HS and College. During a TO, the game time on the clock goes off and the TO time displays, then when the TO is finished the game time is redisplayed. Is this legal? Is the game time supposed the be displayed at all times?

I kind of like it when the clock displays the timeout time remaining and counts down. Let's me know that the timer is on top of his job and I can see clearly the time remaining in the timeout. What harm is done by doing this?

There are many such score boards in my area. The Time Out is displayed counting down until it gets to zero (that's when clueless people yell out, "Hey, stop the clock!"). Then, when the TO is over, the game time is redisplayed. This should cause no problem or confusion (just in case) because the reporting referee will ensure that the time of the Time Out is recorded in the official book.

Another reason I like this is because sometimes the timer gets distracted if they are using a watch or some other way of timing the timeout and we end up standing there for what seems like forever because the timer forgets to keep an eye on the timeout time. Then I have to guess if it seems like we've gone over 20 seconds or 45 and it looks awkward. It also takes away any homer type timers that might tend to give a little extra time to the home team during their timeouts. I think it's a good thing.

McFly. McFly. That's what I wanted to say to one fan who kept reminding me that the clock was running. 0:48...0:47...0:46 I was even watching it run down for something to do. The fact that the game was less than two minutes old escaped the dumb fan.

This issue was raised because they said the rule book must display game time at all times.

huh?

Z

I thought we weren't supposed to bring the rule book out during a game.

Sorry, I was in a hurrrrry. The issue was raised because the rule in the rule book states the game clock must be displayed at all times.

And....what rule might that be? All NF 1-15 says is that a visible game clock is mandatory. That just means you have to have a clock.

Mark, I havn't had a chance to check the book. I was told this about a college game. Her referecne was the ncaa rule book.

Bart,
After a quick perusing of the book, I find no such rule. It says 'a visible game clock is required'. She may be interpreting that to mean the score is required to be visible at all times, which I think would be incorrect. Other than that I see nothing else on it. Sounds over-officious to me.

I agree, might be reading more into it than she should.

I like it unless the countdown can't be stopped. We have a clock like that at a local school. We had a TO, the clock switched to the 60 second countdown. But both teams were ready after about 40 seconds. The timer then told me we had to wait for it to finish b/c he couldn't make it go back to the game clock. sigh.

I don't really like it. I've found myself, once in a while, having to ask the timer how much time is left in the period before ducking into my timeout huddle. Late in a quarter, it is important to know the exact amount.

NCAA
 

Duties of Timer; The official timer shall: Art. 1. Be provided with a game clock to be used for timing periods and intermissions and a stopwatch for timing timeouts.

Question is, what is the definition of a stopwatch? Can we make a case the game clock is a stopwatch when used for the TO?

Bart-->

We had this situation come up in a women's juco game last year. I went over and told the timer NOT to put up the time-out time on the clock.

The reasoning for me was that on the 75-second time outs, if the calling team breaks their huddle early, the other team must also break and play resumes. Why give the coach the option of seeing how much time he/she has left if they're ready for play?

Especially at the juco level. The coaches are not as knowledgeable about the rules there. Team A calls a full time out and breaks the huddle after 30 seconds. I go over to team B and tell them to break. The coach looks at the clock and says, "I've got 45 seconds left." It's going to take me more time to explain a rule the coach should already know than it would if there was no visible time out clock, they break the huddle, and the coach says, "That seemed quick."

Oh, and most electronic scoreboards these days have the option of the timer having a stopwatch on the board in front of him, without putting it up on the board. Teams, coaches, and fans do not need to see a running clock during time outs. All it will do is cause problems and confusion.

Good point. I've been working rec leagues and doing all the logistics of the Daktronics AS-3100 console.

Many modern scoreboards have a time-outs remaining function and automatically time the charged time-out. However, during one game, one team called an excessive time-out, and I was forced to point at the console to the official -- "NO TIME OUTS!!!!". The console had said no time outs.

We have a couple of schools here that do this. I have to say that I prefer the game time to remain on the clock during the TO. I keep having to remember to look at the clock before I report the TO to the table. I also like to be able to huddle with my partners near the end of the game if it is close and have that info up there for all of us to see.
Despite this, I have not asked any timer not to put the TO time on the board. I just deal with it the best I can that night.

Just be careful that the time displayed when you go back is automatically set at the actually the time left.

If it's done manually, you could lose up to 9/10 of a second - not a big deal at 7:45, but it's going to be huge with 1 on the clock in the 4th quarter.

You should do this everytime the whistle blows and on every change of posession (consistent with other court duties, of course).

Absolutely, Bob! While I do glance at it, I generally just am making sure that it is no longer running. I should have been more specific and written that I have to take a good look at the clock, so that I can remember the time, before I report the TO to the table and it completely disappears.

PS I don't look at it on a steal. I stay with the play.