Originally Posted by Adam

The problem with it is exactly the sort of logical twisting that spurred my response. When people say it, they generally mean it's legal to hit the hand when it's on the ball; which is true. However, if you have someone who thinks the rule actually says it's considered to be a part of the ball, then you get someone who starts to do some reasonable logic and reaches the conclusion that hitting someone with the ball is a personal foul.