I met Kenny Mauer, the NBA official who wrote the foreword for BasketCases, tonight at a local venue to have him sign copies of BasketCases. Kenny, who was in the Twin Cities for a day and a half before flying to the West Coast tomorrow, signed a whole case of books. For those of you keeping score at home, there are 68 books in a case and, if you care, each case weighs 44.8 pounds. At least that is what the sticker says on the side.

This case of books will be saved for other referees or friends who want a book with Kenny’s signature. I also had him personalize a few books for some friends and a book for myself. As Kenny was signing the final copies, I came up with a great idea. I had one book left in the case (trust me, I have more books, we haven’t run out yet), and I had Kenny personalize it for my three-year-old son Mac. Kenny wrote a really neat message to Mac, who is one of the people I dedicated the book to. It sounds corny, but what Kenny wrote to Mac was really special. Something I will cherish for years to come.

Thanks, Kenny, for all your support for BasketCases and your friendship for the past five years.

 DW

I got a great e-mail from a guy from Minnesota named Lou Suski, and he gave me permission to post it on this blog (still don’t like the word blog, never will - don’t ever call me a blogger). I really liked his point about the fact that only a couple of players per grade ever become starters.

Derek,
Hi!  Wow, I don’t really know where to begin.  What a great idea for a book!  I loved your interview with Perk this AM.  I was a youth basketball coach for ten years from the time my son started playing in first grade until my daughter finished travel ball as an 8th grader.  As I coached both of my children through house and then travel to include AAU in Spring, Summer and Fall, I literally coached over 1000 games.  I can fully relate to your experiences.  Fortunately, I had the opportunity to play in high school and a year in college.  So, I knew a little about the game.  Too many parents have never played, coached or refereed and have no clue about the game but try to coach from the sidelines and “referee” as well.  I can honestly say that in all my years of coaching I only had 3 games where the referees were so bad that they effected the outcome.  The worse thing was that the games literally turned into rugby matches as you mention in Chapter 29.  Part of the problem is that we have too many parents AND coaches who have never played and have no idea of the rules.  While I often got excited with my players and pushed them to play hard, I seldom had issue with the referees…except when kids were getting knocked to the floor and no fouls were being called - typically both ways.  I always told my players and parents that our main goal was to have fun.  Also, in youth sports on the travel teams where every parent thinks there child is a star, you have 10 girls in one grade on a team and the reality is that maybe half of them will even make the varsity and 2 or 3 will ever become starters.  That was the reality with the teams I coached.  Well, good luck with the book and with refereeing.  I will look for it next time I am at the book store.
Thanks again for doing this.
Lou Suski

I met a gentleman from a Western suburb Saturday at the book signing in Minnetonka. He saw my appearance on KARE 11 and came into the store to get a signed copy of the book. Guess who I saw today when I was officiating a fall league at 43 Hoops? The same guy. He read the whole book last night and loved it. He told me “I wish I would have read it 10 years ago when my kids started playing. This should be in the starter kit for every official and every parent shouldn’t be able to register their kids for youth basketball without reading it first.” That was great to hear. During the game, there was a play in which I called a backcourt violation on his son’s team (covered in Chapter 19) because a teammate passed the ball to another teammate who left the ground in the backcourt, caught the pass in the air and landed in the front court. After the game he told me “Before reading the book, I probably would have said something about that being a bad call. Now I know better.”

A couple other e-mails I want to pass along, one from my friend Mike Nill, who was on the 1989 Owatonna State Champion team. He was the starting power forward and made a living hitting the Horace Grant-like 15 footer. He wrote, ”

Don’t be ashamed, Mike. Most former players-turned-parents think they know all the rules, and often only know some of them.

I also received this e-mail from my friend Tim Harkness from St. Louis Park, which I thought was fitting:

Thanks to everyone who tuned into KARE 11 this morning for my interview with Eric Perkins. I have to tell you that guy is highly caffeinated. He has the energy of someone with 20 Red Bulls and 10 Pepsis and five Double Lattes from Caribou Coffee. Perk interviewed me for about BasketCases for about four minutes and hopefully I sounded somewhat sensible. I thought they would put some makeup on my big bald dome, especially considering the bright studio lights, but they didn’t. I want to thank Perk and producer Gail Knox for putting me on in front of 100,000 Minnesotans. Thanks for everyone who stopped by the three book signings as well. It was a fun day.

For those who missed the KARE 11 segment, it is posted on KARE 11.com under Shows, KARE Saturday. The link below will take you there. Looking forward to returning to the court Sunday for some three-person high school ball at 43 Hoops in Hopkins.

http://www.kare11.com/news/local/mornings/saturday/saturday_article.aspx?storyid=529088&catid=21

Thanks to my friends and family that attended the private BasketCases launch party October 26 in Stillwater. NBA referee Kenny Mauer, who wrote the foreword, swung by to sign copies of the book, and a good time was had by all.

I enjoyed speaking to youth basketball parents and coaches at Benilde-St. Margaret last night. This Saturday will be a busy day with the official public launch of BasketCases. I will be on the KARE 11 Saturday Morning program with Eric Perkins and Belinda Jensen. The five-minute segment with Eric Perkins is scheduled to begin at 8:28 a.m. 

Following that, I have three book signings:

10:30 — 12:30 at Borders Books in Minnetonka (across from Ridgedale)

1:30 — 2:30 at General Sports in Edina (50th and France)

4:00 — 6:00 p.m. at Borders Books in Woodbury (off Radio Drive)

Stop by at one of those locations if you are out and about on Saturday. 

Also, I want to share the University of Minnesota Men’s Basketball Coach Tubby Smith endorsed BasketCases this week. He said, “This is an important book for everyone interested in helping the game of basketball grow.”

I have a lot of BasketCases-related activities in the next few weeks. I will be at the Minnesota Boys and Girls Basketball Coaches Association meeting October 24 and 25. I will also be at the Mahtomedi Youth Basketball Association Meeting on the 25th and am tentatively scheduled to be at a youth coaching clinic on the 26th at Tartan. That is also the afternoon of the BasketCases book launch party at my home for family and friends. Two days, later I will be speaking to some junior high parents in Chaska and will be at the White Bear Lake Association jubilee Nov. 2

I have been booked to appear on KARE-11 Saturday Morning television program with Erik Perkins on Nov. 8. I won’t know the time until the week of the event. Thanks to everyone for their support.

I had a great time last weekend in my hometown of Owatonna, Minnesota for my 20-year high school reunion. In conjunction with the reunion, I set up a couple of book signings, one Friday afternoon at Little Professor Book Center and one Saturday morning at Court Sports. My thanks to John Meixner of Little Professor and Mark Kubat of Court Sports for welcoming me into their stores. Thanks to some of my classmates for picking up a copy as well.

There was an article in the Owatonna People’s Press last Saturday written by Becky Moore. Here is a link to the story,

OWATONNA — For Derek Wolden, penning his newly-released book was a perfect way to combine his two passions — writing and officiating basketball.

The book, “BasketCases: How Youth Basketball Parents Can Lower Their Blood Pressure and Keep Their Sanity,” serves as a resource for parents and coaches to better enjoy the game of basketball.

“This really fits a need,” Wolden said. “As long as kids continue to play basketball there will be an absolute need for this book. No one’s done this. No one’s diagnosed an educational epidemic of this proportion to make youth basketball a better experience.”

This weekend, Wolden will be in Owatonna for his 20-year high school reunion, celebrating with old friends from Owatonna High School. He also took time to sign copies of his book Friday at Little Professor Book Center and will be at Court Sports this morning.

Drawing from his 10 years experience as a basketball official, Wolden addresses specific issues within youth basketball in “BasketCases” and gives parents and coaches a new perspective — that of a referee.

Wolden covers everything from age-appropriate officiating and the different types of calls officials make to sportsmanship and tips for coaches.

“We all know there’s issues with youth sports and with youth basketball. There’s a lot of problems with officials and parents who are so focused on their own kid they can’t see the bigger picture,” Wolden said. “Because of these factors the experience is often quite negative. There’s no resource like this. There’s nothing geared for the parents and coaches to make it a better experience.”

Wolden actually got into officiating after watching years of basketball as sports editor for the Owatonna People’s Press. It was something he knew he wanted to try when he had the opportunity. After attending a Minnesota State High School League meeting on officiating, he started his referee career officiating fourth-grade girls basketball.

Now, he officiates youth, high school and college basketball, when he’s not working as managing editor at Securian Financial Group in St. Paul.

For a self-financed project, “BasketCases” is receiving national support from the likes of NBA coach Gregg Popovich and NBA official Ken Mauer, who wrote the forward for “BasketCases.”

But Wolden credits the late Sarah Foreman, his high school English teacher at OHS, with instilling enough passion in him to write something of this magnitude. Wolden’s book is dedicated to her.

“I’m really proud of this project because it’s not easy to write a book,” Wolden said. “It’s a big deal for me personally … I don’t expect everyone to agree with what I say, but it is relevant.”
 

I spoke at my first parents’ meeting tonight in Farmington, Minnesota. I only spoke for a few minutes, but I had a blast. Afterward, I had the opportunity to sell BasketCases to parents for the first time. It was extremely rewarding and fulfilling to place this book in the hands of parents and coaches for the first time.

Earlier in the meeting, the Farmington board did a great job of setting parental expectations about playing time and being respectful to the coaches, which I really think is important for any youth basketball board to do. The best line of the night was learning that Farmington has a 24-hour cooling off period if a parent has a beef with a coach. They have to wait one full day before placing that phone call. I immediately plan to work that into my repertoire when a parent or coach has a gripe with me. I can’t wait until I see someone’s face when I tell them that they have a 24-hour cooling off period before they can lodge a complaint. I love it.

I just couldn’t wait for the 24-hour cooling off period before sharing that BasketCases is now in the hands of parents for the first time. Thanks again to all the people who helped me bring this from a concept to a published book in the marketplace. 

“BasketCases: How Youth Basketball Parents Can Lower Their Blood Pressure and Keep Their Sanity” is now officially published!!! I received 10 advance copies of the book today, and although I am absolutely biased, it looks phenomenal. I’m thrilled with how the book looks and reads. Big thanks especially to Mike Gonzo for concepting and designing the cover, Wade Gardner for his illustrations, Clay Schotzko for his interior book design, Michele Bassett for her proofreading, NBA Referee Ken Mauer for writing the foreword and his support from the beginning of this project nearly four years ago, Tom Collins for designing a great web site, my wife Staci for her support, Milt Adams and the publishing team from Beaver’s Pond Press for deciding to publish the book and many other supporters, including San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, KARE 11 Sports Anchor Randy Shaver, NBA Referee Steve Javie, Ron Weill, Eric Martin, Jeff Gould, Kim Odens, Buddy Hemric, Jeff Stottlemyer, Jay Howard, Brian Lam, Dan Novack, Neal Fox, George Robinson, Jerry Johnson and several others I probably overlooked.

Now the job gets harder. I am busy contacting youth basketball associations to make presentations at board meetings and parents meetings. I had a good visit with the Lakeville South Boys BB board tonight and have another board meeting tomorrow. As I said to the board this evening, every parent, coach and official associated with youth basketball needs to read a copy of BasketCases. It’s that simple. It’s a great resource, specifically for those three audiences.

BasketCases received a nice mention in Charley Walters’ Sunday column in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. In case you missed it, here is a link to the column: http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_10400320

Steve Javie stands at the summit of the basketball officiating world. In June, Steve completed his 22^nd season in the NBA and was selected to work the NBA Finals for the 14th consecutive season. Once known for a quick temper or “trigger finger” as he likes to call it, Steve is now lauded for his game management and is regarded as the best referee in the business by his coaches and his peers.

In an article published in the May 2008 edition of Refereemagazine, veteran NBA referee Joey Crawford called Steve “The best official I’ve ever worked with.” Crawford said that referees need to excel at rules knowledge, play calling and game management. “Only Javie has all three,” Crawford said.

In the same article, former official Ed T. Rush said, “Steve is the best official in the world right now.” Ken Mauer, the veteran NBA referee who wrote the foreword for “BasketCases: How Youth Basketball Parents Can Lower Their Blood Pressure and Keep Their Sanity” and broke into the NBA in 1986, the same year as Steve, gave his colleague a compliment that is perhaps more important: “Steve is one of the finest men I know.”

Steve, who lives in the Philadelphia area during the offseason, has also endorsed BasketCases as a great resource for youth basketball parents and coaches, saying “BasketCases is clever, insightful and engaging. If parents, coaches and officials follow Derek’s suggestions, the real winners will be kids who play this great game.”

Steve discussed basketball officiating with BasketCases author Derek Wolden during a recent telephone interview. The questions and answers are printed below:

DW: In addition to all the praise given to you in the Referee magazine article, former Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy called you “the best play caller” in the NBA during one of the 2008 playoff telecasts. How does it feel to be the top of your game?

SJ:  It’s very humbling to hear that. But as you know, you are only as good as the last call you made. I’ve had plenty of bad ones. Officiating basketball is so subjective. You can look at one official and have an opinion and someone else can have the complete opposite opinion. It’s nice to know that in the opinion of some a lot of hard work has paid off.

DW: You worked in the CBA for five years before being called up to the NBA. Did you ever have any doubts that you wouldn’t make it?

SJ: Some other officials were called up after their second, third or fourth year, but I had faith in my abilities. I knew if I kept persevering, it would work out.

DW: Some people don’t know that your father Stan worked as a referee in the NFL for 30 years. What lessons did he teach you about officiating?

SJ: After tough games I would sit down and talk with my father. One of the things he taught me was to always stay in control. The sport, itself didn’t matter. Baseball umpires have out/safe calls; we have block/charge calls. The important thing is to keep control and manage the game. I had a lot of fights and other stuff early in my career that I had to restore order. My dad told me that was the best thing that could happen to me because now I know how to handle it.

DW: What is the most memorable game you ever officiated?

SJ: I’ve been on the court for three Michael Jordan game-clinching shots and officiated a great Finals’ overtime game between San Antonio and Detroit (in 2005 when Robert Horry hit a 3 with 5.8 seconds left in overtime to lift the Spurs to a one-point win at The Palace), but the most memorable game for me was my first NBA Finals game in 1995.

Joe Crawford was and still is my mentor. I worked my first 2 ½ years with him all the time. To be selected to work with Joe in my first NBA Finals game and to have my family there was very rewarding. That was the game in which Nick Anderson missed four free throws at the end of the game, Kenny Smith hit a three to force overtime and the Rockets went on to sweep the Magic.

DW: NBA referees breakdown every call and noncall they make on videotape following each game. When you see yourself kick a call on tape, how does that feel?

SJ: Sometimes you just want to fast-forward the tape. No one wants to see himself make a mistake. Sometimes you guessed or anticipated the play and didn’t see the whole play through. Other times your partner probably had a better look, and you wonder why you blew your whistle. On the other hand, it’s great to see the tape validate a tough call you got right. Sometimes, you are confident you know what happened, but you don’t always get to “see it.” Either way, the tape doesn’t lie.

DW: With 22 years of NBA experience under your belt, what do you try to teach younger officials?

SJ: Actually, I’m still learning all the time. I learned from working with great officials like Mike Mathis, Joey Crawford, Jake O’Donnell and Jack Madden, but I learn just as much from the newer guys coming up because they have different experiences and different perspectives. Experience isn’t the number of years you’ve done something; it’s what happened to you during those years that count.

DW: How long did it take for NBA coaches to accept and respect you?

SJ: It took at least 10 years, maybe 15. The most important thing you can do is be consistent. If you are consistent on the basketball court or as parents, others know what they can expect from you.

DW: Are you aware of how crazy officiating youth basketball has become?

SJ: I don’t have kids, but I’ve watched my nephew play, and it’s crazy. My nephew loves sports; he doesn’t care that much about which team wins. He just loves to play. It’s the parents who are more concerned about winning, way more than when I was officiating youth games. I don’t know if everyone thinks their kid is going to earn a Division I scholarship or what. I wish we could get back to a time in which kids played as many sports and possible and were well-rounded. Too much specialization and forcing kids to choose one sport isn’t good for kids.