proper mechanic question

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

It does? While we count the bucket at that point in time, I don't know that anything specifies two fingers extend or that the arm indicating the foul should be the one indicating the made basket. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not the only way.

Not only is it not the only way, but I don't think it's a very good way. I watched one of our best, most mechanically sound, officials work a game earlier this year. He had a block/charge call on a layup. The basket was good, and he counted it in the manner chayce describes above. The problem is that more than 1/2 the people in the gym never saw (or understood) the extended fingers and believed he was "punching out" a player control foul. My estimation of "more than 1/2" came from watching people's reaction when he reported the foul to the table as a block. They believed he was changing his call.

And while most of us don't care what the fans think, those who didn't understand his signal also included the visiting HC. Not a good situation. My angle was so bad (his fist was extended directly my direction from the other end of the court) that I had to ask him about it after the game before I understood what had happened. Apparently he signaled block at the spot. But all eyes were on the shot and nobody noticed him again until he was counting the bucket, so they missed the block signal entirely.

My "count it" mechanic has always looked quite distinct from my "punch out" mechanic. But if it didn't, that one experience would have been enough to make me change it.