Quote:
Originally posted by Spaman_29
I want to really think and discuss the lag rule in high school. Yes I undertand the reason behind the rule, but also I want to look at why is it still written the same way. We allow a full second for the timer to stop the clock after each whistle. Add that up over a game time and you could have a minute, maybe a bit much, of time that expires off of the clock without play occuring. Maybe there are some really slow timers out there who really need to rethink their advocation of being a timer and move on with life. But for the most part I have had exceptional timers at the varsity level and they are really quick to stop the time. I have trained myself to look at the clock at every single whistle to make sure of proper start and stop times. If at the end of the game I feel that it is too loud for the timer to hear and I blew the whistle I would correct the time to what I saw on the clock. I have never used the 1 second lag rule to correct a timing mistake, nor do I think that it would be expected by the coaches in the area I work. They would want the time that is on the clock when the whistle blew. Should this rule be changed? I think so.
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As someone who has been a timer at all levels over the past few years, I'd like to comment on this.
First, I agree - lag time is stupid. The best timers stop within 1-2/10ths of a second, and even the worst timers probably stop in less than 1 full second. (It is the slower timers for whom you really need the lag time rule.)
Second, I don't know exactly why the lag time rule came into effect (maybe one of our friends who has all of the rulebooks since Naismith's time *cough*De Nucci*cough* could provide us with the rulebook reasoning). My guess (something which has been tossed around here before) is that it came about because of clocks that don't display 1/10th's of a second. In some of these clocks, if the whistle blows at 10.1 and the clock stops at 9.9, the clock may display 9, and resetting the clock to 10 may put it at 10.0 or 10.9 - however it works, it's a pretty poor rule for clocks which do display 1/10th's of a second.
That said, the rule needs to be enforced
as written!! There are lots of rules that coaches don't like, but it doesn't mean we change them mid-game. The lag time rule may be unfair to one team, but misapplying the rule is unfair to both teams.