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Originally Posted by Rich Fronheiser
By not penalizing bad sportsmanship, you are costing the team that maintains composure. I hate this "don't want to be deciding the outcome" crap. If it's a T 3 minutes in, it's one with 3 seconds left. Just make sure it's the right call you can defend.
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Rich, I also disagree with you here. As officials, although we strive to be consistent, must be mindful of the situation in the game. In terms of fouls and violations on the court, we must call it the same way 3 minutes in and with 3 seconds to go, but with technicals, it's different because our reasoning for calling technicals is largely dependant on circumstance. Now there are no brainer Ts that we get all the time, but others are more subjective.
As an example, earlier in the game, technical fouls can be used to help maintain control of the game. Ignoring something or letting something go early, such as a frustrated player popping off/slamming the floor, pulling out his jersey, etc, could easily lead to a loss of control of the game, and rightly should be penalized. With 3 seconds left in the game, we've already established the level of control for the night, and given the point in the game, the impact is far more punitive.
I think the question to be asked is, why do we call technicals, and what is their purpose within the game? Since in my mind they are a tool to improve/control the game, to me they are dependant on circumstance, which means a T early in the game, if not one of the "automatics" may not be a T later on.