Quote:
|
Originally Posted by rainmaker
I'm just saying that for Jeffpea to say "use common sense" isn't a very helpful comment. My common sense tells me that I couldn't care less about shirts tucked in. But it's a rule I strictly enforce, because my assignor tells me to, and that's how it's done in my area. I don't like it, but it's in the book and it's important to my schedule. Common sense just doesn't come into it, at all. It may be that some folks can afford to be a little flexible about certain rules in their area. Fine. But those folks can't just shake off my legalistic concerns by saying "use common sense." It's just not useful.
|
Rainmaker -- I have two children - 7 & 4; while I do not have a hard and fast rule that says - "you cannot wear hats in the house", I generally would prefer that they don't wear them inside. When my 4yr old insists that he wants to wear his winter ski hat to bed, I choose NOT to incite or create a big problem by forcing him to take it off (and possibly imposing some sort of punishment); instead I simply let him wear it....you know why?....because after 5 minutes he'll get hot and take it off - no harm, no foul.
When the opposing team decides to use the entire court during the pre-game warm-up period, I choose not to worry about it because I know that when the opponent returns to the floor, everything will return to normal (Team A on their side and Team B on their end). I have NO IDEA if there is a rule prohibiting the use of the full court, but even if there was - I would use common sense (or judgement) and avoid punishing one team for something that has no effect on the outcome of the game.....BEFORE you start taking this to the extreme - of course I follow the rules and officiate the game the way the rules require.
You want a specific example of common sense not being utilized that created a problem in a game? Visiting team's coach calls an early TO (after being down 12-2 to start the game). Neither my partner, who heard the request, nor me or our third partner saw a specific "full" or "30 second" signal. After the calling official asked 3 or 4 times which TO they wanted (and getting no repsonse), he awarded a full TO - which is probably what most people would do and probably what most assignors would want. The visiting team were all standing on the court around their coach (typicall of a :30 TO) and ready to play after approx. :30. When the visiting coach found out that he was charged w/ a full TO and not the :30 TO that he wanted, he went nuts and ultimately ended up w/ a T. So instead of using common sense and waiting a few extra seconds to see whether the players were seated on the bench (as during a full TO) or huddled around the coach on the court (as during a :30 TO), my partner gave a full TO which ultimately led the T....and their was 17:33 left in the first half!
Now you tell me, was it better to follow the "rule book" or use common sense? Seems pretty clear to me that the use of common sense would have avoided the train wreck that ensued and would have provided for a better overall game.