A tough job<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\tEven as they’re making sure nobody gets hurt, the referees are running from end to end of the floor constantly throughout the week. The six referees who are up this year — Tamaki, Smith, Jonson, Manuel Fernandez, Kevin Chinn and Jason Crider — work in shifts, but still work multiple games per day. On days like Thursday, where there were eight games, the task can be exhausting.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
They all have to show up every day, or else the shifts get even more stretched. Brandner said there was a time a few years ago when a referee was sick for four days and the rest of the crew had to pick up the slack.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The referees have to maintain an athletic level similar to what the players go through, and don’t get to take any days off.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“They’re going all day for a week straight,” Brandner said. “A lot of the players are one game a day and a day off and these guys are not getting a day off at all.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The days are long and fans are loud — and not shy about their thoughts on officiating — but the referees often are doing their job with a smile on their face. Players complain to the officials from time to time, but by the final buzzer they’re patting each other on the back and joking back and forth.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
After years of coming up to Juneau, the referees are as much a part of the tournament as the sight of little kids running around with flags or the smell of fry bread from the lobby.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“We have made some relationships here with people in the stands, at the scorer’s table, people in the Lions Club, those kind of things that we hold dear,” Fernandez said. “We didn’t know that just coming here for a basketball tournament was going to turn out to be friendships for life.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\u2022 Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.<\/b><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
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