Quote:
Originally Posted by Raymond
... who has an obviously minority opinion.
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My rulebook based, and experience based opinion actually aligns with such activity not usually being deemed unsporting and thus not deserving of being tossed as provoking a fight.
Any opinion that finds this activity unsporting has to rely on extrapolation and dictionary definitions of rulebook definitions, certainly not a great way to interpret rules.
That being said, I've seen some very loud, obnoxious, over the top "Dead. Dead. Dead ..." activity over forty years that not only tells teammates that the ball handler no longer has her dribble but that also has the purpose of irritating, annoying, and panicking the ball handler.
I've thought to myself "knucklehead" for forty years and let it go because, not only have I never observed it being addressed by any of my colleagues, but also because it never provoked a response.
But eventually, if and when a response, physical, or oral, is provoked for the first time in my career, I may have to change my "rulebook" interpretation of such activity, and rely on my "gut" experience for the good of that game, that night, with those players.
If this activity happens in one of my games to the greatest extreme that I've ever observed it in forty years, and the ball handler immediately punches the defender, I can see myself, in the heat of the moment, especially in an already chippy game, tossing both players, and after, when the smoke clears (and I expect that there will be lots of smoke), being able to defend my call to my assigner along the lines of unsporting taunting, or baiting, and not losing any sleep over my call that night.
My heat of the moment call of this very extreme, very rare, once in a thousand-plus game event may not be viewed favorably by anybody, on the Forum, or anywhere else, but it would definitely be one of those "had to be there" calls.
Even the many who totally disagree with me, that say that I have crossed some "guardian of the game" line, can't deny that such extreme activity, while maybe not unsporting, can certainly never be considered sporting.