USBL Team Walks Off Court During 2nd Quarter

[IowaFan26]

I was at a USBL game last night in Cedar Rapids where the CR River Raiders were playing the St. Louis Skyhawks.

Well halfway through the 2nd quarter, with just a little more than 6 minutes to go in the half, the St. Louis head coach, Floyd Irons, walks to the center court line just in front of the scorers table and summons CR coach Dave Joeger.

Irons told Joeger he was taking his team off the court and wasn't going to return apparently due to the lowsy officiating. However, throughout the game I think there was only 5 fouls called on STL and 2 on CR and CR had taken two free throws to complete two seperate three point plays. And CR's Brian Bracey was on the free throw line when Irons walked to the center court line to tell Joeger his intentions.

Irons sent his team to the locker room and they never returned. Leaving CR officials to apologize to fans over the inconvience of the game not being finished because Irons wasn't getting his way.

USBL officals are planning to penalize Irons and CR officials said fans attending last night's game could get refunds for their tickets by trading them in for tickets to another game.

While all this was going on my friend and I were sitting about 5 rows up on the risers with a front row view to it all, I wasn't totally paying attention to the altercation though. With originally started the night behind the south hoop, and both of us decided sitting there just wasn't going to fly.

Anyways, that's my story on something I definately didn't expect to happen. Don't know wether I'll get another ticket for another game, seeing as how I got the tickets for free from my aunt who got them from work.

[STL FANATIC]

That's pretty pathetic.

I don't know much about this Skyhawks team. I know that Floyd Irons is supposedly a very good and very respected High School basketball coach, and PRINCIPAL, so this seems sorta weird.

[-kj]

Was this at the Five Smel... er, Five Sea... er, US Cellular Center/Arena/whatever?

[Discrim]

can you say little crybaby? i knew ya could

fouls get called. calls get blown. bitch about it and go back to playing

[slapshot]

When I ref a basketball game, I get sick of coaches who complain about the disparity of fouls between the two teams. I had a coach yell at me "Call it both ways, ref" TWO MINUTES into a game. His team couldn't get the ball over half-court without it getting stolen by the other team. His team got frustrated and started fouling.

Some coaches have to learn that sometimes, their teams foul more than the other team. Sometimes it's due to discipline, other times it's coordination, and other times one team is just overly aggressive. The fouls don't have to be even on both sides. The contact has to be obvious and it has to have an impact on the play. Occasional incidental contact will hardly ever get called, unless the situation warrants it, or if we referees know that the two teams are very physical with one another.

[paynomind]

I just coached a horribly reffed game this weekend, and when *I* say "call it both ways" I mean, If their guy elbows us, and you don't call it, then expect me to yell then our guy does the same thing, THEN you call it.

Fouls should be fouls, no matter who commits them. My team got up 6-1 around halftime, and suddenly my guys couldn't lean in shoulder-to-shoulder, but their guys could knock the ball down with their elbows, and slide tackle long after the ball was gone.

Bah. I'll never trust refs.. it is a horrible, thankless job and I can't understand why ANYONE in their right mind would do it. I feel the same way about politicians. You must be crazy to volunteer for either.

[slapshot]

I enjoy reffing because it's the only way I know to get paid for being involved in sports. I bowl, golf, and occasionally lay softball, but I don't consistenly play any other sports. I started umpiring baseball 10 years ago as a way to pick up a little pocket money. Through umpiring, my love for the game grew and I became a coach. I coached for a few years, but dropped it when I wans't able to put in much time to help the kids as I would have liked. So I umpired baseball games, and I worked my way into football and basketball.

Why do it still do it? Money. Sure, at the lower level, we also help out the kids because it's part instructional as well. But as the level of play and ability increases, they should know how to play the game. And we refs are there to make sure it's played fairly. But it's fun to be out on the field, or on the court, participating in the sports I enjoy to watch, and get paid for it at the same time. Can't beat $60 for barely 2 hours work.

It may look to you as coaches that we are making a game one-sided. But as I said before, we try to see everything going on relating to the play. If someone is getting hacked at half-court as the ball is in the key, chances are we might miss it. Our eyes are focused on the play. Of course we don't want to let the playes get away with peripheral stuff. Our eyes scan what we can, while watching the play.

Remember, what you see where you stand as coach is much different from what we see in our positions. We are constantly begin trained in the new rules and positions so we can see as much as possible. Where you see your player getting "hacked" and pushed, you miss your player holding and setting illegal picks down the other end.

I won't go into soccer, which is where your post is heading. I passed the soccer test, but never reffed a game. After a few months, I realized I don't like soccer and I gave my equipment to my nephew. He plays and refs.

[yh]

That's pretty pathetic.

I don't know much about this Skyhawks team. I know that Floyd Irons is supposedly a very good and very respected High School basketball coach, and PRINCIPAL, so this seems sorta weird.

Yeah, STL, to say Floyd Irons is a very good HS coach is a huge understatement. This guy is bar none the dean of Missouri HS basketball and its greatest coach of all time. He has coached more state champions than anyone in Missouri history. His Vashon High teams are almost always in the Final Four and win tons of state titles. And yes, he is also the principal of Vashon, practically by default as it's not exactly anyone's top choice - the new building is only 2 years old and it's already like a war zone in there. However, the biggest knock on Irons has always been his personality. One of the reasons why so many of his legendary teams don't produce a ton of college talent is because college coaches don't like to jump through his hoops (no pun intended) during the recruiting process. I think Mizzou has only been able to land one of his players (Jimmy McKinney) and that was only recently. The reason? He felt that the University of Missouri was a racist institution and that Norm Stewart was a racist. Snyder got McKinney basically because he went and kissed Irons's ring, but he also hasn't gone back to him recently either. So, this story doesn't surprise me at all.