Quote:
Originally Posted by tomegun
It wasn't a short conversation because one official thought it is OK to grant a timeout when the ball is in the air, being passed between teammates. His rationale is there is team control during the pass. Even the former rules interpreter, who is currently on the NFHS rules committee, said this is OK by rule.
I will wait for the teammate to catch the pass; a player will clearly have control of the ball.
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As Camron said, it's too bad none of them know about 5-8-3(a), or 5-8-3 SIT(F). Both the rule and case play clearly say the request should be granted only when in control by a player of his/her team.
Iirc, the Fed. also had this issue as one of their POE's last season in the pre-season meetings, newsletter and presentations. The play they brought up was where a team had control in the front court, there was a loose ball scramble, and one of the coaches started yelling for a TO during the scramble. The point was to tell officials that during this play they need to make sure a player has control before actually granting the TO. They were also telling the coaches that just because they request a TO, doesn't mean they're entitled to one, and the officials' first duty is to the play on the floor and not to listen to the coaches, so it is possible the officials might not even hear the request.
We also have a state rules interpreter that told us, in the above play, that the official, after noting the ball was not in control by a player at the time of the whistle, does not grant the TO, and the ball is then put in play by AP!
This obviously goes contrary to a couple of different rules and case plays, including 5-8-3 SIT (F) directly.
But this goes to the consistency issue you ask about - the NFHS does not control how the rules and mechanics are enforced. That is done at the state and even local level, and there are obviously widely conflicting views as to how it "should be done". Therefore, it will be hard to ever come up with a true concensus on every issue unless there is one governing body that will be "in charge". In the meantime, association meetings are a good place to find out how everyone else in the area is making a particular call, so you don't stand out. Perhaps you can work in the background to get a particular mechanic or local interp changed, or even become a senior member, officer, or interpreter so you can tell others the proper way to do things. Otherwise, how do you handle a senior member or interpreter that says, "We're not going to do it that way, because it's not fair; we're going to do it this way instead"?