Do I call make-up calls? Absolutely not.

BUT - like canuckrefguy said, if one team is being flogged, then it is more likely that 50/50 calls might go they're way. Likewise, if a team is down by heaps and late in the second half they committ a minor violation - well, maybe I won't see it.

That's not a make-up call. It's game management, and it's at least a debatable philosophy.

Make-up calls, however, are when you know you kicked a call and attempt to "make-up" for it by giving the other team a call. Any time you call something you otherwise wouldn't because you think you missed one earlier, you're asking for trouble.

It might be something newer refs are tempted to do, in order to make up for their mistakes. The problem is, you don't end up making amends; you end up making the problem worse. When you blow a call, that's it. You blew it. Learn from it and move on. Don't make it worse.

Coaches would lose any respect or trust they may have of you if you gave them a 'gift' call to make up for a bad call. In my experience, a little honesty goes a long way. When the coach brings up a call to you that you know was dicey, there's nothing wrong with saying, "Yeah, I might have missed that one." Usually they'll say OK and forget about it.

canuckrefguy,

it takes courage to be the first to admit it. i don't ever make up calls. i believe it is wrong. but in the interest of game management, i do the same thing in terms of making sure i don't miss one the other way.

As usual, some are not thinking enough about the context of what is posted - and thinking too much in black and white terms. But the discussion is what makes this board great, so whatever.

I never said that I do "makeups" after I kick a call. I encourage those who believe otherwise to go back and re-read my comments.

BTW, for those who question my courage and/or integrity and/or ability to deal with "negative energy"....did a tournament final yesterday in a packed gym. Host school is in the final. Called a foul with :12 to go that allowed visiting team to tie the game. Then called offensive foul against home team that wiped out winning basket. Then proceeded to call another foul against home team to put visiting PG on the line - who then sunk a pair to win the game.

Canuck,
Your post noted a foul discrepancy. Some may, but I don't base my foul calls on which team has more. In fact, if the coach doesn't say anything to me, I'm not likely to notice until midway through the 2nd and 4th quarters.

I think "game-management" calls (such as ignoring the non-pressure OOB line violation on the team down by 25 with 3 minutes to go) are ok. i had one of these last year in a small school varsity game. It's actually closer to a 50 point blowout, and the kid stepped over by about two feet waiting for his teammate to look for the pass. I hear the players on the bench yelling for a call, and then their coach telling them to shut up, "He saw it." Coach completely understood why I didn't call it.

But it's a completely different animal than "make-up" calls, and I'm trying to keep the two from getting mixed up in this discussion.

Again, I encourage people to read my post carefully. I don't make up calls, either, I don't base calls on the foul count, nor do I attempt to "even things out".

What I said was I am going to make damn sure (even more than normal) that I don't miss any calls against the team with "1". If I know the count is 8-1, I'm asking myself if I'm missing stuff. 99/100 times, my answer is "no, one team's just fouling a lot tonight."

Fair enough.