Referees Suck!

I had my league playoff game today (we lost, so we're done for the season) and the referee was so messed up. I always wear bobby pins in my hair to keep it out of my eyes and almost always have a hair band on my wrist (for no good reason other than force of habit). Well, midway through the first half, the ref yells at me, "Number 10! Number 10!! What is that THING around your wrist?" I said (bemusedly) , "It's a hair band." He said, "Well, you have to take it off. You're not allowed to wear anything around your wrist." So I took it off even though I was irritated that he was so rude about it. I mean, he could have just come up to me and said, "Please remove that band." But whatever.

Then at half time (just after I'd gotten popped in the face--the left side of my mouth is all bloody and swollen now--and no foul was called) , the ref starts yelling at me again: "Number 10! You are wearing pins in your hair that have metal on them. You have to remove them. You can wear a hairnet." Well, like I carry an extra hairnet around with me all the time! I didn't happen to have a hairnet on me (and wouldn't have worn one anyway), so I just took the pins out and threw them on the floor. I turned to my teammates and said, "Would any of you guys be offended if I went up to the ref and reported that there are men on the court wearing wedding bands?" They all said no, so I walked over to the ref and told him, "I just want to let you know that I don't have any problem taking the pins out of my hair, but I do want point out that there are at least three men out here who are wearing wedding bands." He snapped at me, "Well, which ones. Point them out to me." I shook my head and said, "No. But there are some on my team and on the other team too." So then my teammates came up behind me and gave me high fives. One guy took off his wedding band and put it on the scorer's table. Another yelled out, "What about that guy, he has a band on his arm. He needs to take it off too." So the one guy from the other team had to take off one of those Livestrong-type bands and two guys were forced to take off their wedding bands.

How blatantly discriminatory can you get? I was livid. Not only did he single me out for no good reason, but when I pointed out that there were men who were wearing wedding bands he wanted me to call them out. Like it was my job!! If he could spot a black bobby pin in my black hair, shouldn't he have been able to spot those guys' shiny wedding bands? Not to mention that Adam's black wristband was much bigger than the hairband I had on my wrist! I mean, come on! I was glad my teammates supported me and were right there backing me up. (Of course, they were probably more interested in having another opportunity to yell at the refs than making a political statement.)