Testosterone gone wild...........

Mrs. Lime had 'volunteered' me to be an official at a charity flag football tournament that was held by her sorority. Who knew how seriously some people take this kind of thing?

In the second game of the tournament, I actually physically restrained a guy and tossed him from the game. I got the feeling early on that the two fraternities playing in the game didn't like each other. My suspicions were confirmed when a player ran up to a player on the other team and chest bumped him while yelling in his face. I actually had overheard previous to the game that this aggressive guy was a Marine. Against my better judgement, I stepped in and wrapped the guy in a bear hug and guided him to the sidelines and told him to 'stay there'.

On the other sideline, there were a couple of guys still mouthing off when I returned to the field. So I then had to warn them to knock it off. Even better, that team had a guy in a tie and sweater vest who was actually their coach and was barking plays from the sidelines. It was totally laughable, though I obviously couldn't laugh since I was the official.

My 9 years of softball officiating experience came in awfully handy. Thank God for the ability to deal with those situations in a calm manner.