[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by eroe39

Jurassic Ref, big picture refereeing to me means to not complicate simple situations, to go with the obvious, and when you have a choice of two scenarios you go with the one that everyone will buy instead of creating controversy. Of course, there are situations when you have to go with something complicated or odd or what people won't understand but this should be done rarely. For example, if a defender brushes a player on the arm in the shooting motion and then the offensive player crashes over a defender and levels him to the ground then go with the offensive foul, the obvious play to the players, coaches, and fans instead of trying to sell some first foul. Nobody will complain about the offensive foul. You will have lots of complaints about calling the hit to the arm. I have never done what crew did in G.P.S. 7. However, I was in the game with crew and I am so glad he did it because we would of lost a lot of respect with that crazy call. Nobody said a word about what he did. The foul he had was not there and there was a borderline "on the back" foul that was believable to sell, so that is what he went with. This is not something I would tell people to go out and do, however this was a weird situation.

Eli,excellent post!Your explanation was pretty well what I was taught many years ago.The idea of "big picture" officiating has been around longer than I've been around.Several different names have been used for it over the years,and a lotta guys do teach it and practise it(including many high school officials).The idea certainly isn't new.You partially made the point that I was trying to make in crew's sitch.Do it to keep you and your partners' butts out of trouble if you have to,but don't recommend it to be used all the time.In other words,don't look for a chance to use it.The procedure should be saved for the times when it is appropriate.If you try to use it too often,then you're using it as a cop-out--and you could be a factor in the game when you shouldn't be.It's OK in "iffy" or fairly obvious situations,but if you use it to walk away from the tough call that also happens to be the RIGHT call,then you're not doing your job.That was the point I wanted to make.