Free throw

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

As we all know, real game situations are not the same as written exam questions (or answers athletic directors and coaches want after a problem that went against them that they believe of be contrary to rules, they all have referee buddies to go to for rule citations).

It's one thing to admit that one doesn't have definite knowledge and to guess and put time on the clock. It's not correct by rule. It's not correct by interpretation. It's wrong. It can come back to bite one in the butt.

It's something else to make an educated guess without admitting there was no definite knowledge. "Coach, I spotted 0:00.02 on the clock as I sounded my whistle" (even though you didn't). Cheating? Many may see it as good game management, and it could be considered to be fair if one is certain that there was an error, or delay. If one can sleep at night after doing that, I can certainly commiserate with that.

The human brain and eye can only process certain things accurately when it comes to a clock with tenths of a second and even the light if we have one on the court or in plain view. So again I get that you would get hung up on the word definite, but if I called a foul before the horn or light, that is definite knowledge that some time would be put back on the clock. Again that could be .3 seconds, but not sure I have to know anymore than that fact. Because you said that it is OK to use a mental count, but that does not mean everyone counts that accurately either. So we are basically guessing. There are officials that do not even count the same just by looking at their visual counts, so now we are to use those things and assume that no other method applies. Just silly to me, but again I do not have to prove anything in this conversation, just stating a way to come to a reasonable conclusion.

Peace