[rainmaker]

Originally posted by SHellmueller
Rec league game, NHFS rules, 13-year old boys game. Partner is a raw rookie, but it's going okay. 2nd quarter, he's the lead, and warns a player about something or another, after a made basket. The player warned was from the team that had been on defense, so I knew it wasn't an actual warning for delay of game. I made a mental note to ask him about it later.

Later in the quarter, at the opposite end, a player drives and misses a jump shot, no contact, then WHACK, partner calls a technical foul on the defender. I'm at trail and hear or see nothing out of the ordinary. Partner reports unsporting technical for yelling at the jump shooter. Coach is confused, then agitated, and I join the discussion. Partner claims "new rule" prohibits yelling at shooting players. I pull him aside ask if he's sure thats his call, he says yes. I tell him no rule exists as he has stated it, he says there is, we shoot technical FT's. I let the coach (also league commish, also his son who was penalized, also tie ball game) vent on me a bit, he's actually fairly polite since I've worked many of his games. Coach gives me an earful, but in a joking manner, for the next two quarters, then for another four as a player later that night during his men's rec league game. (Yes, it's a small world, and I work a lot of games.)

Two questions: What would you have done here, and where is my partner getting this strange notion. I've checked the POE's for the last couple of years, nothing there. I could understand if the player yelled a profanity, or yelled directly in opponents face, we might have taunting. But this didn't feel like that at all.

When you absolutely know for certain that your partner (who is fairly new) is dead wrong, you give him a chance, and then he sticks to the wrong call anyway, there's not much you can do at that point. At half time, I'd have said very firmly that he had the rule completely misunderstood, and he shouldn't call it again the rest of the game, until you could get out your books and settle it one way or the other. (Who knows where these weird ideas come from? I've had a few of these myself that needed to be dealt with.) Then I'd have told that coach to back off, for Pete's sake. By my estimate you took way too much guff.