[rainmaker]

Originally posted by blindzebra

Having had a fight break out in a men's league a while back, when my partner and I had done everything by the book, prior to the fight, this is a touchy subject for me. We were still accused of letting it get out of control by one of the teams involved.

We were covered because we DID do things by the book. What would have happened had we decided to apply our own penalty instead of the rule?

I agree with you that if you had not applied the rule strictly, and the game got out of control, you would have looked bad.

But I think there are more than two possibilities here. It isn't either call by the book and you're covered, or don't call strictly by the book and have a major problem.

The point isn't to call by the book, and the point isn't to only CYA. The reason we're there is to see to it that the team that plays the best that day within the rules, wins the game, and that the safety of the players is optimized. In the case of my game, that's what happened. In the case of david's game, that's what happened.

I think part of my judgment in the situation was what had gone on during the whole game, and during the whole league. The coaches were doing a good job coaching instead of yapping, the girls were playing instead of whining, and the games had been very, very clean. This was an isolated incident, a momentary aberration, a one-shot (so to speak) deal. Any more problem of any kind would have been treated much differently, but really in this case, it worked. In another situation, I'd have been very quick to call flagrant, if necessary. I wasn't being namby-pamby myself.

I do appreciate your point of view, though, and I really appreciate the way you've disagreed with my call without getting testy or offensive. There have been others on this baord in the past who couldn't handle the disgreement, but you've been very polite.

Also, did anyone notice that in the original post I got my A1's and B3's mixed up in one place? It was just pointed out to me a little while ago. Funny that everyone understood the play without correction.