[M&M Guy]

Jeff - I'm not really quibbling with the fact that the Fed. allows states to make changes. I was just hoping for that little Utopian world where all basketball officials get to have the same mechanics while calling the same rules, no matter where they are.

I guess where I have the issue is regarding your comment about Harry making the change on the mechanic of not bouncing the ball on the endline in the backcourt about 4 years ago: how did he communicate this change with officials in the rest of the state? I have been to a clinic every year for the past 3 years, even though the requirement is once every 3 years. And the only time I heard that specific mechanic mentioned was during a joint association meeting (not a clinic) when John Dacey came down and spoke. He mentioned this mechanic, and I remember looking around at other people I was sitting with, and they all had the same look of "that's not right; that's not how the book tells us to do it". The rest of us hadn't gotten word of the change. You also mentioned the time when the Fed. couldn't decide whether to do the long switch or not, and you were doing a completely different mechanic for that 2 or 3 year stretch. Well I can tell you for sure the rest of us were being told in the pre-season meetings, administered by the IHSA, to do the long switch or not based on the Fed. mechanic, not what you were doing.

I'm not necessarily saying the changes are good or bad, I'm just pointing out that someone decided they can do something better than the Fed., and that's how they're going to teach it. But the process is not clear on how this change gets to the officials in the rest of the state. If it's good enough for them, isn't it good enough for the rest of us? If Harry has that much influnce with Kurt, then shouldn't there be some sort of easy way to access or receive these changes? Maybe sending out a sheet or pamphlet with the rule books, so everyone knows how we're going to do it in Illinois. Otherwise, we end up doing things a little different than you, so when you and I finally get together to do a game, we have to have a slightly longer pre-game to iron out these differences. Would it be right for someone from, say, southern IL, to decide they don't like a particular mechanic or philosophy and start teaching their officials a different way than the IHSA or Fed.? In fact, IAABO is a big association in St. Louis, so I'm sure some of their philosophies carry over to officials in the S.W. part of the state. Then when East St. Louis Lincoln meets Simeon in the AA finals, there's going to be some confusion.

Again, no easy answers, just mostly observations and wishes.