My take on what Tony is saying is that many times players will give themselves away, and if we take our time, maybe hold the whistle a little bit, we have a chance to make right on a call that is wrong, before anyone even realizes what happened.
Picture a ball going out of bound with two players chasing it. You do not REALLY see who it went off of, but you are 95% sure so you are ready to point one direction or the other, when one of the players hangs his head and starts walking the other way. Hold the whistle and the player has just helped you make the call. This all take place in probably less than 1 or 2 seconds!
Now I do not know Tony personally. But we have been taught
by the same people. I know that Tony will NOT knowingly call a "phantom" foul, but I think he is aware of foul totals in agame and if a player has 4 fouls and another has none, he will give the foul to the latter if possible.
Fans come to see players play, not foul out.
What is the harm in keeping a good player in the game?
At the D1 and Pro levels, this is called "game awareness"
At the High School level, it's called "unethical"!
Long live the Dark Side!
