[M&M Guy]

I just got back from camp this weekend, and I don't have any energy for outrage. But I do believe we can "adjust" our judgement sometimes based on the game situation. For example, contact in a grade school girls game that would be a foul might not be a foul in a college game. We adjust our calls based on the situation. Can't we also make those same adjustments within a single game as well?

Let me give you an example. I was at a camp that featured high school girls teams from around the state. One of the teams was from a school for the deaf. Their talent level was very low, and they got beat almost every game by at least 40 points. But they never stopped trying. They always hustled, dove for loose balls, and never complained much, even though you could see their frustration on not being close to the same level. Late in one game (I think the third time I had them), one of their girls was on the line for 2 free throws. They were down by about 40. This girl shot the first free throw, tripped over the line while the ball was in the air, and it when in. Clearly a violation. But I didn't call it. I thought the clinician (a former D-1 offical and assignor) was going to get all over my butt about losing my concentration, etc. But he just happened to be next to me during my no-call, and asked if I had seen the girl go over the line. I said yes, but there was no advantage at this point in the game, so I let it go. He said that was exactly what he would do in that situation as well, and gave me an "atta-boy" for not calling it and taking that point away. That clearly favored that team over the other. I clearly ignored a rule. But I still got that "atta-boy", from both the clinician and the coach of the team that the call went against. Do I plan on doing that in any regular season game? Probably not. But maybe there are little game-management things that can be done during isolated instances that actually keep things under control. But, the key is knowing when to use them. I'm not sure I have a handle on that, but I at least guessed right in this case.