Sports officials not only come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but they also come with different forms as well. And by forms, we mean the gestures and mannerisms they make when making a call on the court, field or ice.
Obviously some calls warrant being more exaggerated than others for various reasons, most notably when it’s a “bang-bang” play. The official wants to make sure they confidently react to the play they just witnessed.
So this takes us to NBA referee Bill Kennedy, who has been in the Association for over 20 years. Kennedy was working a game on Wednesday between the Memphis Grizzlies and Chicago Bulls. Remember the whole “bang-bang” scenario? Well Kennedy took it to a new level, and a more literal one.
Find something that you love as much as this ref loves block calls pic.twitter.com/9pammRpIV8
— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) March 8, 2018
Two things here: 1) that is definitely a block on the Grizzlies’ Kobi Simmons; and 2) I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere, but from a player’s perspective.
By and large, for as much s**t as they deal with on a day in and day out basis, sports officials do a pretty good job. (I still contest every individual who has never officiated any sport to go do so for one game and see how difficult it can be, but that is a conversation for another day.)
-BONUS CONTENT-
It’s not very often that an official in any sport receives recognition for their “crafty” calling of plays during a game. Usually the buzz from any game comes from players when they do something out of the ordinary.
Take former Michigan State guard Travis Trice, for example. The Ex-Spartan has been spending his professional career down under in Australia for multiple seasons now, and has performed very well. As is the case with any point guard, Trice has always been heralded for having some good handles and a sneaky good stroke from the floor.
Check out this recent highlight of Trice in an Australian game where he basically deked out the entire opposing defense with some Globetrotter-esque dribbling before dishing it off to a teammate for the score.
https://detroitsportsnation.com/videos/amuller/watch-ex-spartan-travis-trice-goes-full-globetrotter-in-australian-league/02-2018/102118/
