We played in our last 4-way of the volleyball season today. We had a lighthearted ride up the mountain and stopped at Wal-Mart on our way through La Grande. We headed toward Elgin ready to play some volleyball having a jolly good time.
Then it happened. We showed up at the school.
Now I could leave it like this and everyone in Stanfield would already know what happened. Whenever you go and play a sport on the mountain you get refs that try to screw you at every turn. It's almost embarassing to be part of the whole thing, but you certainly get used to it. I'm not the kind that blames losses on the refs or the line judges. I just like when people call a fair game.
We played Weston McEwen. The refs called a good game. They had nothing invested in either team because we were both from down the mountain. Then we started to warm up to play Elgin and something foul started stinkin' up the place.
First we only had 2 balls to warm up 12 girls with. The home team took their entire ball cart and wouldn't let us have more. (Just wait until they come to our gym and get a basket full of flat balls next season:) kidding! kind of).
Then the game started. We lost the first game but played with them the whole time. They pulled away toward the end and we couldn't recover. During that game we actually got to kit the ball 6 times on our own side! It was crazy, it was like the refs forgot to count and we just started playing hot potato.
We switched sides and started what I will now refer to as, "the game where the crap hit the fan." We were getting crazy calls! Like net calls when we didn't even have a block up. It was ridiculous. Finally enough was enough and we did what we do best. Laughed about it. The head coach said, "Well I guess we can't block this game." Which was true because we kept on getting net calls. Either way, whether they were being fair or not, we needed to pull off. The ref looked down our bench and walked over to her faster than when a fat kid eats cake. It was unbelievable. She got right in her face and said, "Do you have something you need to say to me?"
Now let me stop here. When a ref is feeling attacked or threatened they are more than welcome to GIVE A WARNING OR YELLOW CARD to the offending person. I am pretty sure they aren't allowed to rush the bench and have it out with the coach. That's where this lady went wrong.
Continuing on. The coach said, "No. I was talking to my team." The ref said, "No you were being sarcastic." Coach just stared at her. She finally pulled her panties out of their wad and walked back to ref the game. It was hilarious.
Now would I waste all of this time just for this one instance? NO! Let's keep on going. Not even 3 serves later the down ref (the bench rusher) blows her whistle. The down ref NEVER blows their whistle! She blew her whistle in order to remind the home coach to SUB! She said, "Don't forget to sub," and their coach shoved someone into the game. Seriously, are you kidding me. Their assisant coach should be fired. It's her job to remind the coach when to sub, not the refs job. We sat there dumbfounded. Seventy-four net calls later and that game was over and we lost it too (go figure).
The third game was upon us. Would this be it? Would we lose to this crazy regime in 3? Coach turned her line up sheet in to the scorer's table while I was over talking to the girls in the huddle. One of our girls said, "Doesn't that ref look like the office assistant in Monster's Inc?" We were giggling and laughing. Another comment was made, "You know what, I bet she's a mom for the other team." Which would have made complete sense but, unfortunately, also made us laugh. That was a mistake! Laughing during a volleyball game is a capital offense in the Blue Mountains, punishable by... A RED CARD!
I guess when we were laughing in our huddle some of our players looked at that ref. Of course she assumed we were talking about her, which we were, but she heard none of it because I was watching her the whole time. She wasn't even paying attention to us until she heard us laughing. We sat on the bench, at the end of it this time, and our girls went to their spots on the floor.
THE NEXT THING I KNOW I have a piece of construction paper (which was yellow) being poked into my face and the ref yelling. "You need to be an example to these girls! Do you want to start off this game with a red card?" We stared at her like she was a moron (think of Diary of a Wimpy Kid for a description of moron) because she was holding a yellow card out. I held my tongue because I was about to say, "1. That's a yellow card not a red card, and 2. What the heck did we say?" But I knew she would have thrown one or both of us out if we talked to we stared at her. She finally walked away and our whole bench was in a fight of silent laughter at this time. It was freaking unreal.
Had this upstanding Elgin citizen been thinking, she should have given our bench a warning to start with rather than trying to start a fight. But what do you expect when you play in the former Wapati League?
Now of course you always think of what you should have said AFTER!
When she asked if we wanted a red card, it was pointed out to us that we should have said, "no we want a pink card."
When she first said that coach was being sarcastic, coach should have said, "What did I say." And when she repeated it she should have said, "Haha, now I got you to say it too!" (that one was mine)
March brought me spring break and a trip back to my former home (of one school year) in Caldwell, ID. We spent the latter part of the week with relatives. I got to spend some time riding the 4-wheelers in the dry hills. That is, after we got the red one started.
