View Single Post
  #21 (permalink)  
Old Thu Sep 04, 2003, 12:57am
Nevadaref Nevadaref is offline
Official Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 15,015
Quote:
Originally posted by Jurassic Referee
Specific situation,as above,Nevada:
Team A is down 1 with 10 seconds to go and sets up for the last shot after a TO. A1 dribbles in front of B's bench on the way up court. A1 now steps on the in-bounds part of a towel that was left lying half-on and half off of the court in front of B's bench by a B player. You're telling me that you would call a violation on A1 now for being OOB? Or if a B cheerleader left her pompom on the floor,and A1 then stepped on the in-bound part of it, you would again call A1 for being OOB, and give B the ball?

Nothing personal,Nevada,but those calls lack common sense, IMHO.
Unfortunately, common sense does not always win out. In my opinion this is one of those goofy situations, which if you are silly enough to get yourself into, you have to follow the rules book to the letter to get out of.
To answer your question, yes, OOB and team B gets the ball.
Now back up fifteen seconds and ask why this happened. It was the officials' fault for not taking a quick look around the floor before putting the ball back into play following the TO. Just simple preventative officiating that we should all do, and can help us avoid many trouble situations.

For example, if I may give you a return senario: Team A is down 1 with 10 seconds to go and sets up for the last shot after a TO. The official mistakenly administers the throw-in to a member of Team B, who quickly passes the ball into the court to a teammate. What do you rule? The common sense way: kill the play and readminister the throw-in to Team A, or the by-the-book sorry it's too late to fix it so continue playing.
See my point? If we are not diligent and make an error which puts us in such a situation, we must then follow what is written in the rules, afterall that is why they are there. Some say the rules aren't fair; so change them. But is it any more fair to not follow them?
Reply With Quote