[bainsey]

Last Saturday, JV boys game in my hometown. (I block their varsity, but can work JV.) Two man crew. This was the last game in a sub-varsity set.

I'm the L. H-1's shot bounces high off the rim and touches the top of the backboard ... and stays there. I wait a bit, realize it's not coming down, and blow my whistle. Two seconds later, the ball drops in front of the backboard. (Great.)

I check with my partner, who agrees with me that the ball never hit a support or anything out of bounds. Held ball, we move on.

Meanwhile, about 12 feet behind the opposite endline, my 19-year-old son (former team manager, honorary emeritus status) is sitting with the varsity coach, his dad, and the A.D. This VIP section of sorts, when they were paying attention to the game, made it a point to have some fun of my expense. (I expect no less.)

On the drive home, my young Einstein goes on a mini-tirade about that play, insisting that the ball had to have hit something out of bounds, as it's "impossible" for the ball to rest for that length of time. I tell him I've seen balls come to rest on flanges (six inches wide), so it's not impossible. He retorts the backboard top can't be any more than two inches wide. I tell him, that can't be. Our banter causes us to realize we don't have a clue how thick a backboard actually is, nor the width of its top. There's likely no reason for such mandates. (I actually checked Rule 1. Couldn't find anything.)

This is hardly a serious rules issue, but a ball staying on the backboard's top --without touching a support -- is probably not unprecedented. Anyone have a similar anecdote to this?