I was on the way to a game the other day and was thinking, "Is it possible to get through an entire game with no fouls?" Has anyone heard of a game like this? Just curious.

[Edited by brandan89 on Oct 27th, 2004 at 11:12 PM]

I've reffed many games with no fingernail files and none of my files that contain old pictures and bills and so forth. I can't imagine a game with no fouls... I've made it through a whole quarter of a varsity boys game before with only one foul. Both teams were in a zone and neither team had much of an inside threat - it was a 3-point shooting contest.

Z

????? files?????

I'm guessing you mean FOULS.


If so, I've had some halfs that were close but not 0. Perhaps 1-2 or 2-3 for the half. I've had a team with 0 fouls at the half...the other had 5-6 and had no complaint about it since they were way ahead.

I had a game once with no fouls or violations called by me until late in the 3rd quarter. One of the smoothest games I've ever worked, ended up calling two fouls for the entire game. My partner didn't have to call much of anything either. Was hoping I would make it through the game without having to call anything, but, alas, it didn't happen.

I went an entire half with no foul calls once. At half-time my partner asked if I was enjoying the game and how much I had to pay for such good seats. :D

I once called my first foul with 52 seconds left in the first half. I keep my files at home.

[Edited by Tim Roden on Oct 24th, 2004 at 10:51 PM]

Two seasons ago I called a 2-man system GV game at one of the smallest schools in the state. They lost by about 60 and were down 40-2 at the half. We called only ONE foul in the entire game! That is my record low.

Couple years back in a rec leagues I used to work, two guys decided they were done being refs. Spring girls rec game...they decided they were going to go an entire game calling no fouls or violations....just line calls.

Needless to say, they're done.

That's pretty amazing, Nevada. I would think there would be more than one foul, just by accident.

Best I ever did was no fouls by either official for the first 6 minutes of the game (Boys HS Var). The game was broadcast on local cable access and the announcer was stunned when he double-checked the team fouls. "And I think. . .wow. . . yes, that's the first foul of the game!"

The only whistles in that first 6 minutes were for a couple OOB. Pretty nice.

at a camp this summer, the half time score had red blowing white out of the gym. the clinicians talked to us about managing the game and challenged us to not call a foul on white for the entire second half. they did say to not embarase ourselves but to give it a try. we only had 1 murder foul and a train wreck on them for the half.

The clinicians told you to do that? :(

we had kind of a game like that this summer also, and our clinicians told us to work on game management and to just call the obvious and get thru it...it was a 35 point game at halftime, and we went to overtime.....so much for game management...my partner could of called a foul at the end to possibly avoid the overtime, but passed on it because it was such a great come back, he didn't want the game to end...needless to say, he did buy a couple of cold "pops" after that one!!!

they absalutely did at a college camp where we had varsity boys. it wasn't a really physical game and i didn't consider it out of line, they just exaggerated the "managing the game" part because they wanted us to have it in our mind. i know i'll never forget it.

No whistle?
 

O.K., O.K. just as in real life, I'll probably get flak here for the same thing, but I think I have all of you beat.

Years ago, I did a game and did not blow my whistle for an entire half! I'm not kidding either. I was the umpire and had no calls, period.

My partner even called the lone timeout in the first half and commented to me about the lack of whistles, and I said, "you know, I haven't even blown mine yet!" This was about the 10 minute mark of the first half of a 20 minute period.

It then did become a game of sort to see if it was possible to go an entire half without a whistle.

Truth be told, my partner only blew his whistle 4 times that half! We had one time out and 2 fouls with one OOB! The game was just up and down the court with both teams simply pouring in the points. Like a previous poster said, it was a good game to watch! But alas, I must admit I did earn my money in the second half!

To this day, when I talk to the other official, we always talk about our two all time games, that one and the one where a player hit 16 3's in one HALF! Two games I will not forget.

Hey, Ripley was right...believe it or not.


goose

Call me a skeptic but I would find it IMPOSSIBLE to not have a foul for an entire quarter let alone a half. Somebody is not watchin the off ball activity or is simply ignoring contact violations. IMO

:confused:

Not IMPOSSIBLE. Consider one team that is dramatically more skilled than the other. They're so fast/quick that they other team doesn't even get close enough to foul them. They fast/quick enough to pick off the passes well away from the opponents.

I've seen it happen. One team was not even good enough to foul them.

Also, if its 45-3, I'm NOT calling a foul on the team with 3 unless they knock the other player down in the process.

I've had several games where one team is really focusing on playing good, fundamental defense. They are moving their feet, keeping their hands out and not committing fouls. Unfortunately this usually leads to a very lopsided foul count.

But, imagine if you will, both teams doing this... You could go quite a while with no fouls.

Camron, while I agree with your philosophy on this, I would add one other thing I'm going to call--any foul that looks like a frustration foul, even if it's not severe. I want to put a stop to that kind of play before it goes any further. In my experience, you can often stop it by calling it the first time it happens.

First, contact is ALLOWED, as long as it does not disadvantage the opponent, so judgment is not ignoring.

Second, I've had games where both teams walked it up, neither team pressed, both played a passive zone, and both shot a lot of 3 pointers, so there was not much of anything to call.

Just because you may feel that there has to be something to call, does not mean you should begin calling stuff. If the game is well played and has great flow, you would only screw it up.

If two teams are playing a good clean game, why should I as an official interupt it with a foul call when there is no disadvantage created on the foul. You play a good game and I will wait until a mugging happens before I blow the thing. On the other hand, if you can't play right I will stay there all night blowing the whistle until I see you straighten up. Each game is different and you must adjust.

First of all, of course contact is allowed. Obviously, I was referring to contact that results in a foul. Secondly, I will adjust my word of IMPOSSIBLE to UNLIKELY since it could happen that no fouls would be called. However, I am not considering the imaginative scenario that is highly unlikely to occur as a viable situation. Like I said before, JMO.