Advantage/Disadvantage

[drinkeii]

Originally Posted by Big2Cat

And now you are putting words in my mouth. I am not going to become overly officious. There is no point to be a legalist. Every judicial system has a place for grace, mercy, and common sense. If a guy is coming up in the backcourt all by himself and palms the ball...I am not going to call it. If the same guy then fakes to the right on his defender and then palms the ball to bring it back across his defender to gain an advantage, then I will call it.

However, if you want every law enforced just as it is written, that is your right. Just don't complain if you ever get a ticket for going 31 in a 30 mph zone.

You picked the wrong person for that - I would not complain. I broke the law, and have no problem with accepting the consequences of that choice. But what about a sports example - they only stepped a little on the out of bounds line, not a lot. Millimeter? Half inch? Where do we draw the line? If they step on the line, they're out of bounds. If they break the rules, they broke the rules. I don't remember grace, mercy, or common sense being referred to in the rules. Otherwise - well, it was a beautiful play, but you traveled - guess I'll ignore the travel in favor of the beautiful play. Find support for that in the rules...

The biggest problem with kids (in or out of sports) - they're unwilling to accept consequences for their actions. Correction - they're willing to accept positive consequences for their choices which generate them - but not negative ones. It's always someone else's fault. But again, another topic.

[Big2Cat]

That's fine then, be a legalist. If you feel your job is to punish kids for every violation (as if they are breaking the law) so they accept responsibility, that is your choice. If you want to make a point to coaches that you know the rules and are going to call everyone, that is fine also. However, don't be surprised when most others decide not to and go with the advantage/disadvantage and ignore incidental contact.

What is it you really want? You want everyone to call every rule by the book. It isn't going to happen. You could try to form your own basketball utopian colony and do it that way, but most of us know what happens to the Waldens of the world.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by drinkeii

If they break the rules, they broke the rules.

And it's a judgment call if someone actually broke a rule when it comes to fouls. That judgment comprises judging whether legal or illegal contact occurred. If you deem it legal contact, then NO rule has been broken.

Again, you're completely misunderstanding some very basic officiating tenets.