[jeffpea]

I've read with interest the comments from lots of contributors the last few days.........While each person has offered an opinion as to their views, it seems that most who disagree with me have not fully understood my initial comments; so let me clarify a little bit.

Basketball, much like life, is NOT "black and white"! There are far more "gray" areas when it comes to officiating a game regardless of level of play. Officials w/ good judgement and common sense know that you cannot administer the same rules in the same manner from game to game or from half to half (depending on the game situation). To call a 3 sec. violation on a team losing by 25pts. in the last :30 of a game is completely idiotic. To call every foul (whether an advantage gained or not) in a "blow-out" game does not help either team, does not allow the game to flow along at its' normal course/pace, and does not harm the "integrity of the game".

What I am advocating is to shade the calls in favor of the team (which is losing by a significant amount) in situations where the call COULD GO EITHER WAY. I would not "make up" calls that favor the losing team that do not exist. I won't allow either team to beat the hell out of each other for the remaining minutes. I'm not helping the losing team win the game - they couldn't possibly come back based on time/score.

There are two problems with occur with my viewpoint - officials who don't know how to apply this theory (they pass on obvious/"must get" fouls on losing team and severely punish the winning team) and coaches who think that every "foul is a foul" and that every violation MUST be called. These are people who live in the "fantasy world" of basketball and don't know the difference from reality.

This mindset happens all the time from officials at the end of blow-out games at the HS, college, or Pro. level. You have to watch closely to even notice that it's occuring. Usually only the officials on the floor know what is happening. That is why coaches, fans, and players have a hard time believing that "good" officials think or act this way.