Quote:
Originally Posted by BadNewsRef
Well Mark, I never made a comment about dementia, so you are addressing that to the wrong person. 
Secondly, I've always been liberal in judging CM, so you are shooting at the wrong target.
Thirdly, my only relationship with Art Hyland is that I read his memos. And is memo on CM is what I have to adhere to, not history. |
BNF:
First: My dementia remark was a humorous retort to a previous post by another member which was a humorous in nature also.
But on a more serious note to everybody in the Forum about dementia. Everybody knows that I am the first one to use self-deprecating humor about my age (and Mark and BillyMac are the first to pile on, LOL): "I am a bald old geezer." Both of my sons will affectionately refer to me as the "bald old geezer" because I resemble a "bald old geezer" and now-a-days I am a "bald old geezer". And Junior, if he needs to get my attention (because at my advanced age it tends to wander when I am on the Bases,
) when we are umpiring a baseball or fast pitch softball game he will call out "old man" to get my attention because for some reason I never hear him call out "Dad!" but I do hear him say "old man".
And, I have officiated Special Olympics basketball for over 25 years (Forum Member Daryl H. Long has been officiating it as long as I have) and Junior joined us when he started officiating, and we have been umpiring S.O. softball for five years. Furthermore, my uncle's (my father's older brother) wife suffered from Alzheimer's Disease; this was in the late 1970's when virtually nothing was known about the disease.
I am not advocating (I am a staunch defender of the First Amendment) self-censorship or censorship but dementia can be a hot button issue for some people. Alzheimer's Disease is not the only disease the deals with dementia or diminished mental capacity. I would like to ask everybody to remember that a person can acquire a diminished mental capacity in any number of ways and we should be aware of it. I am sorry if I made turned this post in a depressing direction.
Second: One cannot be "liberal" in judging CM. The definition is quite clear, either A-1 has stopped his dribble before he was fouled by B-1 or he was still dribbling when he was fouled by B-1; there is not in between ("gathering the ball", whatever the heck that means. When I have a foul by B-1 against A-1, who is dribbling toward the basket, I have only one decision to make: Did the foul occur before or after A-1's dribble end? If the foul occurred before A-1's dribble ended, then the ball is dead immediately. If the foul occurred after A-1's dribbled ended then CM applies and I let A-1 complete any legal foot and body movements to either pass the ball or attempt a Try for Goal; if A-1 passes the ball, the ball becomes dead immediately upon the release of the pass, and if A-1 releases the ball for a Try, then the ball remains alive.
Once again, Play 2, does not describe the play in the video we are discussing in this thread. And I have already stated that from the poorly worded description used in Play 2 I would have ruled a Common Foul (CF) by B1.
Third: As I have stated before, one cannot use layman's terms that have no meaning within the rules in attempt to undo a rule that has been in place for over fifty years. The rule allowing the Offensive Player to complete any usual foot and body movements is to prevent the Defense from committing a foul that will nullify an Offensive Player's legal right to attempt a Try for Goal.
As I have already stated before, let us look at the play in the OP of this thread. A-1, in
one continuous motion, ends his dribble while airborne, lands simultaneously on both feet, then immediately jumps off both feet, and then releases the ball for a Try for Goal. This is all legal foot movement by rule.
Furthermore, excluding an Interrupted Dribble, an Offensive Player in control of the ball can be only be in one of two states: (1) He is
holding the ball, or (2) He is
dribbling the ball. There is no in between. If he is dribbling the ball then he is still dribbling the ball until he ends his dribble. CM has always meant that when a player is dribbling the ball, the habitual motion for the start of a Try is when his dribble has ended.
Gathering the ball tells me nothing as to whether A-1 did or did not end his dribble.
Catching the ball does tell me when A-1's dribble ended.
If we allow a foul by Team B anytime after A-1 has ended his dribble and before he releases the ball for a Try for Goal to nullify A-1's Try for Goal, then we would also have to nullify A-1's Try for Goal, if after he ends his dribble while airborne, in
one continuous motion, lands on his right foot, then jumps off his right foot, then lands on his left foot, then jumps off his left foot, and then releases the ball for a Try for Goal, if B-1 fouls A-1 any time after he ended his dribble.
Fourth: I retired from officiating college basketball after the 2007-08 season, but that still does not mean that I do not try to keep up on things. The troubling aspect is that we as officials allow the NCAA to keep putting out such slipshod and patently incorrect Interpretations and Approved Rulings. No one with any knowledge and history of the rules is doing any vetting of these pronouncements.
I am done for the day. I missed both my post-breakfast nap and my pre-lunch nap in order to write this post,
.
Mark, Jr., is at work (6am to 2pm), and has a girls' JrHS basketball DH in Michigan late this afternoon; I promised him his gear would be ready when he got home and before I leave to pick up Daryl Long to attend a H.S. fast pitch softball umpires meeting in Findlay, Ohio (and of course we will have dinner before the game and discuss at least one softball rule so that the dinner is tax deductible,
). Time to have lunch and then have my post-lunch nap,
.
MTD, Sr.