H.S. basketball season is just getting under way around here.

I like to do a few Middle School games for "warm-ups" before the actual H.S. Varsity contests begin.

Monday night, me and two other H.S. Varsity officials officiated a 7th and 8th grade game.

Everything was going great...the play wasn't to bad for 7th grade boys...and we hadn't heard a peep from the coaches.

4th Qt. a buck 40 left...Home Team A has the ball down by 4 pts. Player A1 is bringing the ball up court as Coach A yells something...I turn around as I pass A's bench (New Lead) and I see the coach looking at his player yelling something "OUT". I know now that he was saying "TIME OUT"...but, I couldn't understand him at the time and he wasn't looking at me or giving any signals at all. For all I new he was yelling out a play like "SIDE OUT" or something...anyway, A1 ended up losing the ball OOB.

Coach A comes 3 steps out on the court and goes balistic. "I was CALLING time out! You didn't give me a TIME OUT!" I calmly walk the coach back to his box and tell him I didn't understand what he wanted. He kept it up...I told him that was enough...he kept it up...I whacked him.

Now, with the 50 or so fans and all the kids watching this coach...he goes even more nuts...I tell him that's enough...he says, "I don't care give me another one"...Whack...thumb extension, "Coach, you are ejected".

AD escorted him out.
I talked to the AD after the 7th grade game...he saw it all and agreed with me. I guess the guy isn't a teacher there, but works at the local H.S. (maybe a janitor...who knows)

I also didn't let the coach come back into the gym for the 8th grade game...one official said, "I don't know if we can do that"...I said we are doing it...and we did. :)

I think I'm warmed up now...;)

One cannot fathum the number of words and sounds waffling through a gym that (to me) can sound like "Time" or Time Out".

Hard call to make.

Hear it.
Visually verify it.
Check for team possession.
Grant it.

That takes a few seconds.

I like to tell the coaches before the game "Guys, give me the "T" signal along with the verbal if you want a time-out. If you don't wanna do that, then don't blame me if I miss a request". If it's a noisy gym, the visual signal is always better.

I hate that damn rule that allows a head coach to request a TO.

3-Man crew for Junior High? Are you nuts?

Nah...we like to kind of get back into the swing of doing 3-person...like I said, it's kind of a warm up for us. Also, we get a chance to work with newer officials who haven't done 3-person as much...good training time...as these officials will be doing 3-person for their H.S. Frosh/Soph/J.V/and Varsity games.

JR...good suggestion on asking the Coaches to give a visual signal if we can't hear the request.

Hate to say it, but it's one more rule that the NBA has right.

I know what you mean about not being able to hear or understand the coach. Tonite JV boys. Mid 4th Qtr I am T in front of home team table side. Kid drives to bucket from my primary. Loses ball OOB. I, nor partner, have nothing. No foul. Coach goes off on his kid. What he says & what I hear are two different things. I hear "THAT'S BULL$HIT" I immediately hit the whistle and whack this guy. I am thinking he is screaming at my partner because of a no call. Well then he looks at me and can't believe I whacked him. I told coach what I heard and he countered with a "I would never say that" I called partner over and we discussed what she may have heard compared to me. What I was told he said was "Don't Force It". Cleaned up this mess by taking the whack away and giving the ball to visitors. Both coaches were ok with result of clean-up and even had the coach meet us in the hallway right before we left to say we did a good job. That made me feel better as I drove to work. It's crazy how some statements can get turned around in a loud gym.....

It can be real tough to hear them sometimes. JV girls game last night noisy gym, visiting team is bringing ball up court & being pressured in back court. The visiting coach is screaming something, but neither my partner nor I could understand what she was saying. Home defender tips the ball OOB & VC yells at us "why didn't you give me the time out?" - turns out what she was yelling was "time". I told her that the word "time" is ambiguous, that she needs to say "time out" clearly, & it would help a lot if she gave a visual signal at the same time.

For the coaches who are reading this -- it helps if you know and say the official's name. We are all tuned to listen for and respond when we hear our name. So, if a coach indicates, "Bob -- give me a time out" I'm more likley to hear it and, thus, grant the TO. Without the name, it just gets lost in the background of other things the coach is yelling.

Excellent point. If I hear a coach say, "Joe, blah blah blah," then I know they're talking to me. On the other hand, if they say, "Hey a$$hole, blah, blah, blah," I just assume they're talking to my partners. :D

I've said for some time, that granting time outs can be one of the hardest thing for officials, especially when working 2 man. So much can happen in the very little amount of time it takes to turn your head to see that they want a time out. Last year, in one game I granted 2 time outs late that were a little questionable because by the time I looked to the coach to confirm, the ball was loose. Both went against the home team, who's coach needed a T early, and eventually lost. Possibly my worst night of the year last season, primarily because of when I granted a couple of time outs.

A lot of times, the situation can dictate the time out. If team A goes on an 8 point run, after the basket, I'll give a quick glance to the coach of team B. Most times (9 out of 10) the coach will take the time out. Close games, I tune in more to the coach, because I know they are trying to work for their W.

Where does it say that in the rule book?

Whoa.....

That decision is entirely up to the individual league, state office, whatever. It's never an official's decision. We have no rule book backing to suspend anyone from their next game, no matter how much we'd like to.

Handle with care.

You're right you're right..my mistake. Brain fart for a minute. I deleted the post. Sorry guys.

In last night's BV game, I am the lead (3 man) table side, along the base line. A1 is bringing the ball up court against a press in a loud gym. The trail is nearing mid court as the ball crosses midcourt. Coach yells to trail for a time out. Trail did not hear the coach or see the signal. I am looking at the two post players, C has a matchup on his side. We all miss the request. A1 does not. He stops his dribble, drops the ball and begins walking towards his coach. B1 picks up the ball and goes for an uncontested lay up. Ouch!

Coaches need to realize that the request can get missed by the refs and they need to try for eye contact with a ref when making a request. This coach made the request and turned away, assuming his gesture was seen. A1 was the real idiot on this play - to drop the ball without hearing a whistle. We all looked bad on that one. Lesson learned. As I looked up and saw what seem to be transpiring - I visibly see my matchup players relax and begin walking toward the bench, B1 picks up the ball at that point. Should I have blown my whistle and granted what seemed to be an obvious (in retrospect) time out request - lying, saying a saw the request? That would have bailed out my partner, but I did not think quick enough to do that. Now I am second guessing if I should have done that. What do you think?

No problem; I don't think you had to delete the post. We're all here to learn, and goodness knows I've made my share of mistakes. (Pre-emptive: shut up.)

But JR has it right - there's no rule book basis for preventing a coach or player to participate in future games. Now, if you've received word from your league or assignor that you have that authority, then by all means take care of it. But that's usually handled at the upper levels and not at our game level.

Dear Rookie Dude,

I happen to be a "Janitor"! I'm offended by your narrow-minded comment implying that a "Janitor" is inferior to someone else that may work at the school.

I'm required to be able to operate and repair complicated floor cleaning equipment. I'm very well trained on chemicals used in our industry and maintain my company's library of MSDS Sheets. I can rig and operate very sophisticated window cleaning scaffolding and I am trusted with the safety of my crews on high-rise work.

What is it that you do for work that is so outstanding? Dude? It can't involve "listening" as you are obviously unable to understand the words "Time Out".

An Offended Janitor

Dear Rookie Dude,

I happen to be a "Janitor"! I'm offended by your narrow-minded comment implying that a "Janitor" is inferior to someone else that may work at the school.

I'm required to be able to operate and repair complicated floor cleaning equipment. I'm very well trained on chemicals used in our industry and maintain my company's library of MSDS Sheets. I can rig and operate very sophisticated window cleaning scaffolding and I am trusted with the safety of my crews on high-rise work.

What is it that you do for work that is so outstanding? Dude? It can't involve "listening" as you are obviously unable to understand the words "Time Out".

An Offended Janitor

I think you have to let things happen as they did. We can't guess at what is happening (and then lie about it). We have to call what we see/hear. The "offended" team will learn a valuable lesson: A time out is not a time out until an official grants it.

I know how hard it is to hear when a coach is calling for a time out. I was doing a game when the coach was yelling inside out. They were in process of making an uncontested shot and blow my whistle and give the coach what I thought was a time out and waived off the basket.

I would like to see the coaches hold up a colored paddle telling the official they are requesting a time out.
Red for a full timeout and Blue for a 30. would help.

I had a very similar situation in a girls JH game the other night. Thankfully, my coach didn't go bananas, though for a second, it looked like he might. I got him calmed down and we discussed it after the game. Essentially, I said that the rule allowing a coach timeout when I'm supposed to be calling the game can really be a problem.

I suggest talking to coaches in the pregame introductions. Say 2 things: 1) Coach, if you are up, we need you in the box at ALL times; that rule will be strictly enforced. 2) Coach, we need you to give us a visible signal for timeout or you risk us not seeing it. If you have to get slightly out of the box to get our attention, that's fine, but only for that reason.

Notice, I didn't say "you risk us not calling it" as the rules allow for a oral timeout call. For the life of me, I can't figure out why the fed allows this as it has both ruined the idea of getting your kids to call timeout, and in gyms that are loud, we are going to miss oral timeout calls. At the very least, they should require a signal.

:D Funny JCrow...that wasn't you operating that window cleaning scaffolding that fell the other day...was it?

In regards to not letting the coach hang around for the 8th grade game...I felt it may have induced an unsporting atmosphere for that game. Case closed. It had nothing to do with any suspensions...that comes from the school and/or the WIAA, not me. BTW, my assignor backed me 100% and said he would have done the same thing.

[Edited by RookieDude on Dec 8th, 2005 at 11:32 AM]

It's a PA rule...when I typed it originally I was thinking it was an NFHS rule, not an adopted PA rule.

Thankfully, no. In Massachusetts alone, there have been 5 fatal aaccidents in the last 3 years involving Spider Stagings. Not a very humerous subject when you consider the families.

Hmmmmmm......you say there was 1:40 left in a Game where Team A was up by 4 and as A1 dribbles up the court, his Coach is yelling "_____OUT" which you couldn't quite interpret due to the Coach's poor enounciation. You think he may have been referring to the famous "SIDE OUT" Play in basketball? Is that where the Guards, Forwards and Center all go to a corner and allow the "SIDE-OUT" to go one-on-one against the other Team's "MIDDLE-IN"?

Next, you T the Coach a few times and alter the destiny of Team A in a manner that could only be imagined in a Classical Greek Tragedy. Afterward, your aleged Assignor congratulats you on your "FEMA-like Crisis Management Style" while not thinking to himself,

"Please God...get me way from this lunatic before he hurts me, too."

I think I understand......

Lunatic...you say?

JCrow...I think you've been around your cleaning chemicals to long.
It's a 7th grade coach yelling something unintelligable to his player, not the officials...no eye contact, no signal, nothing, just some hollering that had what sounded like an "OUT" at the end. You want to grant time-outs when a coach is yelling instructions to his player, because you ASSUMED he wanted a time-out? OK...In this case, you would have been correct...so I'll take the criticism and say we kicked it.

But, "altering the destiny" of a 7th grade boys game...."Greek Tragedy"..."alleged assignors"..."T the coach a few times"....brother, you do have the flare for dramatics. :rolleyes:

A defeat like that can affect the life of a 7th grade boy.
I can see him losing respect for authority (unfair ref that wouldn't grant a TO), next it's acting out (vandalism, arson, animal cruelty), then there's a stay in a Juvenile Institution, he meets hardened, career criminals......THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW THE POOR KID IS ON "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED" for murdering a poor JANITOR like me! No wonder crime rates are soaring in America......

Agree....and it's all RookieDude's fault too.

Absooooolutely! RookieDude has done more harm to the youth of America than Pam Anderson, PlayStation and South Park combined. The guy is a menace.

No need to lie about anything. Don't say that you heard/saw something that you didn't. You can however think that something odd is happening and stop the game.

In this specific situation, you could well blow your whistle just before B1 grabs the ball and say, "Hey, partner, what the heck is going on?" because people are ceasing to play and leaving the court.

You now have an inadvertant whistle with Team A in control, so they get the ball for a throw-in due to the POI rule and you can easily take the time to confirm with Coach A that he wanted a time-out, and then grant it. All perfectly according to the rules with a little quick thinking.

PS Yes, A1 was silly for dropping the ball without hearing a whistle.