Can anyone give me some guidance on players with pockets? This mainly pertains to REC Leagues. Is it a T or just a mandatory sub?

what? i dont get it! could you elaborate?

Unless your rec league has a rule about pockets, there isn't one. Ignore it and let'em play.

Stop doing REC leagues.................
 

and you will never have to worry about it. :) But seriously, I really think it depends on the league that you work and the rules that league follows. I really do not think you have a leg to stand on here because it depends on how strong the chairperson or the person who runs the particular league.

This is why I always say that officials need to stay away from these leagues because of problems like this come up all the time. And when you enforce the very basic of rules, you are the bad guy.

But this is just my opinion.

Peace

Well if its an adult rec league like the one I used to play in, you would see pockets, Underwear showing....jewelry....illegal numbers.....jeans....soccer players with soccer socks up to their knees....and a host of other both illegal and interesting things. What was worse is that all the refs were worried about was keeping the clock moving and what was going on on the other court. They were particularly good at taking a 40 min game (2 twenty min halfs) and getting it done in 40 REAL minutes including a half time. (The ole tweak the clock routine).

I havent seen pockets in kids leagues but I see a ton of illegal numbers which....I ignore. I give credit to the coaches for getting them there on time in the same colored shirt with a number on it!

Larks, that's funny about the real time. Way back when, when i did rec. ball, I was never concern about the other courts. However, i did teach the tweaking of the clock to the score keeper/clock operator. Now we only did it with one sided games. Only a few times. Of course some of the clock operators already knew how to do it.

Pockets in rec leagues are only illegal if you see the handle of a pistol sticking out of them. :)

Z

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Larks

Quote:

They were particularly good at taking a 40 min game (2 twenty min halfs) and getting it done in 40 REAL minutes including a half time. (The ole tweak the clock routine).

Larks, how do you get 40 minutes of basketball, plus halftime, into 40 actual minutes? Even if you run the clock for the entire game, you have to have at least a couple minutes for halftime, right? To get it all into 40 minutes, you'd have to actually change the time left on the clock at some point, right? Is that what you mean by "tweak" the clock? When it gets down to 12:00, you stop it and reset it for 10:00?

Chuck

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Larks
[B]We went to illegal numbers for our house teams for the first time this year. Makes it hard as heck to give hand signals for #6, 7, or 8. Why did we do it? Because we saved close to $500 on the cost of the shirts for the league by not having to put 2 second numbers the jerseys.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ChuckElias

Quote:

Originally posted by Larks Quote: They were particularly good at taking a 40 min game (2 twenty min halfs) and getting it done in 40 REAL minutes including a half time. (The ole tweak the clock routine). Larks, how do you get 40 minutes of basketball, plus halftime, into 40 actual minutes? Even if you run the clock for the entire game, you have to have at least a couple minutes for halftime, right? To get it all into 40 minutes, you'd have to actually change the time left on the clock at some point, right? Is that what you mean by "tweak" the clock? When it gets down to 12:00, you stop it and reset it for 10:00? Chuck

You can do that (I have done it), and you can let the clock run during timeouts, too. Plus, tweak it to start the 2nd half.

I don't recommend it if you are reffing in the "Sopranos" league, however.

When I did intramurals....
 

When I did intramurals at Purdue University they were not allowed to play with pockets unless they taped them. But the first time the tape came off they had to leave till they changed their shorts. To big of a chance for someone to break a finger.

The latest FIBA rules prohibt any player taking the court with pockets in their shorts. Personally, I don't like it - but I do enforce it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ChuckElias

Quote:

Originally posted by Larks Quote: They were particularly good at taking a 40 min game (2 twenty min halfs) and getting it done in 40 REAL minutes including a half time. (The ole tweak the clock routine). Larks, how do you get 40 minutes of basketball, plus halftime, into 40 actual minutes? Even if you run the clock for the entire game, you have to have at least a couple minutes for halftime, right? To get it all into 40 minutes, you'd have to actually change the time left on the clock at some point, right? Is that what you mean by "tweak" the clock? When it gets down to 12:00, you stop it and reset it for 10:00? Chuck

Well, not that blatently....usually you reset it from say 11:45 to the next second being 11:05....do that about 5x a half you'd be surprised how short a half can be. Actually I dont think its cool myself. We paid a lot of money to play in that league including ref fees for every game. I guess I'm just a believer in giving the customer what they paid for. Now in most cases, if you were down a bunch at the end rather than going thru garbage time, I am cool with the players or officials calling the game. I mean down 20 with 2 to go and the garbage dunk attempts and fat guy 3's start. But I can tell you as a rec player, we hated getting cheated out of our time. We paid for it...it should be ours.

At least in my opinion.

For those who ask how did we know they were doing it? We caught them at it on at least 3 or 4 occaisions over the last couple years. Needless to say, we left that mall and play open gym at a local high school.

Ya know a foot note....it amazed me that kids were being taught at this place to do this. Most of the time it was a high school or grade school kid working the clock for $6 a game. The refs at this place were teaching this kid to cheat the customer so they could have more BULLSH%T time between games. What message does that send??!?

Ok....this one was a pet peave. Notice I used the word CHEAT and CUSTOMER. I'll get off my pedistal now. Who knows...maybe when I ref a basketball game filled with soccer player and softball player who dont care, maybe I'll feel differently.....I doubt it.

Larks - Veteran in Training

I can appreciate the clock tweaking mechanic. When I was in college, I had a part time job as bookkeeper and clock operator for an adult rec league. I was the king of the clock tweak. I could run a good 20 or 30 seconds off the clock and nobody was the wiser. I did this for 3 years and never got busted on it. The key to it is to pick your spots. Distraction techniques such as asking the officials for a clarification work well.