[Dan_ref]

Originally posted by ChuckElias

I understand that it's a lot of people's rule of thumb. I was just asking why it's a rule of thumb. Dan's the only one who answered. "Because it's obvious". Doesn't really seem good enough for me. A legal jump stop is an "obvious" travel to most of the crowd. That doesn't mean we're gonna call it. I know the crowd and coaches expect a T for the slam. Probably b/c somebody told them it was an automatic T. I'm just trying to figure why it's an automatic.

If everybody says it's an automatic T and I'm just a dolt, then I'll call the T and live with that. I'm just asking.

OK, I'll play along.

Firstly, I don't care what's obvious or not to the fans (I know neither do you, but I did want to clear that up). But it is obvious to the players & coaches. Using your analogy, if I'm no calling travels (or what might seem to be travels) then after a few no-calls everyone settles down and forgets about it and there's no real negative effect on the game. But if I no-call an *obvious* T then I'm on a slippery slope and I might have to no-call the next one in the name of consistency and before you know it the game's gone in the toilet. Think of it as the so-called "quality of life" offenses that the cops crack down on simply because they are seen as the first cracks in the civil structure.

Make sense?