[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Hawks Coach, whether the game is physical or not has nothing to do with my statement. Players sometimes play out of control or try to do things that they are not capable of doing and everybody wants to blame the officials for all the fouls that are committed.

My H.S. coach won 378 games in 21 years and 15 league championships. He was also registered H.S. basketball official during those years. And he always told us that an official never commits a foul or a violation, or misses a field goal or free throw attempt, or makes a turnover; the players do all of those things and the officials are the people responsible for seeing that rules infractions are called. He also said the no official ever won or lost a game for a team.

With regard to incidental contact. I never said that contact does not happen during a basketball game. When there is contact it is either incidental or it is a foul.