For IAABO Members Eyes Only ...
 

Members of my local IAABO board have to take a locally generated twenty-five question Mechanics Exam.

Here was the first question:

1) The referee will summon the visiting team head coach and captains while the umpire will summon the home team head coach and captains for the pregame meeting. Is this correct? No 13-B-1-C, D

I answered "Yes", because that's the way, and the only way, that we've been doing it for forty years.

And I got it wrong, here's the citation:

2019-20 IAABO Mechanics Manual: 13-B-1-C, D: The referee will summon the home and visiting team head coaches. The umpire will summon the home and visiting team captains.

So I checked out last year's IAABO Mechanics Manual:

2018-19 IAABO Mechanics Manual: 11-B-1-C, D: The referee will summon the visiting team’s head coach and captains(s). The umpire will summon the home team’s head coach and captains(s).

As far as I know, this unannounced change wasn't publicized in any recent IAABO publication, nor was it announced at our local board's annual interpretation meeting (new rules, Points of Emphasis, etc.).

Anybody know the story behind this unannounced change ?

Too many officials were getting 100% on the exam and IAABO wanted fewer perfect scores.

Bill:

I would suggest that you contact Roger MacTavish, Chairman of the IAABO Rules Examination Committee.

MTD, Sr.

Buy Local ...
 

I believe that this was a locally produced mechanics exam not the IAABO Refresher Exam.

News to me too. Massachusetts just held its annual state interpretation clinic that was attended by IAABO’s new executive director and one of the national rules coordinators and I don’t recall this being mentioned. T.J. Halliday is primarily responsible for editing the mechanics manual. Contact me privately and I’ll give you his email address.

Coaches And Captains ...
 

Already got it. I'll see what transpires at our November meeting in a few weeks and report back.

Does anyone else hate these kind of questions? The ones that REALLY have nothing to do with the game. Let's say the R summons the wrong team or captains or whatever....... does anyone care?

Changes (David Bowie, 1971) ...
 

In this rare case, no. It was only due to the question that we became aware of the change, which will generate some discussion.

I think hamnegger's point is that the directive and change are meaningless: i.e., who cares which official summons which bench--as long as both teams get there?

Discussion? What's to discuss? Both versions--old and new--are micro-management.

He's A Rebel (The Crystals, 1962) ...
 

... But just because he doesn't do what everybody else does ...

Whether or not we will be doing something different, and teaching something different to our rookies, for the first time in forty years due to this unannounced "international" change. Our state board and local board almost always go along with IAABO mechanics, but not always.

If indeed the directive is truly "meaningless", then why not do it the prescribed way instead of the another way?

If the directive wasn't "meaningless", and had some real impact, then sure, one could argue that doing it one way has advantages or disadvantages over doing it another way, or no way at all, just do it haphazardly or randomly.

Along the same lines, who cares which official checks the scorebook pregame, or which official observes which team during warmups, or which official tosses the jump ball, or which official administers the throw-in to start the second, third and fourth periods?

Certainly not the fans, nor the coaches, nor the players, nor the local newspaper sports reporter, nor the lady running the concession stand, nor the police officer standing in the corner of the gym.

So if nobody cares, let's do all of these "meaningless" things haphazardly and randomly.

"What? Not listed? I thought that you checked the scorebook?"

"No, please, you toss the ball."

"Why are we both observing the home team."

"No, you administer the throwin this period, I'll do it next period."

Or, maybe we could just go through some type of checklist to pregame these "meaningless" duties before we walk out onto the court. Different games, different duties, different officials.

Or, how's this for a crazy idea, just incorporate these "meaningless" duties into the rulebook and mechanics manual and keep these "meaningless" duties consistent from game to game, maybe even from state to state, and use our pregame conference for more important things.

Right way, wrong way? Was IAABO doing it the "wrong way" for years, then suddenly woke up and changed to the "right way"? That's the point: there is no objectively right or wrong way, only what is prescribed--for no discernible reason.

OK, I've made my thinking known. The field is all yours, Billy.

Prescribed Way ...
 

Thanks. Good point, my error (fixed it), how about just "way", not right or wrong, good or bad, just "way", or in your terms "prescribed" way.

Exactly my point, I don't know, it was an unannounced change.

What was "wrong", if anything, with the decades old way?

I'm very curious as to why.

Maybe it came to the mechanics editor in a dream?

It happens.

Friedrich Kekulé discovered that the structure of benzene contained a ring of six carbon atoms with alternating single and double bonds after having a dream about a snake biting its own tail.

This is relevant for a Crew of Two only, because in a Crew of Three, the U1 summons home captains, U2 summons the visiting captains, and the Referee summons the head coaches, once he is done with his spiel at the table.

Variety Is The Spice Of Life ...
 

Boring. C'mon, live dangerously, change it up. Be a rebel.

I was highlighting why the question was irrelevant. Most of the basketball world uses 3-person crews. The PSAL switched to 3 this season for Class AA basketball (the larger schools).