There are 18 seconds left in the ballgame, the score is tied, and emotions
are
running rampant from the free throw line to the top of the jam-packed arena.
It's crunch time. There's a championship on the line.
The play is set up and a guard from the home team drives the lane, met
by a defender who steps in at the last instant. The defensive player hits
the floor hard as the ball bounces into the
basket.
The home fans go wild, then suddenly silent as the referees signal a charging foul on the offensive player.
The visiting fans rise in jubilation. The home fans release their wrath on the refs.
"You bum?" "What game are you watching?" "Need to borrow my glasses?"
Brian Espe has heard them all. He's been a referee for nine years.
It's a part-time job Espe enjoys, perhaps because he knows there's no way in the world that he can please everyone.
"You have to be willing to accept the fact that every time you blow your whistle, half the people are going to think you made the wrong call," said Espe. "You can't control what people say. You have to block it out. You go out, get into position and do what you're supposed to do."
It also helps to make a quick exit.
"After the game, we get off the floor and away from the action as soon as we can" said Espe. "During the game and immediately after the game, emotions are running high. Sometimes people will say things in the height of frustration that they don't real ly mean. The best way to avoid that is to just not be available."
Espe laughed when asked how often referees are complimented.
"You get them more often than you would think," he said. "Often times coaches will compliment you on doing a good game. Probably never from the fans, and seldom from the players. But that's OK."
That's OK because Espe knows where they're coming from. He brings a unique perspective to officiating, having been a fan, player, parent, coach and currently a high school athletic director.
Espe started officiating because he enjoys basketball and wanted to continue with it after taking a job as a counselor at a junior high school.
“I've enjoyed basketball," said Espe, who was a highly successful coach for 18 years. "I played three years in college. I played in high school. Basketball was fun for me. Officiating was an opportunity for me to stay involved in the game."
Espe works the same area of the state as when he started, though he only does about half as many games as when he started.
"Before I took the AD position, I was working more than 40 dates a year," he said. "Now I've cut back to less than half of that, and another half of those are tournament games."
Espe applies many of the same principles to officiating that he used in coaching.
"When I was a coach, it was important for me to know the rules and I studied them" he said. "This was just moving to the floor to apply those rules and learning the mechanics of where and when to move. When I watch games now, I find myself looking at the officials more than the actual plays just to see how mechanically sound the officials are."
The job can be made easier if people live up to the sportsmanship credo that so many profess.
"There are a lot of people talking about sportsmanship," said Espe. "There are gym banners, radio commercials, everyone trying to promote sportsmanship and fair play. Everyone needs to tie into that. If that happens, then it's a pretty easy game to officiate."
Espe's approach to officiating is simple: "We do everything we can to let the kids decide the game on the floor."
Espe admits that can be a challenge sometimes.
"The most difficult part is to officiate the game and not be effected by any kind of noise or reaction from coaches, fans or players," he said. "When you make a call, you have an instant to decide. Is it a block or a charging foul? There's contact, but is it incidental contact or is it a foul? For people in the stands, they're looking at it through the eyes of their team."
And they can get very vocal, but Espe seldom gets rattled.
"There are some comments that make me smile," he said. "They yell, 'Clean it up before somebody gets hurt.' Then one minute later it's 'Let 'em play ball.' One minute they want you to call fouls, the next minute they don't. In a sense that kind of m akes it fun."
The most absurd heckler?
"I had just handed the ball to the player and he hadn't even inbounded it yet," said Espe. "Somebody in the stands wanted a three-second violation."
And somebody always wants a foul whenever there's a body on the floor.
"Sometimes things get a little crazy," said Espe. "One term we use to refer to games is 'a train wreck.' Sometimes there's a loose ball and no one establshes control of it. People are tripping and you end up with three or four bodies on the floor. T here isn't really a foul there, but people want a foul just because there are people on the floor."
Espe feels that his diverse sports background gives him an objective viewpoint when it comes to officiating.
"Ive been involved in basketball as a player, coach, parent, official and athletic director," he said. "I think I've been able to look at it from just about every perspective."
And it all comes down to one thing, something Espe heard from a friend.
"He said, 'It's amazing how much better the officiating is when you're not emotionally involved in the game.'"
And as for those who can't help but let the refs know how they feel?
Said Espe, "It doesn't do any good at all."
—Jim Lutgens
Jim Lutgens is the sports editor of the Albert Lea Tribune in Minnesota. Edited and reprinted from the Minnesota State High School League Bulletin.