Reaching out of your area

[Rich]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

To me personally, time and score is irrelevant when making calls. The rules and casebook (approved rulings) do not mention that one should change calls based on time and score, so doing that would not be game management, but game manipulation. It is not my business whether the game is competitive or a laugher, my only issue is to make sure that players play legally and safely.

You can be 100% on the science of officiating, but if you are a 0% on the art of officiating you won't get anywhere.

The one thing I'll say is this -- plays are clipped and sent in for all sports without context, so you can't just make stuff up, be incorrect, and use the "but it was a 40 point game" thing. But Raymond is right -- a true 50/50 call -- and I know how I'm calling it.

Example -- ball shoots out of bounds with 5 minutes left in a 30 point game. I have no idea who it went off of, but it was close either way. It's going to the losing team without a second thought.

I suppose you'd get help and then, failing to get help, would go to the arrow?

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by Rich

Example -- ball shoots out of bounds with 5 minutes left in a 30 point game. I have no idea who it went off of, but it was close either way. It's going to the losing team without a second thought.

I suppose you'd get help and then, failing to get help, would go to the arrow?

Agreed.

I have been in this situation, and sometimes forgetting about the time/score, I ask for help. And then my partner lackadaisically points the direction of the winning team and we're stuck, when the best option was just to give it to the losing team from the get-go.

I've also been in situations where a partner awards the ball to the losing team on a non-obvious OOB decision, and the other partner comes racing in to give help and the ball gets given to the winning team.

[SC Official]

I'm completely opposed to passing on 100% obvious fouls and violations based on time/score, or giving the ball to the losing team when everyone in the gym knows the ball went OOB off them. That opens the door for the winning coach to complain about how we "stopped officiating" and send in plays, and that's a call I never want to get from an assigner.

But if it's truly a play that could go either way when judged in real time, give the benefit of the doubt to the team getting slaughtered. And by all means don't miss anything obvious against the winning team. If that means grabbing something marginal that will keep the losing coach at bay, so be it. If the winning coach wants to complain, let him do so and any assigner worth his salt will ignore him.

[ChuckS]

I totally agree with 50/50 calls benefitting the team getting killed. But when I started, I would have veteran partners give the ball to that team to start the 4th Q, even though the arrow favored the winning team. Being a rookie I didn't say anything. Now I do. Typically it's Rec or travel, but it did also occur in a couple of HS JV games.