It's Going To Be A Long Day

Today is MLK Day, so there is no school.  Within the past few years, this day has become a day for school to host shootouts, so I'll be heading southwest to Illini West High School to officiate a girls game between Brimfield and Monmouth-Roseville.  It should be a really good game, and I'm with my regular crew, so that is an added bonus.  It's an afternoon game, and then we load up in the cars and head northeast!

Today is also a scheduled date for the Lincoln Trail Conference girls basketball tournament in Woodhull.  Because of a scheduling situation, we will have three games at that tournament, and the games won't feature the level of play that we will see earlier in the day.  This day, then, makes for a lot of exercise, fun with my regular crew, but all will not be good.

It's cold; it's January; and "fan happiness" is at a low at this point of the season.  I know I've discussed fan behavior towards officials before, but today will be a day where fan happiness is bleak.  Teams that are struggling will not yet see the light of the end of the season, so their dispositions are usually pretty glum, and their parents and family members and friends generally feel the same way.  More often than not, all of these folks are attending because they feel some sense of responsibility to attend, not necessarily out of a burning desire or eagerness to attend.

And who are the favorite targets of fans?  Of course, those dummies in stripes that don't know anything.  And the thing about these particular games is that attendance is usually pretty low, so any and all derogatory comments towards the dummies in stripes generally is very clearly audible.  For this reason, I really don't like quiet gyms! 

Give me cheerleaders, a pep band, a packed gym of fans and you will find me a happy camper.  I'm not saying we perform any better for the fans, but their comments are blurred out in all the other noise. 

So today will be a LONG DAY.  May I not only have the physical endurance to survive, may I also have the patience and emotional calmness I'm sure will be tested!