[TD21]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

What the heck difference does this make to us?

If we are talking game management it makes a world of difference. If you just want to go out and blow your whistle and just "get through" the game, then it makes no difference. I promise you as you move up you are going to want to know, who your best players are, who your detractors are, and who has what fouls. It is the same as knowing, what the score is, how many fouls until the bonus, time on the clock and possession arrow. It is also just as important as remembering plays so we know how to officiate similar plays the same way. But if you don't care about the game and doing things the right way then I guess we can just call whatever on whoever because a foul is a foul is a foul.

Define "marginal". Either it's a foul or it isn't - period.

Ever watched a game and an official called a foul, and you thought to yourself "that's not a foul"? If you haven't, then what I have to say will make no sense to you. If you have, then I ask you, how can he call a foul and you think it is not a foul? as you said, "Either it's a foul or it isn't". In this case the official thought is was a foul but you didn't. So which is it? My point is, there are times when we as officials make calls that are borderline, could have called it could have passed on it. In this situation, if we call a "marginal", meaning could have called it could have passed on it, on a player and it is his 4th, we better make sure his 5th foul isn't another "marginal" foul. It will save you and the game a lot of trouble.


So, if the behavior that earned him his 4th foul happens again but you don't think it was "obvious" (whatever that means), you're not going to call it? Defend that way of thinking please.

I just talked about this above but, "obvious" means there is no argument that it was a foul. No one can question what you called. Fouls that get called should all be this way. Sometimes we make calls that are less obvious than others and other times we make wrong calls. We can help ourselves by knowing the situations in games and making sure that we respond appropriately to them. In the situation I brought up, we have called a "marginal" 4th foul on one of the better players in the game. Now we make sure that his 5th is an "obvious" foul. If it isn't then I promise you you are going to get some heat from the coach who now has to sit his player because he just got two fouls called on him, that could have been fouls, or we could have passed on. It's called game management and it can help you as an official.