[Mark Padgett]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mikec
Are you an educator? To me, this is all part of the educational process , and if I see something that is wrong I will call someone on it

No, I am a referee, not an educator. My job is to call the game.

Will a team up 40 and still pressing against an outmanned team get any breaks from me? No. As I said before, they get no breaks. As an example; if the ball goes out of bounds and it is close, figure who is getting the ball. Any contact on the press is a foul. A smart coach gets the message. Does it mean I am influencing the outcome of the game? No. the game is already decided. Does it mean I am trying to add a little sportsmanship to it. Yes.

I disagree with this philosophy. While the win/loss outcome of the game may already be decided, your statement that you are an educator should preclude you from making calls that detract from the education of the players in the context of how they learn the correct way to play defense, etc. If you change your calls because you don't like the way a coach is behaving, then players (especially on that team) become confused because now their methods are illegal when those same methods and actions were legal and accepted earlier in the game. It is just as wrong for you to "punish" those players as it is for the winning coach to "punish" the opponents by running up the score. In fact, I think it is worse.

A coach up 45 and pressing in a summer league game needs some guidance. If no one else will give it, I will.

As I said before, you have no idea why the coach is doing this. He may be practicing his press and it may have been understood by the other teams that this was acceptable. Besides, I do not feel it is my role to "give coaches guidance." I just call the game the same from beginning to end according to the rules and the a/d theory.