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Originally Posted by rainmaker
I just think that when the whistle blew as opposed to when the ball hit something oob isn't really an important distinction. The ref blew the whistle for the oob violation, and was a little quick on it. The tape showed that the ball did indeed go oob, and that the time between when the ball was touched legally inbounds, and when the ball gained oob status was 1.1 seconds. I dont understand why that's so hard to grasp. (I;m not dirrecting these comments to you, wildcatter, but to others who seem to think they know better than 4 of the top officials in the country).
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I see what you're saying - I do believe it IS an important distinction - normally. The ref was early on the whistle because he thought the ball was OOB earlier - whether or not this is this was correct should not matter on replay. It cannot be reviewed. The point at which the play should be stopped is when the official signaled/whistled it to be stopped. If he made a mistake, so be it. Just because there was a timing error does not mean that whistles do not matter.
Again, had the play been a ref whistling that a ball went OOB at 6.0 seconds, and it really went OOB at 3.0 seconds - well tough luck, the ref whistled it dead at 6.0 seconds. That's when the clock should stop - in general, time after that is a dead ball. No replay that shows differently should matter. The fact that the clock never started or there was a timing error does not affect the call on the court. The officials corrected the clock after the play is over - the play was over when he whistled it dead when it right after it first bounced and before it was truly OOB.
That being said, like I said in the last post, the officials handled it great in this case, considering there was a timing error. They could not tell when the whistle was (from the youtube clip, before the signal) - so they went with the signal/when the ball was OOB (which was roughly the same point).
I am constantly surprised how often officials get it correct within the last minute of a game on plays with very little time to work - I know working much lower-pressure games (not even high school or junior high!) that I would have probably screwed it up. What is even more impressive is that fans/announcers/former-players/players/coaches/refs watching the game have the benefit of multiple replays, multiple angles, and tons of extra time, and still somehow come up with the incorrect call.