Nothing generates excitement like a high school basketball tournament game. With all the hoopla involved, is it any wonder that people flock to such places as the Bangor Auditorium to enjoy the proceedings?
Across the region, many people take their annual vacations from work just to be a part of the action.
As a longtime educator, I thought today might provide as good a time as any to list some guidelines for all participants in the storied event, which will make life easier for all those people who promote and run the tournament.
Number One — For spectators who enter the arenas across the state: Remember: you’re in some-one else’s house.
I always taught our players and our fans to treat these facilities as if they had entered somebody’s home.
Rules of etiquette abound — or at least they should. You certainly wouldn’t throw things in someone’s house, and you shouldn’t hurl any-thing in disgust in a different gym other than your school’s either, which would still get you in trouble.
Be courteous.
Don’t like a referee’s call? Keep your comments to yourself.
And perhaps most importantly, treat all players on the floor as if they were your own.
Number Two — For participating players there is no greater thrill than to play on the floor of a tour-ney venue. They, too, should be made aware of the notion that they are in somebody else’s house.
That said, these youngsters should also be taught that the offi-cials need the same respect afforded policemen. No short cuts should be taken there, either.
Players need to conduct them-selves as ladies and gentlemen from the time they get off the bus until the time they re-enter the vehicle which is taking them home.
Number Three — The coaches of the aforementioned teams have greater pressure on them now than at any other time of the year.
National TV coverage of college and pro hoops has added to the dilemma of the coach being on dis-play from the start of the game until the end of the game.
We get some of that from the good folks at MPBN-TV, but for the most part, the game’s the thing, as it should be.
Coaches, act and dress your best for these proceedings. Your players will follow suit. Trust me when I say that.
A combination of like-minded fans, players, and coaches can make the job of referees and Maine Principals’ Association minions a lot easier to produce another spectacular event for all involved in the proceedings.
30-Second Time Out
A college basketball note is in order this week, as I came across a new basketball book in my travels.
“Court Sense: Winning Basket-ball’s Mental Game,” by John Giannini, former UMaine men’s hoop boss and current men’s bas-ketball coach at La Salle University, is an interesting treatise for coaches and players at all levels.
Giannini, the likeable, erudite, professorial-type coach, expands on his theories and those of other well-known basketball personalities to help improve the game for all par-ticipants.
Like most things Giannini did, this one looks like a winner.