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Old Mon Dec 08, 2003, 02:30pm
rainmaker rainmaker is offline
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Saturday, I was working some 3rd grade games. Very fun! One of the parents was mockng me for continuously counting -- the parent was mocking, because in this league they don't have any closely guarded rules, nor a 10-second backcourt rule. But my arm just kept popping up and wagging back and forth. Well, the reason is that I have trained myself to do a lot of counting, just for this reason. Even at the varsity level, clock people goof. Sometimes bigtime. If you've been counting you know how much time to take off and how much to put back. Even if you don't, you can estimate in your head and say, "I'm sure I counted at least to 9 and then 3 and then 2 so put back 14 seconds" or whatever. Saves a lot of grief.

If you can learn to always keep track of the clock when the ball comes inbounds, and when the ball goes dead, you will know there are 5 seconds left, and that you've counted 7, and that means the game is over. You are authorized to whistle the play dead, and end the game at that point.

Even if it gets as far as it did in your case, you can realize that you were in backcourt for at least 7 seconds and the game should have been over at that point. Cancel the foul, explain to the coaches, and get the heck out of Dodge. Completely legal to do that.
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