Issuu

AN OFFICIALS PERSPECTIVE May 2021

On the Cover

May 2021

What’s inside

Chinese/ Jamaican Fusion An interview with Marlon Wong

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Being Wrong, Not Being Good Enough, and Being OK

Greetings from London!

Tell A Com, Tell A Prompt, Tell A Ref

A Mental Health Journey

An Interview with Stephanie Barksdale

The Wormely Whistles Kills Germs

38, 39

Comics & More Comics

Lounge Around

Also on pages 15, 22, 43, 48, 49

An Interview with Stanley Wormely

Issue 4

May 2021 Staff

Kevin Sparrrock

Art Director

Kevin Sparrock

Mental Health Awareness Month

Travel Apps

Photography & Illustrations Editorial Contributing Asha P. Sparrock This publication took a lot of time and effort to put together so please respect it! Nothing in this publication can be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the editorial team.

Advertising inquires

Still Brooklyn LLC PO BOX 141934 Coral Gables FL 33114-1934 Email: mail@theirrefutable.com

Although advertising is screened, acceptance of an advertisement does not imply Still Brooklyn LLC or the Irrefutable Magazine endorsement of the product or the views expressed. Rates available upon request. The Irrefutable Magazine accepts articles and information for publication, but we reserve the right of refusal and the right to edit for style, content and length. The views and opinions in the IrREFutable Magazine are those of the authors and not necessarily of The IrRefutable Magazine or Still Brooklyn LLC. The Irrefutable Magazine is published monthly except for a combined June and September issue. All subscribers and only members receive the magazine as a result of the paid subscription. $9.99 per month. By Still Brooklyn LLC, PO BOX 141934, Coral Gables FL 33114-1934 United States. Still Brooklyn LLC all rights reserved.

An interview with Marlon Wong By Kevin Sparrock

was a Jamaican Chicken and Pumpkin Soup that made my wife ask Marlon Wong where he was from. I was assisting him with some tape breakdown, and in return, he shared a dish that his Dad made. My wife is a Brooklyn, New York kid who had her fair share of some authentic Jamaican dishes. One sip, and she was hooked. I remember being embarrassed about my assumptions on who this young man is. Marlon’s outside shell presented about a 5 foot 9 inches thin-framed Asian man. If you were unaware of what Marlon looked like and heard him speak, you could pick up a significant dialect associated with Patois. This is a reminder to never judge a book by its cover. It was a conversation about Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month that sparked our discussion for this month’s issue. Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is a celebration in May that recognizes the contributions and influences of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans in the United States. Marlon will be entering his third season and is still very new to the officiating world. His love for the sport has inspired him to develop and design ‘I Am Official’. A casual referee t-shirt line with creative slogans for the everyday official in mind. From the beginning, I dug his concepts and his individual purpose. We connect to discuss basketball, representation, and heritage.

Kevin Sparrock: Let’s talk about your officiating journey. How did you get started, and what did it look like?

When people ask me where I’m from or my background, I say Chinese-Jamaican. 9

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is a time in May to recognize the contributions and influence of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States. In the U.S., the representation of Asian Americans in the officiating ranks is almost non-existent. This month we want to highlight two officials: Kevin Mar and Evan Scott, briefly. Kevin Mar is the first Asian American football Referee to work for the Pac-12 Conference. He joined the Pac-12 Conference starting in 2017. Before joining the Pac-12, Mar was a Referee in the Mountain West Conference from 2014-2016. Born in South Korea, Evan Scott is in his first season as a full-time NBA official. He worked as a non-staff official during the 2018-19 season and officiated three seasons in the NBA G-League, where he refereed the 2019 Finals. He has five years of collegiate officiating experience. This month let’s celebrate their achievements in officiating. We look forward to seeing more representation in the future. Eliminate the first!

Being Wrong, Not Being Good Enough, and Being OK

A Mental Health Journey

An Interview with Stephanie Barksdale By Kevin Sparrock It was the death of Bonita Spence that made me evaluate my mental health in this officiating world. A New Jersey native, Bonita officiated games in the NCAA tournament and the WNBA. She was the first all-female crew to officiate at a men’s professional basketball game in the United States Basketball League (USBL). Bonita also worked at the public defender office in Newark, New Jersey. If you were involved in the referee community, you knew or knew of Bonita Spence. I remember her working at the Nike Pro-City in New York City and at Branchbrook park league in East Orange, NJ, when I was a pup in the game. Branchbrook park was one of the toughest professional leagues that didn’t have a baseline or a non-smoking section. It was one of those city tournaments that made you question your purpose in officiating. The fans came from neighborhoods at war to watch the best talent in the community, and Bonita commanded those players as if she raised them herself. When she had an issue with a player, she had no problem calling them out by name. At one point, I assumed Bonita knew everyone’s parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and siblings in the Tri-State area. I am always thankful for Bonita in my life. She was hard on me. Sometimes I couldn’t stand her for pushing me so hard. She would say, “Kevin, You have to worry about me when I stop screaming at you. Then you know I don’t care”. On Sept 15, 2013, Bonita C. Spence took her life. I never saw it coming. In this pandemic year, Stephanie Barksdale did a presentation for BBall Officials Group on Mental Health. I remember Stephanie as she started this officiating journey. We always discussed how everyone’s journey is different and how you manage your energy was important. Although very young in this officiating community, she’s had some incredible success. She just completed her seventh season in the Division 1 Women’s basketball and is in her third year in the NBA’s G-league.

Bonita Spence 1961-2013

I was thankful she took the time to continue the conversation surrounding mental health at a later date. We realized we shared some similar issues of doubt, frustration, and at times, hopelessness. She disclosed that she struggled with depression and dyslexia. We became very transparent about our struggles to keep it together mentally, and during that call, we brought up Bonita.

Stephanie: I think the first thing for me is to acknowledge Bonita Spence. One of the things I had to take away from Bonita’s passing is that she was ill, and I never knew Bonita to be ill. I knew Bonita to be an encouraging and brassy personality. She just could walk into any court, Arena, and gym and take over. The first time I met her, she didn’t introduce herself to me. I’m in New Jersey doing some AAU tournament games, and somebody walked past the court and said, “When you’re in Jersey, you need to use National Federation mechanics,” And she walked off. Fast forward maybe 2-3 years afterward, we’re at Penn State for summer referee camp, and I’m on game 35 and I’m exhausted. Bonita says to me sitting on the baseline in this fold-up chair, “Did you come out here to sashay and model? Because if so, you need to give your shirt to somebody else who is ready to referee.” And I was offended, tired, mad, and annoyed. Like who is this? Long story short, she introduced herself after the game. I didn’t even know there was an observer on the game. You never know who’s watching.

It sounds like the beginning of the “you never know who’s watching” lesson.

Mental Health Awareness Month

Stephanie: Bonita was one of those persons I appreciated because she was going to get you together. At times, we can take offense to that, but we also have to look within ourselves to see what we are doing that puts us out of alignment. This is why I needed to be transparent with what I was going through. I never knew Bonita to be ill, and I think we do a great job or were taught to do a good job of putting on a façade. And our truth, our authenticity is programmed that we won’t be accepted, or liked, or not enough, however you want to label it and that one of the reasons I thought it was important for me just to talk about this more often. I’ll also want to start with how I got here and being an advocate for mental health and sports. To be honest, I had experienced prior to Bonita, but I didn’t have the language or a full understanding of why as a player, I might have missed a free throw and couldn’t get past that terrible feeling, or I missed a layup and struggling to move beyond that play. And the pressure that I put on myself to get over it. I was a person who wanted to be the best at everything, and I know that there is no such thing. But I was a low-key perfectionist, and that was quite frankly a recipe for disaster. There has to be some level of failure, mistake, trial-and-error, and improvement. You have to have a process. It sounds so cliche, and I’m smiling and thinking of my mom, and I hear her saying, ‘Trust the process. And I used to say, What process, lady? What are you talking about? I am really grateful for this path, the journey that I’ve been on because the process has started to illuminate some things—and again, recognizing that I’m trying to be perfect. I remember when I was in the fifth or sixth grade being told that I’m an overachiever. I would say you guys are underachievers. I always shot for the stars. I remember very early on being told that I could go to space or be an astronaut. And I often believed them. I needed that encouragement, and I say I was a child in that village. I have a big village that I’m grateful for. All these people were cheering me along. I just knew that I could do it, but no one told me that the ‘doing it’ part takes a little time to cultivate and to develop skills.

I think I said the same thing to you earlier on in your career. I had this conversation with you, and I said to you to enjoy the journey. All of us don’t make it. We go through some stuff. Early on, we had an article in The IrREFutable Magazine titled, ‘Enjoying the Journey Before You Look At The Destination.’ It was about us looking at the destination 5-years from now instead of looking at the 10-years you put in being a crew chief or being on the court for the first time.

There has to be some level of failure, mistake, trial-and-error, and improvement. 21

ARE LOOKING TO SHARPEN YOUR OFFICIATING SKILLS? BASKETBALL OFFICIALS CAMP Friday May 28th - Sunday May 30th, 2021 TWO LOCATIONS: 1. Island Garden - 45 Cherry Valley Ave. West Hempstead, NY 11552 2. Next Level – 156 Railroad St., Huntington Station, NY 11746 The Fee: $125.00 (cash, check, money order or venmo)

WORK AT YOUR FUTURE AS A BASKETBALL OFFICIAL!!! All interested officials please submit your contact information to: Bernard Bowen Sr. @ Email: bbowen825@aol.com

COMICS FROM FOULSANDVIOLATIONS.NET