Quote:
Originally posted by Mark Padgett
When an official "passes" on a foul late in a game because it "didn't cause reconstructive surgery", the cliche is that he did it because he didn't want to decide the outcome of the game. As we have discussed many times before here, exactly the opposite is true.
In basketball, as in most team sports, there are certain attributes that give one player an advantage over another. These include speed, strength, size, brains, basic skill, etc. When a player has an advantage over another because of one or more of these, that player is to be rewarded. Here's what I mean:
All night long, A1 has beaten B1 off the dribble. The only way B1 can stop him is to grab him a little as he goes by. You and your partner have called this a foul all game. Now there is one minute left and the score is tied. A1 does the same thing he's done all game and B1 does the same thing he's done, too. You let this one go because it wasn't a "hard" foul. Now - who is really deciding the outcome of the game, you or the players? Of course, you are. A1 deserves to be rewarded for his superior speed and you have negated that. You have rewarded B1 for being slower. That is flat out wrong.
I don't think there is anything I despise more in a partner than one who subscribes to the "must be a hard foul in the last two minutes for me to call it" philosophy when it results in his passing on fouls he called earlier.
When I have a guy like that, after the game I make him look at his pants, then I puke on his shoes. Oh wait - that's on the other board 
BTW - I have done clinics on the philosophy that a referee's job is to make sure the better team wins. But that's another post for another day.
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Mark,excellent post!I couldn't agree more.