Quote:
Originally Posted by Nevadaref
This is either a technical foul or a legal play.
Either the official deems that the player made a smart move to strike the opponent with the ball while that opponent was out of bounds and this gain possession for his team with it being unfortunate that the ball contacted him in the face or the official deems this to be an unsporting act/attempt to injure an opponent and a technical foul (perhaps an ejection) is appropriate.
What is not appropriate is any type of personal foul as there was no contact between the persons involved. If the crew indeed charged a Flagrant 1 personal foul after consulting the monitor, each of them should be fined their game checks.
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NevadaRef:
I agree with you regarding the type of foul if the officials deemed a foul was committed. The game fee fine is for another discussion.
When I first watched the play from the initial TV angle I thought that R33 had fouled W24 causing him to make such a motion that caused him to lose control of the ball with the ball then hitting R23 in the face. After watching it from other angles, I do not believe that R33 fouled W24.
Since the officials ruled that R33 did not foul W24 this means that the officials have to read W24's mind as to why he "threw" or "lost control of" the ball against R23's face. Again, after watching the play several times from different angles, it is my opinion that W24 did not intentionally throw the ball at R23's face.
From the different angles that I watched I observed the following things:
a) It appears that W24's right arm was somewhat behind his head and he may not have had the best control of the ball and lost control of the ball while trying to bring his right arm forward to match his left arm in relation to his head and body.
b) W24 landed on both feet simultaneously (toes first and then rocked back on his feet) and when he rocked back his center of mass was behind his feet. This may have given him the feeling of falling backwards out of control and in an effort to not fall and commit a traveling violation he instinctively throw the ball at R23 who was standing out of bounds.
The fact that W24 "threw" or "lost control of" the ball so quickly after grabbing the rebound leads me to believe that his actions were a combination of (a) and (b).
That said, if the officials believed that W24 had committed a foul it is either a Class A Technical Foul or it is a Flagrant 2 Technical Foul. I would further add that if I did conclude that W24 committed a foul, I would use the following standard as to whether it was a Class A TF or a Flagrant 2 TF:
Class A TF: W24's act was intentional and the threw the ball at any part of R23's body except his head or groin.
Flagrant 2TF: W24's act was intentional and the threw the ball at R23's head or groin.
That's my two cents for a Sunday afternoon. Junior and I have an H.S. baseball/fast pitch softball umpires meeting this evening and I am already dreaming of warm weather and baseball games.
MTD, Sr.