Competitiveness a mixed blessing to players, referees.
No, I’m not a masochist; I’m a zebra.
I’m just your average intramural basketball referee, putting my self-confidence and ego all on the line in the name of a well-organized, sophisticated game of competitive basketball.
Intramural basketball is perhaps one of the most competitive sports made available to CU students. Normally tranquil people lose themselves in the moment and do anything for that coveted intramural champions T-shirt.
The result, for me, is one of the most challenging and unique jobs I have ever had in my life.
Natalie Tuteur, a sophomore sociology major, plays both women’s and co-recreational basketball, where both men and women play on the same team.
“There can be intense games,” she said. “There are individual players that are ultra-feisty.”
Feisty to say the least. Aside from the normal arguing and complaining, players occasionally throw punches to the face, elbows to the gut and knees to the family jewels. Recently, a sportsmanship rating has been instituted in order to help curb this type of behavior. Based on a scale from one to four, if a team averages less than what is deemed appropriate during the regular season the team is to be banned from the post-season.
Even with the ratings-system, though, players sometimes let their competitive nature get the best of them.
In his first semester as an IM referee, Bijan Bewley, a freshman open-option major, has pretty much seen it all.
“There’s a certain level (of competitiveness) that I can understand,” he said. “But once you start taking it out on refs, you’re fighting a lost cause.”
Indeed, there’s a fine line that can, and is easily crossed between reasonable aggressiveness on the court and categorical malice, either toward an opponent or the referee.
“I’ve had players come up and yell at me, but the more and more you talk to them about it, the more and more they’ll start yelling at you,” Bewley said.
Now I have to say, this isn’t a piece defending the referees. We aren’t perfect-far from it. It’s just a window into an intramural basketball referee’s normal day. On one Sunday, a competitor screamed at me saying my particular refereeing crew was the worst he had ever seen. And when I say scream, I mean it. It was scary; I had never seen such a mean player before.
Competitiveness isn’t a bad thing. I actually admire it in most circumstances. Without it, basketball, as well as almost any other sport, would be pretty mundane. Just try to remember: we zebras do our best, OK?
Contact Campus Press Staff writer Evan Acker at evan.acker@thecampuspress.com.
