Sportsmanship: St. Mary’s at Elk
Hi Everyone:
Sportsmanship……..think about that hard….seriously…….why are YOU officiating basketball? Is it because
of the need to ‘enforce’, ‘promote’, ‘show’ sportsmanship? We read the SPORTSMANSHIP MESSAGE
before every single game. Players and coaches pay attention at varying degrees. WE pay attention at
varying degrees. So again, why are YOU officiating basketball? We ALL are in this wonderful game
because we strive for something better, something bigger, something special………for ourselves. Yes, we
are doing it for ourselves! Amazing the reasons I have heard over the years of why we became officials.
No matter what the reason, every single one of us has an ego to some extent……we watch a game and
say to ourselves ‘I could do a better job than that person.’ I have been guilty of it, no doubt.
Sportsmanship………what is it?
I have really tried in the past few years, and maybe more this year than any other year to ‘give back’ to
basketball. It has given me SO much…….it gave me that awesome feeling I wanted, to get to the
top……the selfish part of the game…….I have been a part of a couple other people getting there,
something that I argue made me more proud than I was for myself…….I have made the best friends I
have in this world and met the girl I love……all through basketball. With all the incredible things I have
seen and been a part of in this game, what happened in the game I was involved in Friday night may just
have topped them all……that double OT game, that state final, that buzzer beater……all of them.
Jim Come, Pat Cook and myself went to Elk County Catholic….great roads getting there, but we do that
night in and night out anyhow! I LOVE going to Elk, it is always a “Hoosiers” type atmosphere…packed
gym, lots of students, loud, great music, good hoops…… They were playing St. Mary’s, so it was that
‘Backyard Brawl’ that is always competitive, no matter what each team’s record is. Ours was a good,
tough, competitive game from the tip……started to get away from St. Mary’s in the second
half….approached 20 points….then we get under one minute remaining and the St. Mary’s fans start
chanting a name…you know, that player at the end of the bench who never gets in, hasn’t scored. They
cheer and a kid comes in the game……all good, then the next whistle with about 30 seconds remaining, I
whistle a sub in………hmmmm, wow! ……….during pre-game warm-ups, St. Mary’s had a player with
down-syndrome going through the warm-ups with the team…..made me smile! I figured he was a
manager, he was wearing a uniform, had a warm-up shirt with his name on it, everything! SOOOOO, this
young man is who I bring into the game……Elk has 5 JV players in the game and St. Mary’s has subbed
most kids out also. They pass him the ball and he dribbles it up the court. I KNOW I had a HUGE smile on
my face…..he stops at about the TOP free throw lane on C’s side (Pat’s) and takes a shot….it misses
everything and goes out-of-bounds. Jim was lead….he blew the whistle and signaled “WHITE”……I
thanked God right then I wasn’t lead because Jim got booed worse for THAT call than any call I have ever
heard him get booed for!!!!! Elk inbounded the ball and promptly threw the ball intentionally out-ofbounds on Pat’s sideline……..wow, this is neat!!!! St. Mary’s inbounded to this young man again and he
dribbled to just above the low block……I glance at the clock and it was ‘stuck’ on :17.7…..wasn’t
moving…..my first instinct was ‘start the clock!’, then just smiled again, they were WAY ahead of me at
the table! The boy takes a shot, miss, St. Mary’s rebounded and handed it back to him, miss again, Elk
rebounds and hands it to him!!!!! The crowd is cheering, the other 9 players are standing there waiting
to rebound and get the ball back to him….shot after shot….4 of them, all close, then the fifth shot goes
in and the crowd erupts……ALL of them! The St. Mary’s fans, the Elk fans, all the students in the
stands…..heck, I might have even yelled to myself! It was AMAZING!!!!!! I ran past the Elk bench and just
said “Thanks guys”….. it was unbelievable…….truly what this ‘Sportsmanship” message is all about. It got
me thru some of my weekend!
I just needed to share this with you, felt pretty awesome to be a part of it and I got to share it with two
of my closest friends also. I only hope each and every one of us gets to experience something from this
game as special as this was.
Have a GREAT week and keep everything in perspective!!!!
Tim