OOB or NO CALL?

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.
Examples of "unauthorized reasons" are: a) stepping off the court to aviod a three second call; b) stepping off the court in attempt to mislead his/her opponent into thinking that he/she is not in the game and then coming back onto the court at such a time as to gain an advantage over his/her opponent, delaying returning to the court after releasing the ball on a throw-in pass (my favorite variation of this play is for A1 to inbound the ball along the endline of Team A's frontcourt and then A1 runs along the endline while out-of-bounds to the other side of the court, steps inbounds and receives the ball in a position to take an unhindered three-point field goal attempt); or c) stepping of the court to run to the drinking fountain to get a drink. All three of these plays are examples of leaving the court for "unauthorized reasons," but only (c) would not be considered deceitful in nature.

I guess it depends on your definition of the word "deceit". I don't consider these plays deceit -- they aren't trying to fool anyone. They are merely breaking the rules without realizing they have done so. Nevertheless, the play described at the beginning of this thread is clearly along the same lines as the player who steps out of bounds to get around a screen. And the Fed wants it called as a T.

I also disagree with your concept that you shouldn't call anything that requires a rules clinic to explain. Are you serious? Aren't you the one that calls three T's for the kid standing on the other kid's back to dunk the ball? Do you seriously think that won't take some explaining?