to be quiet, and then told him to sit down and shut up. The
old man dug in and refused to sit quietly. Home management finally
resolved the situation when the AD asked the spectator to tone it
down. During halftime, as the referees were walking back to the
locker room, the old guy approached the referee and tried to
continue his harassment. He clenched his fists in a threatening
way, and the referee grabbed his arms defensively. At this time,
the grandfather’s son (father of the player) tackled the official,
sending all three men sprawling on the floor. The two relatives of
the player were escorted out of the gym by a seemingly
understanding AD. The next day the Caller ID tipped off the referee
that it was his assignment chairperson. He thought the call would
be sympathetic to him. Instead, he listened to a five-minute tirade
laced with cuss words. Net results: the school blacklisted the
official, home and away. Moreover, his stock went down in the
assigner’s eyes. The referee community was buzzing with the details
of the incident. Billy learned that the old man’s construction
company built Cregier High School’s baseball dugouts pro bono.
Lesson number one: Do not interact with the crowd; nothing good
comes out of it, especially if the idiot in the crowd is a major
donor to the school!
    By his second year, he had worked games covering
most of the teams in a few conferences. He got to know the coaches
and many of them called him by name. Savvy coaches learned that
using a referee’s first name personalized the discussion