[crew]

Originally posted by bob jenkins
Let's suppose that you are on a committee to write the first ever Basketball Rules Book. After the first draft. someone recognizes that you need a definition for "held ball."

So, you think of the way the game is played, and how you want it called, and come up with the "two players have hands so firmly on the ball it can't be controlled without undue roughness / B's hands on the ball prevent A from releasing the ball on the try" wording.

Everyone agrees with the definition because that's what happens 99.99% of the time -- no one thinks of the rare exception (well, no one except Crew )

I think the *intent* is there -- contact with the ball by B prevented A's release -- that's a held ball.

As someone on another board once said, "The rules book is a set of finite rules to apply to infinite circumstances." If the book had to cover all the circumstances, it would be as large as the Tax Code -- and just as hard to apply. [/B]

i like.