Changing your partner's call

[ChuckElias]

Originally posted by Jurassic Referee
Chuck, what if I trust myself just as much as I trust you? It's not a matter of me NOT trusting you; it's a matter of me knowing that I had the call right.

But here's the thing. You didn't have the call right. That's a major point in this discussion. Psychologically, you trust your own calls. We all do. If we don't, then we don't last very long.

I guess for my own part, if I have a partner whom I trust, I am more willing to believe that I missed a call than I am to believe that my partner would stop the game with less than 100% certitude that I erred.

Once I have that faith in my partner, if s/he stops the game to correct that touchdown signal, I know that I missed the call. No matter what I think I saw, I know that s/he wouldn't be sticking his/her nose in there unless s/he was absolutely certain of the foot on the line. Since I was corrected, I was wrong.

And we're not talking about this happening on all kinds of plays all over the court. We're talking about a foot on the 3-point line in transition or in a gray area of responsibilty.