This would be an unsporting tech but there is no contact in this situation.

Wait for the layup if it's a fast break by B, delayed USC technical foul on A1. I believe there's case support for the delayed call in this one, but I'm out the door to get some pants tailored.

That's interesting. While you state

"You choose option 1: lie. I choose option 2. I say tomato, you say STFU."

we should still assume your argument does not exclude the possibility that a near-infinite number of other options *might* exist and are available for subsequent rebuttal. Very interesting...the "I voted for the funding before I voted against it" school. Should I file this under the heading of "honesty" or merely "intellectually lazy"?

You may laugh at this, but used to be when a fan would innocently ask me what I thought of a call I really, really tried and help them out by explaining the intricacies involved. But that just made them mad, so my attempt at being honest, as far as I could, devolved to "Sorry friend, I wasn't looking. I have no idea what just happened."

Of course your brand of honesty is so much cleaner than mine, isn't it?

Yes, thanks tomegun. It DOES seem to be happening alot- and even recently happened in a Division 1 game I posted about in another thread. Im glad some here clarified the statements about being able to call a T at anytime- because it confused me at first (again)! :)

Somewhere along the lines, some people seem to have learned that flagrant contact equals a technical foul...

It is so hard to UNLEARN, huh? ;)

Me thinks among some of our forum vets that the T signal would be followed by a mechanic often utilized by baseball umpires.

I have absolutely no idea what this is supposed to mean.

Neither. What are some of the other nearly infinite options? I can think of 3 obvious ones that are reasonable options:

1) Respond by lying. (This could be by saying that the official got it right; or by saying that you don't know; or by saying that you didn't see it when you did see it.)

2) Respond truthfully. (This could be by explaining the rule; or by saying that you don't like to discuss rules with fans; or by saying that you didn't see it when you actually didn't.)

3) Do not respond and simply ignore the question. (Feign death, in "Far Side" terms.)

Of course there are other options, like punching out the questioner or changing seats to avoid answering or farting in his general direction. But those seem not to be reasonable choices. So if I've been intellectually lazy, what are my other reasonable, nearly infinite, choices?

A lot of teen-age boys would disagree with this assessment.

Why do you assume "I didn't see it" is absolutely a lie?

In fact "I didn't see it" is exactly the truth. Only the calling official knows what he did see or didn't see to cause him to blow or not blow the whistle.

Why do you assume "I have no idea what's going on" is an absolute lie?

In fact only the calling official know's why he did or did not blow the whistle.

And finally...which of your 3 categories does making your daughter shop for her mom's Chritmas gift to avoid telling her the absolute truth about Santa Claus fall into?

Lie? Truth? Feigning death?

Can't we all just learn the subtleties of being disingenuous?

The trick is to learn the art of "defining" terms. Ms. Manners says that all brides and all babies are by definition beautiful. It's not lying to tell your boss, your sister or your next-door neighbor's cousin that their baby is beautiful, even if both the babies eyes are different colors and her nose has a huge pimple on one side (ditto any bride). It's not a lie because by definition of being a baby, or a bride that person is beautiful. It's a very useful skill.

I prefer to think of it as creative truth telling.

Some prefer to live by the notion that truth defines a universal absolute and inflexible reality...(except when their daughters or certain embarrasing senate votes are involved of course...edit to include ugly brides and malformed babies)

Ms. Manners can bite me.

However, you cannot call an unsporting foul for a play involving contact. That's just the definition. So I have to disagree with you.

4-19-14 . . . An unsporting foul is a noncontact technical foul which consists of unfair, unethical, dishonorable conduct or any behavior not in accordance with the spirit of fair play.