[Amesman]

Off-season rant from the coach in me ... Coaching my kid's championship game in Saturday rec league (middle school division).

Question about a momentum-OB call early in the game. From division line, we inbounded deep to the back court (no press rule) and one of the kids had to dash back extra hard, took a couple of dribbles, momentum carried him OB off the endline and he returned (feet inbounds) to resume dribble of bouncing ball.

Inexperienced ref at trail tweeted, raised his hand, pointed to the endline, then made some feeble travel motion as well. I shouted something to the effect of, "He can do that!" and then the condescension came from the other, more experienced ref who had moved up as the new trail: "We have our whistles for a reason coach. Let us do our job. Someone else has to touch it first."

I don't like pulling the "I'm patched, too" card so I didn't and tried (calmly and to just the vet) explaining that someone else did not have to touch it, momentum, etc. He held his ground (also quietly and calmly) even after I tried to explain a bit more and then told him I was patched, too. I eventually ended with, "We're going to have to agree to disagree on this one" and left it at that, on respectful terms.

We wound up being flat and getting waxed after a couple playing a couple of great games earlier, so no big deal. But I wanted to confirm I was right: The vet is a good ref but I think he was wrong on this one (not sure if he knew -- didn't sound like it -- or just wasn't throwing partner under the bus).

Or was I wrong? Looking under 7.1 really only addresses tipping a ball and then coming back on the court to gain possession. I thought if momentum takes you off, even after starting a dribble, you can come back and resume, as long as you're on the court and didn't stop the dribble. Am I kicking it?