You keep track of timeouts how?
 

Never, never have I had this in a game. Ever.

Working a BV game Sunday afternoon. Team A's HC casually asks the official scorer how many timeouts his team has left. The scorer tells the coach, the coach says that doesn't seem right because his assistant has something different and can they compare. Then the scorer says...

He keeps track of timeouts in his head.

Why, you may ask, does the scorer do this? The young man tells the HC no one ever told him he had to write them down. The HC makes a beeline to our R to explain what he was just told and the scorer repeats his reasoning for the R.

Incredible.

You have an idea, but I do not rely on my memory. If they tell me they are out that is when I really know. And it is also on the scoreboard from some reference. They ask for a timeout, I am granting it anyway. I think it is left is really not my concern.

Peace

A) I thought most scorebooks these days had places where you can record timeouts, so it should be obvious that your supposed to record the timeouts there. That and most of them have a pretty good sample scorebook on the front pages to go by and a brief training summary.

B)Was there a guest scorebook on the table? We may have a new official book.

Boys Varsity game on a Sunday afternoon?

If this was a tournament, I suppose maybe. If this was a regular season game, I'm guessing it was north of the Mason Dixon line and definitely not in Utah....:D

Edit: Looked at where the OP posted from after I posted. NJ. I am no longer surprised.

I have the crew track as best we can in the following manner:
3-person: R tracks all four of the 30s. U1 tracks the culls for the home team. U2 tracks the fulls for the visiting team.
2-person: R tracks all four 30s. U tracks the visiting team's three fulls for sure, and perhaps the fulls for the home, if he can. If not let the table handle the fulls for the home. If they get screwed, it's their table. I'm going to make certain though that the visiting team gets a fair shake.

Unless, our crew has definite knowledge otherwise, we are going with what is recorded in the book. The scorer should be noting the time and type of TO taken when it is granted.

Ok so much to commentate on here:

-Every book made has spaces either at the top or bottom to record timeouts.What I see a lot from kids is that they mark the type used but don't record the time.This scenario is exactly why I tell kids/newbie adults to write the time in,you'll have a reference as to when they were called.This is scorekeeper 101 and apparently this young man failed.

-From me you'll hear when the last 30 is called for either side and then I'll say either "That's it" or "Final Timeout" with a closed fist:left hand for the team to my left and right hand for the team to my right.I'm starting to work on eliminating giving the count unless asked.

This!

Maybe it's just me but it seems that adds unnecessary confusion.

I've never thought it to be necessary to make sure the scorer will be tracking timeouts, but perhaps I'll start doing that.

It is unnecessary until you find yourself in the middle of a big mess because there is a dispute over either a final time-out or an excessive time-out with 12 seconds left in the 4th quarter of a tied playoff game.

The table is keeping track of timeouts. The teams are keeping track of timeouts (especially during tournaments), I do not see much reason to give checks and balances by what we as a crew keep track of during the game. If there is a dispute, that is why there is an official book and the teams should already know what their situation is before they request one. But if it works for you, more power to you. I just will not be worrying that much about it.

Peace

And if you say one thing, and the scorer says another, it's still a mess.

It's plainly listed in the Scorers' Duties section of Rule 2. I'll let them do their job. I've got enough to worry about.

Wow really? How long does your pregame take??

It's great if you can do it but there's only so much room in my brain...the score keepers are supposed to confer regularly. I know the places where the table is suspect. When I'm there I will tell the visitor's scorekeeper to stay on top of things. Check score, fouls etc to make sure everything is the same. If there's a problem let me know soon. I've never had an error on the number of timeouts.

Spending time at the scorer’s table and discussing their responsibilities prior to the beginning of the game is required by Rule. Failing to do so is a dereliction of the duties of an official.

Rule 2.4.3 Designate the official scorebook and the official scorer prior to the scheduled starting time of the game. Note: Rule 2.11.12 The official scorer is required to wear a black-and-white vertically striped garment.

Rule 2.11 Art.1-12 Scorer’s Duties… to many to list here. However, Rule 2.11.6 Record the time out information charged to each team (who and when) and notify a team and its coach, through an official, whenever that team is granted its final allotted charged time-out.

Note: The Referee has the responsibility by Rule to make sure the scorekeeper SHALL perform his/her duties. Copy these Rules and hand them to the table if you have to, but get it done and stop blaming the table for an officials failures.

You were correct in your OP: “Never, never have I had this in a game. Ever.” And if the Referee would perform their duties as required by Rule, this won’t ever happen.

Hope this helps.