We have been in the throes of boys basketball season since the week of Thanksgiving. The only games to this point have been varsity games. While Clint is playing up on varsity this year, he has not seen much playing time. That’s okay since he is only a sophomore. We still have been enjoying the games. Tomorrow is the J-V’s first game and Clint should get plenty of playing time there. I know he is excited to be able to get out on the court for more than a few minutes.
As much as I love watching boy basketball, I am also a bit disturbed by what I see go on on that court. So many times the referees allow the game to become more like rugby or football. The second game of the season one of our players was in the air for a shot. An opponent undercut him and our boy did a flip in the air and landed on his head. No foul was called despite the fact that it happened in front of a ref. Undercutting is a no-no in basketball. Period. That boy could have easily ended up on social security disability for the rest of his life and that ref refused to make the call. I managed to get a similar situation on video. This happened to Clint (#42) last week.
The ref did make a call on this incident. However, undercutting is a big no-no and the boy should have gotten at least a technical for doing it. Refs seem so lackadaisical in making calls nowadays. Even Clint’s head coach has made comments about it. It will (and maybe already has somewhere) cause a child to be badly harmed. There is no reason to allow a game to become laden with slapping, pushing, punching, tripping and tackling. Refs need to stand up and do their jobs. These kids are not playing street ball and yet that is what it looks like. Perhaps schools should just save some money and not hire any refs at all. I don’t think that the games would look very different with or without refs.
