[JRutledge]

Obviously you do not do football or baseball. If you had, you would understand how easy the rules are in basketball. The rules in basketball are very simple compared to those sports. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to officiate a basketball game. And all those things that you claim I have a problem understand, I find it funny that officials that I have talked to about all those (college officials) agree with me on many of those issues that I raised. If it makes you happy, be a rulebook official all your life. But if you go to a camp they are not going to hire you on your rules knowledge. As a matter of fact, you do not need to pass any kind of test to do college or NBA. They judge you on the floor and the calls you make, not what rules you understand and do not understand. Be my guest, go crazy over situations that you will never call or see. Multiple fouls, PC and blocking fouls (at the same time) are all in the rulebook and the casebook, start calling that s**t and see how many games you do at that school or league the next year. They are in the rulebook. Basketball officating is 95% judgement and 5% rules application. I have never been at a camp in basketball that they were reading the rules to teach officials. But I have in a football and baseball camps.

Originally posted by BktBallRef

This is why Rutledge has difficulty discussing situations such as BC violations, three seconds, and team control to name a few. You can't call with your gut. You have to have a basic understanding of the rules in order to apply them properly and make the proper calls. In every rule book or case play discussion I've ever seen him involved in, his lack of understanding the basic fundamentals always gets him in trouble. And that's sad because all any of the rest of us have tried to do is explain things so that he could understand and get better. Yet he always ignores any opportunity to improve.