[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by btaylor64

I've already said this once in the thread but i feel it is worth mentioning again. If you try to referee these end of game situations too purely, you are just going to hurt yourself. Being a PURE, BLACK AND WHITE rulebook referee is not a good thing.

Actually, what you said was:

Originally Posted by btaylor

If we know what the team's objective is (to foul) then any amount of contact should be deemed as such.

This is the heart of what I disagree with. Any amount of contact is not a foul, not in the beginning of the game, not at the end. And you have yet to provide any justification for this position.

Originally Posted by btaylor64

If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck then it probably is a duck. Everyone sees the team is trying to foul and you as the officials are attempting to justify a way to not call what is obvious to everyone else.

If you mean call the foul that happens on the obvious contact, then we agree. If you mean call a foul because it's obvious to everyone that they're trying to foul, then I absolutely disagree. "Trying to foul" is not a reason to blow the whistle. In fact, aren't you justifying the reason to no longer make those tough decisions, and bailing out the defensive team by doing what they want? Cool, "everyone knows" the team is trying to foul. That's not why I'm blowing the whistle. I'm blowing the whistle because the team did foul. Do you also blow the whistle when a player dribbles the ball above their head? "Everyone knows" that's a travel/carry/something, right? If you're calling your game based on what you think the fans/coaches think, you're on the wrong track.

Originally Posted by btaylor64

I definitely understand a team attempting to pass the ball around as well. If they are doing that then i need the slight contact to happen well before the player releases it to the next player.

Doesn't this go against your statement above? What if the contact does happen after the release? Didn't you say "any amount of contact should be deemed a foul"?

Originally Posted by btaylor64

"Feel for the game" is very important in my opinion. It shows that you uderstand the game and its tiny nuances, whether it be from an officials, coaches or players standpoint.

We agree with the surface of this statement. However, where we disagree is in completely changing the definition of a foul at the end of a close game. That is not a "tiny nuance", and not doing that does not make one the dreaded "rule book official". I'm not advocating not calling fouls. In fact, I'm saying we need to be in position and make those calls, not use the excuse that we didn't see it, so therefore we passed. Why should we let the coach or player take the easy way out and allow any touch to be a foul, instead of working hard and fouling the "right way"? Why should we take the easy way out and guess on contact, or allow any contact to be a foul at the end of the game, instead of working to be in position to make the proper call?

If it's illegal contact, call the foul. If it's legal contact (such as contact you had judged to be legal earlier), don't bail out one team with a lazy call, just because that's what everyone wants. I would be willing to bet the team that's trying to play keepaway doesn't want "any contact" to all of a sudden be a foul at that point in the game.