I was watching some of an NBA game last night and my wife hit me with this one. . ."How come they only play 2 halves in college, when everyone else plays 4 quarters?" I was stumped. I never really thought about it before. So now I pose the same question to you all-- Why do they play 2 halves in the college game only?

To weed out-of-shape officials from the game?
To speed up the game because the Men and Women often play back-to-back?

H.S. ballers are just learning so they need more breaks.

College ball is the purest basketball we have so it has to have the best timeframe to work in.

NBA ball sux and is not really from this planet so I have no idea why they go 1/4s.

AAR

I guess Basketball was always 2 halves, then gradually rulebooks changed to 4 quarters, and ALMOST all have.....

I have done significant research about high school sports in the State of New Hampshire, and from at least the early 1930's until the present, we have played 8 minute quarters.

Since the first Presidential Primaries are in NH, I assume that other states are not allowed to change the timing of their games unless we do. :) (How's that for warped cause/effect reasoning?)

Doesn't it just fire you up when your Wife (A) watches a sporting event with you (B) is observant enough to notice that rule difference and (C) never mind.

I don't know why NCAA (and WNBA, I think) play halves instead of quarters. I like the halves better, personally; if for no other reason than that you eliminate two "mandatory" time-outs per game.

Interestingly, MA has used halves for HS ball for years. And b/c of this, the NFHS has barred any MA rep from chairing the FED rules committee.

We're thinking about going back to quarters b/c of eligibility issues for players who play both JV and Varsity. Since you're only allowed to play 2 halves of ball per day, if you play just 2 minutes of the JV game you've used up one of your halves, and you can only play half of the Varsity game.

Those are the rules that define where decorations on the team jersey must be, if the team name has a decoration associated with it. They strike me as contradictory (a tail must be below the number, but a logo must be above the number) and unnecessary.

Men's 30+ League here normally has two halves. The first half is limited to 20 minutes and the second half ends within about 12 minutes. Which is enough time to Whack a player for abusive behavior towards one of us then to Whack his buddy for arguing about the first Whack.

Inevitably, either of them or both of them will entertain us with the idea of, "Go ahead and give us a freakin' second one what are you waiting for @ssh0le!!!", which of course does get it for them.

By this time the game is out of reach anyway and all hell breaks out, so it's time to go home. Yep, 12 minute second half.

No. Nor do they institute a monetary penalty as some of the other leagues which are discussed around here do.

Actually I'm beginning to enjoy them more when they do become a bit heated, as my calls are quicker and they seem to carry more emphasis with them.

What's really surprising is after the game is over just about all of them will come by my partner and I and compliment us along with the, "There's NO WAY I'd ever ref one of these games." comments.

I'm confused (my usual state). Are you suggesting they play 4 halves? :confused:

I've been told that in europe (notice all lower case), they play 3.15367845932 metric parsecs, same as on the Klingon home world (note the upper case K). :D

After reading the title, this thread hasn't taken the direction I thought it would!

Are you on crack? :D

He probably is but not all the time...only ALMOST ALWAYS.