Halftime Questions

[harmbu]

I am asking as the Athletic Director who hired the official score keeper. She came to me after the game asking why an official would ask.

I am not trying to stir anything up. I just wanted to know if this is a common practice that I need fo be aware of.

[BillyMac]

We're all thinking it, and dancing around the topic, so I might as well say it out loud.

Some officials want to make sure that the star players on both teams don't foul out on "gray area" fouls near the end of the game, they want to be 100% sure that a star player's fifth foul is a "real" fifth foul.

It's a dirty little secret among some officials. Now if any Forum member tells anybody else, they'll have to kill them.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

We all have officiated with officials who want to have that type of information. I do not want it and if a partner gave me that information I would let it go through one ear out the other. WAIT!! That is not what I meant to say. I would ignore the information. Officiate the game the way one would always officiate the game and let the chips fall where they may.

MTD, Sr.

[Rich]

I want to know who has 4 fouls, yes. I don't want to call any marginal fouls, but I want to be aware of who has 4. The other team, if smart, will try to get a fifth and for me it works both ways -- don't miss an actual foul, but don't put one on that player if it isn't deserved.

I also want to know if there are any GFUs and sometimes the foul list can help with that discussion at halftime.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by Rich

I want to know who has 4 fouls, yes. I don't want to call any marginal fouls, but I want to be aware of who has 4. The other team, if smart, will try to get a fifth and for me it works both ways -- don't miss an actual foul, but don't put one on that player if it isn't deserved.

I also want to know if there are any GFUs and sometimes the foul list can help with that discussion at halftime.

Rich:


I respectfully disagree. Why? If it is a foul in the first thirty seconds of the game then it is a foul in the last thirty seconds of the game.


MTD, Sr.

[Rich]

It goes without saying that I'd rather not call any marginal fouls.

But I especially don't want to call a fourth or fifth on anyone, especially an impact player who will not either have to play differently or will be out of the game if it's not an obvious, necessary foul.

I'd just rather know. A lot of top officials I've spoken with and have heard speak agree with me. Others don't. I'm just telling you where I sit on this.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Rich

... especially an impact player.

Special players getting special treatment isn't just an NBA concept.

That's not my bag, it doesn't seem like the intent and purpose of the rules, but I understand how it accepted by many others.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by harmbu

I am asking as the Athletic Director who hired the official score keeper. She came to me after the game asking why an official would ask.

I am not trying to stir anything up. I just wanted to know if this is a common practice that I need fo be aware of.

It's a good practice for an official to be aware of foul trouble, but not to explicitly ask. Later in games I will sometimes have the 2 scorers confirm they have the same players with 3 or more fouls.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by harmbu

I am asking as the Athletic Director who hired the official score keeper. She came to me after the game asking why an official would ask.

I am not trying to stir anything up. I just wanted to know if this is a common practice that I need fo be aware of.

It might not be common practice, but I will and have asked questions about what is a stat or two that might explain the first half or give us some idea as to what might happen in the second half. There might be a reason they are asking because the coach might have made a big deal out of it. So they want to know so they are aware of what the coach is talking about. Honestly, if I ask those questions, I do not care why others might not care. I am asking for myself.

A few weeks ago I asked in a college game for what one of the teams shot in the first half. I was opposite the table and the stat guy was right next to me, so I asked him what was the percentage. It helped me figure out that that was not going to continue and we would have a much closer game in the second half. The team that shot the high percentage ended up losing. No one was in foul trouble, but I might have asked if it was a factor in the game. Any information a crew can have can help them tell figure out what is happening or what might happen.

Peace

[SC Official]

I don’t care about who the best players on the team are. The “quality” of basketball taking a dip is not something I get bent out of shape over and quite frankly think it’s a myth that officials buy into for some reason. Not sure why we would let the fact that the best player is on the bench f*ck our game up.

I do, however, care about who the GFUs are, even if that includes one of the best players (if the best player is staring down an opponent every time he scores, I don’t need him in the game).