Rules to Live By

Second grade girls’ basketball is an enchanted land awash in triple dribbles, ponytails, air ball layups, ten player scrums, mismatched superhero socks and wedgie tugs. At the game this afternoon my second-grade granddaughter learned when the other team scores, you cannot just grab the ball as it comes out of the net and race up the court with it. It must first be inbounded and then dribbled. The referee ignored the multiple violations she committed and instead walked her out of bounds and before handing her the ball explained the rule. 

Basketball is a sport on the youth levels threatened by a chronic lack of officials. Nationwide high school games are daily being canceled due to not enough willing stripes. The job is tougher than ten miles in new shoes. The abuse is high, the pay is low. The experts all sit in the stands but give him or her the whistle and their tenure would be shorter that a stolen brownie at a Weight Watchers meeting.

A mistake free officiated game, no matter the level, has become a part of a new Fan’s Bill of Rights - sacred as life, liberty - and the God given right to roll a stop sign if you look first and are kind of sure no one is coming from the other directions. We don’t like “silly” rules that infringe on our freedoms, but we do demand fairness. 

At halftime I introduced myself to the official, Jason. He did not offer his last name and I did not ask. Which is good in a kind of “tomb of the unknown soldier” way of good. Jason represents nameless people who do good things anonymously. It was obvious he was an experienced official. "Why are you here," I asked. He said he comes over every so often just to help. More importantly, he tells me, teaching and mentoring his young partners, today a high school age boy, is paramount to the future of the sport. 

On a cold January Sunday afternoon with NFL playoff football and a warm fire at home, Jason takes the time to teach an 8-year-old the rules of the game. That takes born character. It's not something you can sprinkle each morning on a guy's Cheerios. 

If I was one of those zillionaires too rich to pay taxes, I would walk around with $10,000 in hand and when I saw a selfless human being just being a selfless human being, I would hand him or her the cash and walk away. But I am not a zillionaire so all I can do is hope Jason, the second-grade girls basketball official, sees this blog.