[Back In The Saddle]

First of all, congrats on doing your best with the training you've been given. You're doing the right thing by studying the rules and cases, working lots of games, and hanging out here to learn from more experienced officials.

Second, no amount of pushing from behind is any kind of excuse for foul language. That was his choice, not an inescapable consequence of being fouled. Good T.

Third, this year I have seen (or perhaps recognized?) more cases than ever before where two-person mechanics are just not adequate to give you complete coverage. It's just the nature of the beast. Yet those of us who live with it, soldier on.

Fourth, there are two schools of thought on where to be as lead (the guy under the basket) on a drive down the middle. One is to be at the near lane line extended, perhaps even a step or two into the quicksand. The other is to go wide and watch from the outside of the lane. Both schools of thought work sometimes, and both can leave you in a world of hurt sometimes. From the lane line, you are straightlined and cannot see that the driver was pushed from behind, but it's often the best angle to see contact to the front of the driver. From out wide, you may be able to see the push from behind. Then again, you may not. If the defense collapses on the driver, you may not be able to see anything at all. Oh, if you try them both, you will inevitably prefer one over the other. But you'll still find games where you're preferred vantage point is useless and you will have to use the other.

Fifth, generally I think this call has to come from the trail. One tendency that most of us had/have to overcome is wrongly relinquishing responsibility for the player driving from trail to the basket once he leaves the trail's area. The trail simply must take this play all the way to the basket. If he'll do that, most of the time he will catch the pushes from behind. It's possible that your trail had no look at this, but more likely he simply stopped watching once the driver hit the paint.