[JRutledge]

There is a very fine line in what you are suggesting. If you feel it necessary to teach with the stripes on, you go right ahead. I am not going to do it and many others that know better are not going to do it either. It is not my job and that is no cope out. I could care little about what coaches understand or know. Coaches do not understand the rules at the varsity level, I still am not taking the time to teach them the rules. If I start explaining the rules, all I am going to get is other questions and other misunderstanding. I can explain a simple thing like what the pivot foot is, and it will draw several more questions to "why cannot not do that or why can I do that?" And if you were on the Mcgriff board, you would see how answering the question using the rules about travelling, and the originator of the question (Bump if you do not know) kept trying to find other questions.

I did not do any very lower level basketball this season, but I did do Pop Warner Football almost every single weekend this past season. No matter how many questions that I tried to "teach," all it did was cause further conflict. The coach would try to tell me how much I or my partners did not know the rules. They would try to use NFL logic to NF rules. They would misinterpert the mercy rules and want to argue about that. And at least in football and baseball and softball, there is down time from action to get more questions asked and answered. In Basketball you really do not have that opportunity. If you make a travelling call, you do not sit there and explain every travel, or carry, or foul. You have to keep the game moving because you will blow your whistle much more in a basketball game. I would love to sit and explain everything I am going to call and why I called it. But if I did that, why do we need coaches. And even with coaches, they still do not agree no matter what. I am not going to explain my judgement calls all day. I am just not. If you feel that is your obligation, but I did read a article in "Referee Magazine" a few months ago that talked about that very thing. And in the article it said you are a little more understanding at the lower levels, but we still have a line and an authority to maintain.

You have every right to believe what you do. You are not going to change my mind on this one, and I am really not trying to change your mind at all. Do what you feel is best, I am just do not think "teaching" is my job.

Peace.