Quote:
Originally posted by Nevadaref
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.
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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.
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No one said anything about how the towel got there. Perhaps it was dropped there after the ball was live. Has nothing to do with being the official's fault for not clearing it away.
Quote:
Originally posted by Nevadaref
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?
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Agreed, but the rule on objects out-of-bounds is making the assumption that the object is actually out-of-bounds. If you take your point to the extreme, the player is OOB anytime there foot touches the floor if the finish on the floor spans the OOB line. An object on the floor, is located in the same place as the floor below it. An object that is entirely OOB is OOB. An object that is entirely inbounds is inbounds. An object that is bridgeing the line has each part the same as the floor below it.
The intent of the OOB rule is to keep the players within a defined space that is the same for both teams. The rule about touching an OOB oject is to prevent a player with the ball who is falling from touching a chair, wall, or some such object to keep their balance. To call a violation on a player who steps/touches a foreign object when the action would have normally been within the boundary is not supported by the spirit and intent of the OOB rules...and arguably not even by the letter of the rule.
If you want to really get technical about it all, a player can never touch the object or OOB. At the atomic level, there is ALWAYS space between the atoms of the players body or clothing and any other object (unless they are capable of spontaneous cold fusion). Therefor, by the laws of physics, there can never be an OOB violation, nor a legal throw-in, jump ball, foul, etc.