A few weeks ago… in the first rant of the season… I criticized fans – and even coaches – for going after those working in game management for simple mistakes or not being quick enough on the draw.
I basically said that unless they were doing the job, back off.
This time, I am going to say a few things about some of those game management people. But I am not going to criticized them for the job the do… rather… for how they conduct themselves professionally.
I am in my 11th season as a public address announcer… and from my seat I have not only seen a lot of things… but also heard a lot of things.
I have announced primarily for Goucher College – my alma mater – and those working the table are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner.
That doesn’t just mean how they dress…but how they act… or should I say, don’t act.
But more and more I am seeing students and other game management personal either come to the sports and recreation center – or attends their own home games at other gyms – without the first thought of professionalism.
Now maybe I am old-fashioned (though I am certainly not old), but since when is the table the same as the bench?
The steadfast rule at Goucher has been that no matter what happens on the court, what calls are being made or not made, or how the fans, coaches, players, or referees react… we don’t!
Plain and simple.
We are there to do a job and we are to express no particular bias either way.
(Yes, for those of you wondering, there is an argument about public address announcers – we will cover that some other time.)
But in the last few years, from my seat next to the visiting book or others representing the visiting team, the conduct is more of a fan or a member of the bench than one of a professional.
Applauding the team or a player after each basket or great play…
Cheering on the team when they need to come up with a big play…
Vocally disagreeing with a referees call…
Clapping when a good thing happens for them… pounding the table and cursing when something goes badly.
I could go on… and on… and on… but I think you get my point.
I believe in what the first sports information director I ever worked with believed in. Kevin Fillman used to preach (and even had written on paper for everyone to read at each seat) that at no time would non-professional behavior – similar to what I gave as examples – be tolerated.
And that also went for how we dressed.
I wear a button-down shirt… dress pants… and a tie to each and every game I am at – whether it is a game no one is at… or the n-c-a-a playoffs.
The reason is simple… I am representing the athletic department… and in turn the school.
And that includes on the road. When I was a student traveling with teams for the sports information office… my attire was the same.
However, now-a-days it isn’t that surprising to see the person in charge of visiting team’s official book… wearing warm-ups and a t-shirt.
I am not saying everyone needs to dress up in a tie – even for their own home games – but, how about dressing at least in a way that represents your school appropriately.
This also goes for your behavior.
Don’t cheer your team on…
Don’t swear when something doesn’t go your way…
Don’t even clap or pound the table when the urge is there to do so.
You are working for the program… representing your school and athletic department… at what is supposed to be a working environment.
This means you are representing your school not only to fans who might be visiting your institution… but to those you are traveling to compete against.
This might be the reason people have trouble with some schools game management either at their facility or when they travel.
If they aren’t presenting themselves seriously or in a professional manner… why should anyone expect them to conduct themselves the same way.
Next time anyone reading this comes to Goucher and doesn’t present themselves in the same way the rest of the table does… don’t be surprised if the public address announcer turns to them and says something about it.
I agree with this completely. There’s nothing more aggrivating than playing a game on the road(especially a close one) where the score table is CLEARLY rooting for the home team. I mean, duh, they support the home team, otherwise they wouldn’t be investing their time… but it really calls into question the chracter of the people on the score-table if they DON’T present themselves as objective participants. They are, in fact, part of the officiating squad (“official scorer”… “official timekeeper”… etc). I’m not even going to say anything about time-shaving, or “forgetting” to turn the clock on. That’s just downright cheating. Do mistakes happen? Sure they do. Funny how often the mistakes happen in the favor of the home team.
Am I being too harsh? Perhaps. But this is a response to a rant. I’m allowed to be harsh!
Aside from the whole cheating issue… and aside from games on the road, even for HOME teams… I suppose it could put the team in a tenuous situation if the scorers table WAS clearly cheering for the homers, and the away team called them on it (again, the close game situations are the ones I’m thinking of mostly).
Bottom line, the people at the scorers table are not supposed to have a say in how the game ends and they’re not supposed to act like they have anything invested in who wins the game (basically, a usable definition of “objective”). If you are gracious enough to lend your time to work at the scorers table, I applaud you. But keep your trash talking on D3hoops.com, not while you’re working the game!
Part of what d-mac is ranting about can be fixed by the schools if they chose. At NJCU the students working the game, whether it is at the table, the doors etc all wear a John Moore AC shirt, I believe they are yellow this year, they used to be red. Most of the student workers wear these shirt with jeans although occasionally I do see sweatpants.
I think that this is where your rant goes a little too far. I completely agree with your plea for professional dress and professional action by those that sit at the table. As a student that has sat at the table for the past four years however, my role of doing the book is only part of my role. You must remember that many students doing the book are considered managers and an integral part of the team. We go to practice, we stay over breaks and the players on the team we considered not only teammates but friends. We are apart of team meetings and also player and team superstitions. In essence we are apart of the team.
I agree that we should not question calls of the refs (because neither should the players on the bench) but when a player is waiting to check into the game, saying “good luck tim” or “work your magic pat” is not out of line. It is certainly not making anyone uncomfortable and is just giving the player one last push of confidence and encouragement before they go out to battle.
I consider myself and have been told that I am extremely professional at what I do, but for someone to ask me to stop doing what I do at the table (tastefully being a member of the team) than I believe they need to evaluate how they do their job. We are students and being a part of the team have played an important part of our college experiences. As long as we are not causing a ruckus than why is wishing a player good luck out of line. Remember, those that do the book can receive technical fouls not only for mistakes in the book but also for speaking too much, so if we are held to the same rules by the book and the refs then why are we given only some of the same privilages.
Again, this is just me. But my job and role on the team would be greatly hindered had I not been able to give the periodic “go team” or “lets go team.”
Well, in my examples I never mentioned a situation where a player was at the table about to check in. I have heard visiting book people same a quick and simple “good luck” or “play hard” etc. to those players and usually I don’t have a problem with that. I personally have never said anything to a player at the table… and our managers running the clock never say anything.
My examples are regarding during play and to those players on the court. These comments are not quick and simple comments… but push across to cheering and over the line in my opinion.
And as a member of the “staff” of the team… there is even more reason for you to act professionally. So, you are actually proving my point.
Also, I don’t think it is out of line for anyone at the table to address someone who has clearly crossed the line of behavior. It has happened before and I am sure it will happen again.
Again, your examples don’t compare to what I am refering to.
Then I would say you should sit on the bench if you want to have that role, and not at the scorer’s table. I’m also not sure why you think the book person has privileges that you don’t at the table. Other than making sure the players checking in know where to stand and don’t stand up to get in the way of the clock operator and scorekeeper, they shouldn’t be talking to the players either.
Pat, I couldn’t agree with you more. Sports Information Directors, such as myself, are responsible for the conduct at the table or in the press box for all sporting events. We, as a group, need to make sure that the conduct in these areas is professional. The one thing that I try to remind our table personnel is that the opponent is our guest, and I stress the word guest. They should be treated with the same respect that we treat our own student-athletes with. I understand the temptation to get involved in some manner, but I don’t condone it. Your point to the book keeper was well made. If he wants to cheer or offer words of encouragement, he can do that by sitting on or behind the bench, not at the scorer’s table. Thank you for bringing up a topic that really does need to be addressed. Hopefully, it will help curb the enthusiasm of people who are working intercollegiate athletic events.
I gotta say I agree with you on most everything in the rant. One of the most troubling things I’ve seen at a basketball game was during a particularly poor night for the officials, an announcer turning the mic off to yell and officials as they went by. He did this only twice during one game out of how many years of service, so we can allow people a second chance here, but it’s true professionalism is necessary.
In addition to my love of hoops, I am a huge fan of volleyball and supported those teams just as hard while in school, but my worst experience was they day they were short a line-judge and called me down from the stands. I thought it was cool to get the recognition (I did it all the time in high school, but college was big time, etc), but it ruined the match because I couldn’t say anything. It just comes with the territory.
I do disagree with the dress thing, but then again I am anti-dress code. If the school has one, you gotta live with it or not do the work, but I am always (and this goes well beyond basketball) confused as to why in this modern day we continue to perpetuate the idea that people are only as good as the impression they make and not the quality of their actions. Sure someone might look down on the book kid because he’s in sweats, but that’s their problem not his. This is just a personal pet peeve and one surely most of you disagree with me one, but I just wanted to add my two cents. There it is.
Though your points are all valid, I do not want you to think beyond the “male manager, male team” “female manager, female team” stereotype that you are all biasedly writing through. As a FEMALE manager of a MALE team, I am not allowed to sit on the bench and my role during games is the official scorekeeper both home and away. Haven’t missed a game in four years and the guys on the team are my brothers, if I do the best book in the region, dress up for everygame and speak so highly of my school and in essence do my job, I do not understand what the big deal is if I wish someone a good luck or yell out a “go [insert college here]!” when they are slipping away. I think it is appreciated by both my school, the refs and the players and fans and I think that though I understand that there are many managers that are too biased we cannot all be clumped if we give occasional words of encouragement. I have one player that cannot go into the game without touching my hand (even if that means running from the opposite side of the gym). Neurotic and slighttly too superstitious (we will find out when I’m not at one of the games over break), but nonetheless an important part of the game. And I do want to point out that though this is my “job” I don’t get paid, I get a sweatshirt at the end of the season and that is completely worth the experience.
Excellent points raised by all. I stopped putting down place cards at our table a few years back, because the problem we had went away. I am noticing two trends: first, is the open cheering that goes on by many at the table and two: the dress code. We require our kids at the table to be dressed somewhat professionally–at least have a collared shirt, since everyone only sees the top half of you, anyway. The only really enforced rule is no baseball caps.
Sure, when a player is checking into the game, the PA announcer, or timer might give him or her “five” to wish them luck, but anything else, is intolerable. We had a kid running our clock for a lot of sports about four or five years ago. He would openly cheer at the table, in the press box, or wherever. I would constantly reprimand him for it, the home events coordinator (when she was there, if not, it was on my comments to her) would speak to him, and our AD would speak to him. Over and over again, this would happen, just to defy us, probably (at an engineering/design/architecture school, it is tough to find kids to fill these positions, so we hoped we could get into his head at some point). He messed up the clock at the end of a (meaningless) basketball game toward the end of the season. That was the last straw in all of our minds, and we told him he could no longer work for us.
Of course, he turned into one of our most obnoxious (but dedicated, I’ll give him that) fans and was escorted out of more than one of our hockey games.
It goes back to yes they are students making $7 or whatever an hour, but at the same time, they have a job do to. Scorers, clock operators/shot clock operators, etc. are off-field/off-court/off-ice officials, and need to know that they have to put the pom-poms down while they are working.
I think it might be time to bring back the old place cards for the table, with the “no cheering” edict.