"The Tower Philosophy"

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by Jimgolf
It's like saying if we call double dribbles, we'll interrupt the flow of the game, so let's allow double dribbles.

The number of fouls called in games has not seemed to me to have significantly decreased over the years despite the allowal of more contact. Years ago there were a lot of cheap fouls called. Now there are a lot of hard fouls called. Which is better for play? Which is safer for the players?

There was a time when officials would go thru all kinds of gyrations to make a simple call. I worked with two 30+ year officials yesterday and both said there was a time when they would just make a call and their signals were not important. They would say they would watch officials call the game and they would be confused what they called. In their words they stated to me, at least now a day you know what the younger officials have called. Everything that once was does not make it good or right.

Let me take this a step further. These players are more athletic, stronger and faster. If we call the game the way you suggest we would be in the bonus and shoot FTs instead of playing the game. I also do not think anyone just ignores violations; we just do not call very borderline and suspect violations. If I have to guess that he traveled, he did not travel. I know a lot of officials that call things because it looked funny. So just making a call to make a call is not a good thing. I see coaches get really upset when you call something they cannot understand than making calls that everyone can see.

Peace