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Originally Posted by btaylor64
Rag on it as much as you want, but these are all good mechanics. It's better to be safe than sorry. You all know at one point and time in your careers that you looked up at the clock and there was about 5 seconds or less on the clock and you had no idea.
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I'm not ragging on it. At least, that wasn't my intent. I even said I've used it myself. But the fact is that the signal is totally and absolutely unnecessary for any official that officiates D1 NCAA or NBA, which is typically where you see it used. Those officials already know that there's 1 minute or 2 minutes left in the game. They already know when it's under 24 (or 30 or 35) in the game. If they didn't, they wouldn't be on those games. Additionally, in NBA games, the PA Announcer tells everyone when the clock hits 2 minutes in the 4th quarter and 1 minute in each quarter. The finger in the air is just unnecessary and, IMHO, silly-looking.
And yes, I have absolutely been surprised to see only 5 seconds left in the game. But that was 10 years ago in a Saturday morning kiddie league.
I realize that we discuss things in the closing minutes that we all already know. I realize that it's good to remind ourselves of things -- like the arrow and bonus situations or TO's remaining. But to me, the "1 minute" mechanic is superfluous.
(The thing I was ragging on, BTW, was your rationale for using the mechanic; viz., that it tells everyone to pay attention.)