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-   -   Messy situation, rule mistake (https://forum.officiating.com/basketball/23624-messy-situation-rule-mistake.html)

zebraman Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:15pm

I'm U1 in a 3-person game last Friday night. R is a very strong official and a strong personality too. When you ref with him, he runs the show. I have no problem with that, he usually captains a good ship. Right before the first half ends, U2 makes a good call on B1. Team A is in the bonus. Clock is stopped correctly and shows 0.2 (two tenths).

R is going to administer free throws and he starts to clear the lane. I jog down to talk to him and say, "why are you clearing the lane?" He says, "that's the rule with less than 3 tenths. Nobody can score. The half is over after the free throws."

I say, "that's wrong Joe, a tap can score. Plus, lots more can happen... a foul.. many things." He insists he's right. I explain again and he insists he's right in a tone of voice that tells me that it isn't up for further discussion. I make one final plea and say, "Joe, we have to finish out the half. We can't walk off the floor before the buzzer goes off, let alone with 2 tenths showing on the clock." Joe glares at me and I don't want a big scene so I back off.

Now our U2 comes over and Joe gives him the same explanation. U2 says, "that's wrong." R insists he's right. Both coaches want an explanation so Joe goes over to explain it to them. I pull the U2 out to center court because it's a no-win situation. We face the players (everyone now huddled around their bench except for the shooter) and watch. Both coaches insist he's wrong but Joe is dug in now. This debacle takes about 3 minutes. The coaches finally relent and Joe administers a lane-cleared free throw. First one misses and Joe sounds his whistle to end the half. We walk off to catcalls and boos as the clock displays 0.2

As soon as we get in the locker room, I get out the case book and educate Joe. He gets quiet, sheepish, then apologizes. As soon as we get out for the 2nd half, he apologizes to both coaches. They're not happy, but neither one of them strangle him. The rest of the game goes OK, but the cloud of a major screw-up hangs over my house as I go to bed Friday night. It didn't affect the outcome of the game but it felt wretched.

By the way, Joe has great court presence. :rolleyes:

Z

JRutledge Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:40pm

Maybe he had high test scores.
 
You mean you both allowed an official to administer a rule that did not exist?

WOW!!!!

It sounds like those test scores could not help you on this one.

Peace


zebraman Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:04am

We sure did. It came down to choosing between having a big scene (I.E. argument between a crew of officials) and stepping aside. Hopefully he learned his lesson that if both partners are telling you you're wrong and both coaches too, you just might be wrong. :D

At the time, I thought the most professional thing to do was get into the locker room and deal with it there. It was a no-win either way.

Z

tomegun Mon Dec 12, 2005 05:18am

Before you said too much to him, I would suggest a statement that starts with, "for the record..." That is all you can do. All the court presence in the world doesn't matter if you are so stubborn that two officials and two coaches think you're wrong and you won't budge. You should report this incident. Maybe the game has passed old Joe by.

IREFU2 Mon Dec 12, 2005 08:17am

You need to tell your commissioner or assigner what happened so this will not happen to no one else. I had the same problem with a partner and he totally embarrased me in a game. I got him straight at the end of the game and told the commissioner. Never had a problem with him again.

mick Mon Dec 12, 2005 09:12am

Quote:

Originally posted by zebraman
As soon as we get in the locker room, I get out the case book and educate Joe. He gets quiet, sheepish, then apologizes.
Z,
I would have done the same as you.
Is Joe a 50-60 year-old official who's synapses are failing?
mick

Ref Daddy Mon Dec 12, 2005 09:51am


Sounds like a real tough situation.

An alternative: Call and officials time out. All three officials meet ... quickly. Would simulanious two against noe have helped him see the basic logic and accuracy of your argumant?


ChrisSportsFan Mon Dec 12, 2005 09:53am

That's a tough situation but I don't know what else you could have done. It seems that both coaches recognized that you and your other partner knew what was right but you were getting railroaded. The only thing that would have been worse is if he continued to defend himself at halftime.

rockyroad Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:54pm

Quote:

Originally posted by zebraman

I say, "that's wrong Joe, a tap can score. Plus, lots more can happen... a foul.. many things."

By the way, Joe has great court presence. :rolleyes:

Z

Hmmm...I know this wasn't Joe T., as I worked with him on Friday night...was it by any chance Joe J. - aka "Jumping Joe"??

zebraman Mon Dec 12, 2005 02:49pm

Quote:

Originally posted by rockyroad
Quote:

Originally posted by zebraman

I say, "that's wrong Joe, a tap can score. Plus, lots more can happen... a foul.. many things."

By the way, Joe has great court presence. :rolleyes:

Z

Hmmm...I know this wasn't Joe T., as I worked with him on Friday night...was it by any chance Joe J. - aka "Jumping Joe"??

No. I used "Joe" to protect the innocent. I'm not going to out my real partner.

Z

KenThree Mon Dec 12, 2005 03:09pm

Zebraman,
You did the right thing at the moment. Doing the "right thing at the moment" and the "right thing" are often different with time and hindsight. I think as officials we all try to do the "right thing at the moment" and have chat forums like this to make sure we did the "right thing".

In a much more serious but proper analogy, the air marshall wishes he hadn't shot the mentally ill guy last week in Miami, but did what he had to do at the time based on the situation and knowledge he had.

The Saturday Morning Quarterbacks will tell you that you didn't follow the rules, but you moved forward. Nobody is going to be honest and tell you that they would have stood against a partner in that situation.

The actions, as suggested by others in this thread, after the game are the "right thing" to do now.

KenThree

RookieDude Mon Dec 12, 2005 03:50pm

Quote:

Originally posted by zebraman
Quote:

Originally posted by rockyroad
Quote:

Originally posted by zebraman

I say, "that's wrong Joe, a tap can score. Plus, lots more can happen... a foul.. many things."

By the way, Joe has great court presence. :rolleyes:

Z

Hmmm...I know this wasn't Joe T., as I worked with him on Friday night...was it by any chance Joe J. - aka "Jumping Joe"??

No. I used "Joe" to protect the innocent. I'm not going to out my real partner.

Z

Z...when I first read your post I was thinking Joe T. as well...mainly because you said strong court presence (Afterall, he did the WA 4A championship game last year)
but, in the few dealings I had with him...I didn't think he would be that stubborn.

Speaking of court presence...when I went to the 4A state playoffs last year, I knew some of the officials that were there...but, for the most part I had never seen many of them work.
It was kind of funny...as I sat in the first meeting, I decided to "pick" the 3 officials that I thought would make the Final game. How did I pick them? On their presence in the meeting...how they communicated with the staff...how they interacted with their peers.

Joe T. was one of the officials I picked. In fact I got 2 out of the 3 officials that worked the Final without ever seeing any of them work.

What's that got to do with anything? I dunno, just that IMO presence, communication and interaction (managing people) all have an intrical part of officiating, and the officials that have this skill can usually go far in this avocation.

Your "captain" didn't listen to his deck hands...IMO, that's why you feel bad z...you couldn't quite communicate what, in most cases, probably comes easy for you.

rockyroad Mon Dec 12, 2005 05:26pm

Quote:

Originally posted by RookieDude

Z...when I first read your post I was thinking Joe T. as well...mainly because you said strong court presence (Afterall, he did the WA 4A championship game last year)
but, in the few dealings I had with him...I didn't think he would be that stubborn.

Speaking of court presence...when I went to the 4A state playoffs last year, I knew some of the officials that were there...but, for the most part I had never seen many of them work.
It was kind of funny...as I sat in the first meeting, I decided to "pick" the 3 officials that I thought would make the Final game. How did I pick them? On their presence in the meeting...how they communicated with the staff...how they interacted with their peers.

Joe T. was one of the officials I picked. In fact I got 2 out of the 3 officials that worked the Final without ever seeing any of them work.

What's that got to do with anything? I dunno, just that IMO presence, communication and interaction (managing people) all have an intrical part of officiating, and the officials that have this skill can usually go far in this avocation.

Your "captain" didn't listen to his deck hands...IMO, that's why you feel bad z...you couldn't quite communicate what, in most cases, probably comes easy for you.

I would agree with all of the above...about the "real" Joe and the "imaginary" Joe...sometimes it comes down to which battle you think you can win. In this case, all the information was given and the partner wouldn't listen - let him/her take the crap that hits the fan later. I would make certain that the assignor heard about it from me BEFORE hearing about it from coaches.

rainmaker Tue Dec 13, 2005 02:12am

Quote:

Originally posted by rockyroad
Quote:

Originally posted by RookieDude

Z...when I first read your post I was thinking Joe T. as well...mainly because you said strong court presence (Afterall, he did the WA 4A championship game last year)
but, in the few dealings I had with him...I didn't think he would be that stubborn.

Speaking of court presence...when I went to the 4A state playoffs last year, I knew some of the officials that were there...but, for the most part I had never seen many of them work.
It was kind of funny...as I sat in the first meeting, I decided to "pick" the 3 officials that I thought would make the Final game. How did I pick them? On their presence in the meeting...how they communicated with the staff...how they interacted with their peers.

Joe T. was one of the officials I picked. In fact I got 2 out of the 3 officials that worked the Final without ever seeing any of them work.

What's that got to do with anything? I dunno, just that IMO presence, communication and interaction (managing people) all have an intrical part of officiating, and the officials that have this skill can usually go far in this avocation.

Your "captain" didn't listen to his deck hands...IMO, that's why you feel bad z...you couldn't quite communicate what, in most cases, probably comes easy for you.

I would agree with all of the above...about the "real" Joe and the "imaginary" Joe...sometimes it comes down to which battle you think you can win. In this case, all the information was given and the partner wouldn't listen - let him/her take the crap that hits the fan later. I would make certain that the assignor heard about it from me BEFORE hearing about it from coaches.

Just curious, Rocky (see related thread about "tattling"), what would you say to the assignor? I mean specifically, what actual words would you say?

tomegun Tue Dec 13, 2005 07:01am

Quote:

Originally posted by Ref Daddy

Sounds like a real tough situation.

An alternative: Call and officials time out. All three officials meet ... quickly. Would simulanious two against noe have helped him see the basic logic and accuracy of your argumant?


How many timeouts do officials have? :rolleyes:


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