The Official Forum - FAQ - OfficialForum.com Basketball Forum

This idea was kicked around some time ago. I was bored tonight, so I typed this in...

Should I register for a membership? How much does it cost?

Absolutely you should register for a membership! It is free to register, and until you do, your actions are limited to reading posts. For some, and we could never know who or how many, reading the posts is sufficient. But to participate in the discussion, you need to register. There are many members who registered years ago and are still very active in the forum.

How do I show that I am referencing a rule from the rulebook? ...a case from the casebook?

The convention has been to reference rules with dashes, and to reference cases with dots. Here are some examples: Rule 2-3 is the elastic power rule, while case 2.3 gives examples how to implement rule 2-3. Some reference rules using R2-S3-A1 to mean Rule 2, Section 3, Article 1.

What is the difference between a Member and a Senior Member?

A newly joined participant is a Member. When that person reaches 100 posts, they are bumped to the Senior Member category.

Why doesn't the search function work?

The search function was disabled because the forum has become so large, that allowing searches using the internal search function degrades performance.

As an alternative, you can use Google's (or other search engine) advanced search functions, limiting the search to officialforum.com

Google example: catching your own shot site: officialforum.com

What rule sets are discussed?

Most posts are questions and/or discussions surrounding the Federation (Fed, NFHS) rule set. The next most common discussed posts deal with NCAA (College) rules. NBA and FIBA (International) posts do show up from time to time.

Keep in mind that many posts deal with officiating philosophies. These topics are universal, and could differ between codes, governing authorities, or in the rarest of cases, between local associations.

I see acronyms/slang in many of the posts. What do they mean?

Leagues and Their Websites
<li>NFHS, Fed, Federation : National Federation of State High School Associations, http://www.nfhs.org</li>
<li>NCAA : National Collegiate Athletic Association, http://www.ncaasports.com</li>
<li>NBA : National Basketball Association, http://www.nba.com</li>
<li>WNBA : Womens National Basketball Association, http://www.wnba.com</li>
<li>NBDL : National Basketball Development League, http://www.nbdl.com</li>
<li>NAIA : National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, http://www.naia.org</li>
<li>FIBA : Fédération Internationale de Basketball, http://www.fiba.com</li>

Divisions
<li>V : Varsity</li>
<li>BV : Boys' Varsity</li>
<li>GV : Girls' Varsity</li>
<li>JV : Junior Varsity</li>
<li>BJV : Boys' Junior Varsity</li>
<li>GJV : Girls' Junior Varsity</li>
<li>FR : Freshman</li>
<li>D-I, D1 : NCAA Division 1</li>
<li>D-II, D2 : NCAA Division 2</li>
<li>D-III, D3 : NCAA Division 3</li>
<li>JUCO : Junior College or Community College</li>

Officials
<li>T : Trail</li>
<li>L : Lead</li>
<li>C : Center</li>
<li>R : Referee</li>
<li>U, U1, U2 : Umpires</li>

Players
<li>Ax : Team A player where x denotes a unique player</li>
<li>Bx : Team B player where x denotes a unique player</li>

Areas of the Court
<li>FC : Frontcourt</li>
<li>BC : Backcourt</li>
<li>SL : Sideline</li>
<li>EL : Endline</li>
<li>IB : Inbounds</li>
<li>OOB : Out of bounds</li>
<li>FRA : Foul Reporting Area</li>

Violations
<li>BI : Basket Interference</li>
<li>GT : Goaltending</li>
<li>O/B : Over and Back</li>

Fouls
<li>PC : Player Control</li>
<li>TC : Team Control</li>
<li>T : Technical</li>
<li>F : Flagrant</li>
<li>INT : Intentional</li>
<li>CF : Common Foul</li>
<li>DF : Double Foul</li>
<li>Whack : Technical Foul</li>

General
<li>POI : Point of Interruption</li>
<li>POE : Point of Emphasis</li>
<li>LGP : Legal Guarding Position</li>
<li>FT : Free Throw</li>
<li>FG : Field Goal</li>
<li>3FG : 3-Point Field Goal</li>
<li>OT : Overtime</li>
<li>TO : Timeout</li>
<li>Blarge : A case where at least one official signals a block and at least 1 official signals a PC</li>
<li>HM : Howler Monkey</li>

Where can I buy basketball officiating gear (clothing)?

There are many places. These are the most common:

US
<li>Honig's www.honigs.com</li>
<li>The Official's Choice www.theofficialschoice.com</li>
Canada
<li>Honig's Canada www.honigs-canada.com</li>
<li>World of Sports www.worldofsports.ca</li>

Im interested in demographics of the forum. Is there anything for me?

There is a map hosted by Frappr. Visit www.frappr.com/officialforumbasketball

Any additions/deletions/changes?

[Edited by JugglingReferee on Feb 16th, 2006 at 11:05 AM]