[Bob M.]

REPLY: Tony and Jeff each make great points. It's been a number of years since I officiated HS basketball (no more jump balls on held balls, right?) but there are some other elements of basketball that makes it a more difficult to officiate: In football, after each play, there's a dead ball period. Even though there are things required of each official during this interval, it is a dead ball period where you can use the time to gather yourself and refocus for the next play. In basketball, split-second decisions really need to be made in that spilt-second, whereas in football, you can take a look at a play, process it for a second or two, and then decide on a ruling. And...in basketball, almost every ruling is accompanied by a whistle which stops the play and results in a subsequent dead ball. Unlike football, where many rulings (fouls, primarily) are made outside the scope of a play in progress and then sorted out after the ball becomes dead by rule.