With respect...

I believe shaking hands after a game is about showing strength of character. What happens on court, should stay on court and never be taken personally. To often I have played in games where you question one call and the ref takes offence to it. For any person, ref or player to not shake an offered hand of another person after a game is a blight on their own character... it shows lack of respect and weakness.

Ok I will reply. Way to go Michael, I don't believe umpires should post on here to defend themselves because they shouldnt have to defend themselves however I can see your fustrations with such behavior.

I actualy think you are a solid umpire too so don't sell yourself short when you say you are amature.

John L, take some advise from this fella!!! and Bruce N stop blowing your own trumpett getting on here telling everyone you shook hands with the players but your partner chose not to!!!

Its bad form to talk about your partner on a public forum.....

thats my opinion anyways

Anon, in your workplace who should you expect to receive critisism from???? every other staff member or your boss??? in other words refs get critisised by there coaches, and should not be be littled by players and coaches, that's why there are rules in the rule book to say so......

please correct me if i am wrong!!!

Michael, it's worth asking - do you feel the players behavior was not personal and so could have been left on court??? why loose respect for someone due to complaining about the ref? which happens all the time.. but perhaps shouldnt happen.


just a question because i was not there to know the situation.

anon thats where you are wrong!!! players do not pay the refs, the association pays them. The players pay to play.....
and again i refer to the rules.
Rules are in place so the coach can question calls and the captain can also.

Players randomly abusing umpires or even questioning there calls is not permitted, so think again champ....

Back on topic I wasn't there but see no issue with Michael's explanation.

In short respect is earned .......and should not just be given.

Shaking hands is absolutely a form of acknowledgement and of respect.

And so I agree if he was that agrieved, and has (or had) no respect for the player, it would have been two faced to shake hands.

Point said, not sure any justification is required by referees for their actions on this forum.

im a firm believer in what happens on the court stays on the court. when competetive spirits flare, often things are done or said on the court which is not appropriate, but after the game is over so is any issues. shake hands and thats it. there has been times when even myself have had a go at a ref or ive had an altercation with another player. what it comes down to is its just ball. so thats my opinion.

surely undersized pf you have never said anything derogatory to the umpire? i am also a believer of the white line fever but would never say anything personal to the players or the umpires, sure you let your player know about the dunk he just missed or their shot you just waxed but you leave it at that. i was present at said game and was not aware of any ill-being by the player in question but the way the game was headed (a blowout by 40 odd points) I dont really see a need to argue with refs. But i didnt have a problem with the refs that night or heard any personal comments being made, so i am not in the position to comment.

If you're going to be angry, be angry about the call, not the call-maker.

"If someone acts in a condescending or disrespectful way towards you, then, this is a type of behaviour that one shouldn't stand by and put up with."
As I wrote in the previous thread, if it gets personal, dish out the tech. By not calling the tech you put yourself in the situation where the player thought it was acceptable to continue his behaviour.
The action of shaking hands may be a sign of mutual respect in some cultures but (IMHO) in the culture of competitive sport it represents "no hard feelings mate" and MUST be done after every game, shortly before beers at the pub.
I know you are a good referee Michael but please swallow your pride and shake hands after every game, regardless of what has been said.

In order to understand why I didn't shake hands with the player in question, one should view the incident from outside of a basketball environment. This had nothing to do with an interaction between player and referee but had everything to do with an interaction between two people

You can if its an edible tattoo