Matt Boland: Local NBA veteran is a beacon for young officials
Mohegan And to think there was a time when Matt Boland was a bundle of befuddled. Filled with self-doubt. Would it ever happen? Would the call ever come?
Then it was Saturday afternoon at Mohegan Sun Arena, the Celtics in town and the relevance of the day wasn't necessarily on the men in green. Instead, the man with the whistle. Matt Boland. Once a local basketball official, once wondering whether the dream of the National Basketball Association would happen, was beginning year No. 14 in The League.
"Pretty cool," Boland, a native of Brooklyn (Connecticut, not Flatbush) was saying, alluding to Saturday's gig back home. "This is one of the days you realize where you are and what you are doing. Thirteen years in the books already doesn't seem possible."
Boland is living testimony to the old Jimmy Dugan quote about how "the hard is what makes it great." As in: If officiating in the NBA was easy, everybody would do it. Boland is one of about 60 in the whole world.
It turns out that all those nights in the outposts of the Continental Basketball Association — Fort Wayne is lovely this time of year, sources say — all those pro-ams hoping to get noticed, the WNBA and the herniated disc in his back were part of the process. It works that way sometimes. The process is adversity. And sooner or later, if enough curveballs come at you, you learn how to hit them.
"Sometimes, you do forget how
long it took," Boland said. "But when you look back, adversity helps you become the person you are. It helps you appreciate things."
Boland began blowing whistles in 1988 at 18. Eastern Board 8, Division II and Division III. He got the call from Stu Jackson, then the NBA's Senior Vice President of Operations, in 2003. That's a long, long loooooooong time.
And now our corner of the world isn't merely known for baseball players (Rajai Davis, Eric Campbell, Matt Harvey among others), football players (Jordan Reed) and basketball players (Kris Dunn). Eastern Board 8 is the only such board in the state trumpeting two alumni in the NBA: Boland and Ledyard native Josh Tiven. "That's crazy," Boland said. Boland isn't merely a beacon for young officials. He's a required study for anyone who has ever been knocked down and plans to get back up again.
"I would say that first, you need a plan," Boland said. "I realized that if I wanted to pursue this, I needed to get in front of really, really good basketball. So I went to New York City to do pro-ams. I put myself in front of decision makers. Camps all over the country. I also found some mentors. First, my dad (Dave Boland, a longtime official in the region). And (current NBA official) Scott Foster."
Then Boland paused and said, "You also have to realize you can do it right and still not get there."
Ah, but Boland is there. For 14 years now. He lives in Manchester and knows his way around Bradley International Airport better than his living room. Boland estimates that during the season, he's home about five nights per month. And he's not traveling on team planes with convenient charters. Commercial air travel in the winter when it could be snowing anywhere? Pass the Mylanta.
"You get home from a three or four-game trip and it's right back out the next day," Boland said. "But with 63 refs and about 1,400 games, that's what happens. Off in the summer, though. So there's a balance."
This might be the year to break down and get NBA League Pass. You can watch Dunn play for the Timberwolves, the Celtics with Al Horford as a complement to Isaiah Thomas, the Knicks who should be a better grade of lousy than years past and two local guys who could turn up anywhere officiate.
For a relatively little corner of the world ... we do OK for ourselves, don't we? This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.