[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

If the ball is not yet at Team B's disposable for its throw-in, the ball is dead. And as I said in my earlier posting we then have to make the tough decisions for which are paid the big dollars to make.

Whether the ball is live or dead, I do not believe that you can compare this play with the inadvertent finger in the eye. A1's pumping of his fist was a deliberate (by that I mean he decided to pump his fist even though it may have been a sponatenous act) act. That does not mean it was a foul but as I stated in my first post, I get irritated when my two young sons do that kind of horse manure, and I know that they are just being young children emulating what they see on television (please do not construe that as an anti-television statement, thank goodness for ESPN and the Golf Channel).

Now back to the question of how to handle this situation. A1's made contact with B1 with his fist. This is a little different than if he had just turned to go up court and accidently knocked B1 down who was directly behind him and slower to react to Team A's successful field goal attempt.

Based upon the description in the original post, I would rule that the ball was at Team B's disposal for its throw-in, this makes the ball live, and the contact a personal foul (oh oh, the cat is out of the bag). I would then rule that A1's contact was a common foul (A1's contact with B1 was not intentional or flagrant) which put B1 at a disadvantage. I think that this is an approach that is not overkill but does address the contact in an even handed manner.