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Originally Posted by zebraman
Interesting discussion. I have always thought of game management as everything that does not involve blowing the whistle for fouls and violations.
Managing the coaching box. Managing the clock. Managing a frustrated player before it becomes a situation. Things like that. Things that I was not very good at during my first 5 years of officiating.
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You're right in that regard. It's just that there seems to be a feeling that it also is an
excuse to not blow the whistle.
"Coach called me a a$$hole only twice; I got him calmed down so I wouldn't have to stick him for calling me that the third time."
"I saw you knock that shooter down; please don't do it again or I may have to call a foul."
Game management?
I agree that there are real game mangement situations. Maybe you see a player looking frustrated after missing a couple of shots because a defender is playing great defense; if you can get next to him and quietly remind him to not lose his cool, you might prevent something bad from happening later. I also have told the story about team from the School for the Deaf - the team played hard all game, but was down by 30 - 40 late. One of their players had a FT, clearly stepped over the line before it went in, but I chose not to see it. I was commended after the game for not calling it by both an evaluator and the winning coach. I don't make a habit of not calling violations, but this one certainly falls into the "game management" category. I still don't know exactly where that line is; I guess that's why officiating is an art.