[BillyMac]

My local IAABO board interpreter recently asked for my comments on the 2006-07 NFHS Rule Changes and Points of Emphasis. Since this Forum has been a little slow lately, I thought that I would offer to the Forum the text of my comments and invite Forum members to offer their comments:

To me, what stands out the most about the changes and POE, is that we a have been asked to increase our job as the "fashion police". It started years ago when Patrick Ewing started wearing an undershirt under his Georgetown jersey. After that the NFHS came up with all kinds of rules regarding undershirts, color, sleeve length, etc. Later it became fashionable to wear compression shorts under the game shorts. Once again the NFHS came up with rules regarding the color and length of the compression shorts. Michael Jordon started wearing a headband, and the NFHS responded with headband rules about single color, logo size, etc. When "hip hop" fashion filtered down to the basketball court, the NFHS responded with rules about shorts being pulled up and jerseys being kept tucked in. Last year we were asked to charge technical fouls to players who used their uniforms in several unsportsmanlike ways. Now we are again being asked to check on headbands for color and uniformity and rules have been added to check on sweatbands.

My problem is that many of our officials will chose not to enforce these "fashion police" rules because, in their opinion, these rules have nothing to do with the "game of basketball". Other officials will chose to enforce these rules as directed by the NFHS. Over the course of a season, especially at the beginning of a season, the lack of consistency among officials will make us look like a bunch of idiots. I believe that it's of utmost importance for our IAABO state interpreters to not only explain the rule changes to their respective IAABO boards next year, but to stress the importance of consistency in the enforcement of these "fashion" rules.

In my opinion, it should be up to the coaches to make sure that their players are properly equipped. The NFHS has asked us to ask the coaches during the pregame coaches and captains meeting if their players are properly equipped and if they know how to wear their uniforms properly. Maybe the NFHS needs to put some "meat" into the coaches response to that question. Instead of officials constantly asking players to flip over their headband to the uniform color side, or to pull up their shorts, or to pull down their sweatbands, or to tuck in their jersey, or to sit out a tick of the clock because their jersey is untucked, perhaps a technical foul issued to the head coach early in the game, and early in the season, would alleviate many of these problems. But once again, it would go back to which officials would enforce this rule and which ones would view this as not part of the "game of basketball" and not enforce this rule.

I am very disappointed that the NFHS did not take away the right of a coach to call a time out from the bench. Since this rule was introduced a few years ago, I'm sure that many officials have had problems giving time outs, in many cases at critical points in the game, because their attention must be directed to the bench rather than the court. It is my understanding that the NBA recently added a rule that allows coaches to call a time out from the bench. Now that this rule has reached the NBA level, I'm sure that there will be no going back to the old rule. I'm positive that the members of the NFHS Rules Committee have never been put into a situation where with seconds to go in a two-official, closely contested game, when a key play is about to occur, possibly involving a foul or a violation, "somebody" from outside your line of sight, yells "time out".