[BillyMac]

This happened last week. I got distracted, didn't do what I was supposed to do, and, thus, I was a bad partner.

I'm the trail, and the ball handler comes from my primary and gets hammered, in the act of shooting, and falls down, near the free throw line. I sound my whistle for the foul, and then hear, a split second later, faintly, my partner's whistle from the lead. Around here, we usually let the lead take double "fist" whistles, but because my whistle was noticeably earlier, and louder, than his, I figure that he's going to give me the call, but he doesn't, and comes out strong with his preliminary signals, so I go into my noncalling mode and identify the shooter, who is in a pile of players, on the floor, at the free throw line.

As he moves toward the reporting area he stops, and asks me, while I'm still at my trail position, "Who was the foul on, and did the ball go in?". Since I was in my noncalling mode, all I could tell him was, "34 is the shooter". Because I was distracted by the double whistle, my surprise that he took the call, and with a pile of players, possibly injured, on the floor, I had failed to not only remember who the fouler was, I had also forgotten about my responsibility, as the trail, to observe if the ball went in, or didn't go in.

All I could tell him was that maybe the table could help in out with both questions, and luckily, they were able to answer both questions for him (the ball went in).

I gave up trying to remember both the fouler, and the foulee, many years ago after screwing up by switching the numbers around many times in the early part of many career (my brain just can't do it, seriously). So I'm not really upset with myself about that part. I'm really upset at myself that I failed, as the trail to see if the ball went in, or didn't go in. That's my job, and I failed miserably at it. I was not good partner in that game.