Officially never officiating    

By JEFF LUND

March 09, 2020
Monday PM

(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - I’d never be a referee, mostly because, as a former coach, I’d be watching the offense and defensive fundamentals rather than focusing on the legality of the movements. Also, because I’d become a non-human. Few things cause people to lose their minds faster than a blown call, and in a spasm of rage, the mob unleashes its anger – anger at the call, anger at the game, anger at their own lives, whatever. 

For most that’s it, for some, it’s not enough. The rage must be more than heard, it has to be felt. In addition to parents and passionate fans losing their minds I’ve heard of attacks, threats and suggestions of suicide after blown calls that were deemed turning points or reasons for defeat. It’s so much easier to pile on now thanks to social media. 

As a basketball coach in California during the beginning of social media proliferation and weaponization, we had a rule and none of our players were to vent specific frustrations involving teammates or opposing schools on social media. Most of them found that once the night passed, the temptation to vent had left and they were ready to get back to work rather than using the refs as an excuse. A ref can dictate how you play defense or rebound, but can’t prevent you from doing either.  

We probably remember calls more than poor play because it’s easier to be a victim than to take responsibility. Put in the work in the off season and during practice and the game is less likely to fall into the hands of the people with whistles. 

I remember getting called for a third foul early in the second quarter of my last high school basketball game – a loss to Hoonah at the Region V 2A tournament in Ketchikan. The kid grabbed my arm as I was cutting, I shook it free with vigor. Double foul. I had never fouled out of a basketball game in my high school career. I don’t remember anything else about the game or what coach said afterward before I took off the uniform for the last time. But that call didn’t end up really teaching me anything. The truth is, in the long term, it wasn’t significant enough. I remember it as a fact, not a turning point. Maybe what I did learn is that sometimes blown calls change the game, but they don’t have to change you and aren’t a good enough reason to lose your mind. 

As a coach, I was better at remembering positive moments like Lianne Guevarra’s overtime 3-pointer in Sitka, Madison Rose’s game-changing hustle play on Senior Night against Juneau as a freshman, and Nadire Zhuta’s 10 first quarter points against Juneau the next season at Regions. 

I never earned a technical foul coaching in Ketchikan, but I did get three during my ten seasons  in California. I think. I could be wrong, but I know it wasn’t more than a handful. Handling poor officiating was one of the best opportunities, I’d say, to overcome adversity and grow. Take a breath and win anyway. However, one player did have to remind me to take my own advice. He looked at me with the confidence of Jimmy Chitwood and said, “Relax coach, we got this.” He was right. 

I saw a referee at the store early in my career and I discovered he was, in fact, human. He survived on food and water, not making kids cry or punishing the rival school for what happened twenty years ago when he thought he got robbed by the crew in stripes. 

It might be difficult to find a more thankless job than a high school official. A volunteer making a tank of gas worth’s of money to be ridiculed, berated and blamed for favoritism. 

I have to hope whomever is behind the whistle appreciates that the kids have earned the right to a fair trial of skill and preparedness. And that I will have the self-awareness to realize that I probably couldn’t do a better job officiating, and if I think I could, then I should add my name to the pool.

Which I won’t. 

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