It's time to set a better example

It's time to set a better example.  That was the title of an article my former marathon training partner and friend sent me this week after we exchanged horror stories about incidents on a basketball court.  Or appropriately, in a basketball gym.  The article is a good, honest look at our behavior at youth basketball games.  You can read it at the link below.  

I was thinking about the passing of Mike Winklemann, the veteran St. Louis official for basketball, la crosse and field hockey, who passed away this past week.  I had observed him refereeing LHBA 2021 games at C4 and he had a knack for keeping the game in hand with his quiet and friendly demeanor.  We could all learn from his approach in today's in your face world of attack Tweets and political dysfunction and we could surely use more of it at our kids and grandkids basketball games.

I had been at a game several weeks ago where the opposing team spent most of the game calling the guest team's star player ugly, unspeakable names and then, late in the game, after an exchange with the home bench, the player was attacked by an assistant coach.  I emailed the story to my buddy in Maryland, who is a professor at University of Maryland and a high school and D3 basketball referee on the side.  He told me that had NEVER happened on his court in 25 years and then last week, he had his own incident.  I won't go into all the details except that the head coach received three technical, refused to leave the gym, forfeited the game, and then charged into the referee's dressing room dropping F bombs while his apologetic AD was trying to get them to restart the game because the coach was really a "nice" guy.  I guess every official has some kind of story.

So, next time you go to watch your team, your kid, your grandkids or your old school, remember that these guys and gals that put on the striped shirt love kids and want them to get better through learning the rules.  Maybe we should read up on them before we start screaming at them?

Think about it.....

Here's the link:

"It's time to set a better example. "

https://www.tribdem.com/sports/joe-skura-it-s-time-to-set-a-better-example/article_8bb22b34-2dae-11e9-9728-831345022935.html?fbclid=IwAR3VdlmMK8NK4pFW6_i196dDM_ZQ1-USXlR5a_4srGTq7pdTLiLPkQhs6T0