Quote:
Originally Posted by just another ref
Not a good comparison. When you first heard of the free throw error, it was already too late to correct. That would be the same as the coach saying, "Hey, they had six on the floor last possession. Number 10 just sat down while you weren't looking."
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Ok, so you ARE agreeing with me that there are times when it's too late to penalize, right? That's my whole point. It doesn't matter when the coach tells you, it's when the rules say as to whether it's too late. In my example, maybe the coach tells you at the right time they should shoot one more FT, but for some reason you don't believe them, or you're busy watching 2 knuckleheads bumping, and it doesn't register with you until it's too late. Well, it's too late. You could call it an official's error for waiting too long for the information to sink in, but it's still too late. Same as in the 6 participating - it's the official's error for blowing the whistle to stop players from participating, but when they do, it's too late to penalize.
There are lots of places in the rules where it seems like "common sense" or "fairness" would dictate we should be able to do something different. However, the rules are relatively clear on how we handle specific instances, even if it goes against what we think would be fair or right. (Hmm...I'm trying to think of something else where that applies...what is it?...
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