What do you say to coaches?

[rainmaker]

I am also new, like Mike Burns, and have struggled with what to say to coaches. I finally memorized a few of the rule references, and will say it to a coach who is repeatedly yelling about one thing. I do it very dispassionately, and quietly, but it usually works, They don't want to admit in front of everyone that they haven't studied the rules!

I gotta admit, though, that I had one this weekend that almost made me laugh in the coach's face. His girl had the ball near the baseline and the 3-point line. She had a very large defender on her and she was going nowhere, and neither was the ball. So she started backing the defender down toward the basket. She had got about two feet before I called it. (I was trying to figure out the physics of such a small girl moving someone so much larger. I finally realized she was timing her back-bumps to when the defender shifted her feet to try to get a little closer -- and it was working.) The coach yelled at me on the way back up the court, "Player control? She wasn't even facing her!" I said, "Coach, she can't back her down." He said, "Why not?" I was so glad I knew the reference! I just said, "Rule 10-6, Coach" Not one more work from him the rest of the game. And I laughed all the way home in the car: Why not, indeed!