[physicsref]

I think I've got to chime in with JRut and Kelvin on this one. Here is my reasoning:

1. What does it harm you to know what the game situation is? This does not mean you have to make drastic changes in the way you call a game, it just means being aware. The example of letting the coach get his sub in for his star who has 4 fouls was a great one.

2. This talk of "a foul is a foul is a foul and is either always a foul or never a foul" is rubbish. Whatever happened to advantage/disadvantage? Yeah, a handcheck is a foul, but are you going to take away A1's drive for an open layup cause a handcheck is always a foul? What about the slight illegal contact on a rebound that doesn't affect the play? What if the coach has been counting 1-2-3 all night and by golly you're going to make sure you've got 3-seconds before he talks you into a call.

3. This talk about knowing how many fouls a player has disrupting the perception of the game works both ways. You get one coach who says "You didn't call that 'cause he has 4 fouls", where the opposite case is the other coach complaining about a bump in the back on a rebound where the offended player keeps the ball "You're gonna foul my guy out on that?"

Now, in deference to those with differing opinions, this should be a little thing. It's not a matter of checking every time you go to the table that you want to know how many a guy's got. You know when you've dinged a guy several times already. Just glance at the board when you check the clock and see his number and the number of fouls. If you still want to go with "a foul is a foul", does knowing this stop you from doing this at all?