Made the tip motion for over and back.

[williebfree]

Originally posted by Junker
There is no tip signal in Fed. mechanics. Your over and back signal followed by the direction the ball will be inbounded to and a point to the spot where the ball is to be inbounded should be all you use "by the book". If the coach is looking at you with that puzzled look or worse, you can use the "tip" signal to indicate to him what happened.

I agree with this approach, because the official has followed the proper mechanics and then used additional communication "Tip signal" to clarify the call.

The BIG issue with the "tip signal" is its overuse and misappropriate use. I have had a "partner", who is primarily a baseball umpire, use the "Tip signal" on an attempted shot block in MY primary area as I was whistling a foul on the shot.

We have a number of BB officials who also work baseball and do a great job in both. Unfortunately, a small sector of them carry-over baseball mechanics.

As implied, there are obviously more issues than just the use of "tip signals" with this official who has crossed-over from baseball without investing the same energy in building his rules knowledge and understanding the idiosyncrasies of basketball officiating. His umpiring skills are top-notch (from what I can judge, I do not umpire baseball); he has worked many play-offs and a couple of state championships in both baseball and softball, but as noted he is not at the same level in BB. (Smacks of a similar thread, doesn't it .)

I have had friendly discussions with him about this behavior and he acknowledges he should change, but I still see it happening.