As one official said just recently about giving props to NBA official Danny Crawford in regrds to fine job that he did in a recent game. I think we need to give props to Jim Burr, Mike Wood, and Ted Valentine. These three top D-1 officials did an AWESOME job last night with the Duke/Maryland war. I watched the whole thing and all three of them did a GREAT job. My recent comments about the crew that worked the Texas/Texas Tech game apply here. Any comments???

I was so tired a fell asleep during the halftime show - I only wished I could have stayed up with the game as well as they did. At least I saw the right half of the game! They did a great job in one of the key matchups of the year.

I watched most of it, but not all. My only complaint about the officiating, if I may be so bold, was that Ted Valentine confused the heck out of me on one of his OOB calls. He was the lead official and the ball squirted OOB over the endline, but across the lane from him. He came across and then proceeded to point both directions several times. He was obviously trying to tell us which player had touched it last: "Off you, going this way, off you, going this way!!"

But to anyone who was not standing right next to him, it looked like "Maryland, no Duke! No, Maryland! No, Duke!

It was probably the right call, I couldn't tell from my couch, but the signal was awful.

Chuck

Ted Valentine is very animated at times,he seems to get into the game like no college official I have ever seen.I can watch him work every day. I guess you can tell I am his number one fan. Still looking for someone to share with me what camp staff he is on,I would love to attend that camp!

I saw what he did and I understood it right away. He pointed directly to the player it went off, confused the announcers who called it wrong, then indicated the direction the ball would go (to Maryland). It then appeared that someone else on the court (or maybe Coach K - he was right by the Duke bench) questioned the call, so he again pointed to the player emphatically then signalled Maryland ball. Not sure if this is a college mechanic, but I think that by watching on TV with audio, the situation was more confusing due to the announcers not knowing what he called.

I have seen the same mechanic used before (maybe by Valentine!) so it didn't seem to me like he was going back and forth, but I can see where it might look that way.

That was my only point, Coach, that it LOOKS confusing. I knew exactly what he was doing, too. But if you're just an ordinary "Joe Fan", it probably looked like he didn't know what was going on! I personally would prefer (listen to me, critiquing Ted Valentine! :rolleyes: ) one crisp direction of indication, and then after a second or two, a less emphatic indication of who touched it last. Emphatically pointing at a player might be interpreted as indicating direction.

But hey, if that was the biggest problem in the game, then there really wasn't too much to complain about!!

Chuck

Did Ted Valentine get it right? yes he did and that's why he's on these type of big games.The problem with TV is the clowns that are calling the games don't have a clue about how officials "sell" calls and if they did they wouldn't have the people watching the games confused. Turn off your volume and put on your favorite music, then watch Ted do his thing on the floor. Nobody does it better!

I like anything that makes the announcers look stupid! I am amazed that they see all of these games and miss some obvious calls. There was another game where the ref clearly signalled a foul on the floor and waved off the basket (never gave any sign of a PC foul). The announcer said "offensive foul" and then was perplexed when the offense got the ball back on the baseline!

You cannot listen to announcers.
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ChuckElias

Quote:

I watched most of it, but not all. My only complaint about the officiating, if I may be so bold, was that Ted Valentine confused the heck out of me on one of his OOB calls. He was the lead official and the ball squirted OOB over the endline, but across the lane from him. He came across and then proceeded to point both directions several times. He was obviously trying to tell us which player had touched it last: "Off you, going this way, off you, going this way!!" But to anyone who was not standing right next to him, it looked like "Maryland, no Duke! No, Maryland! No, Duke! It was probably the right call, I couldn't tell from my couch, but the signal was awful. Chuck

You should know by now that announcers do not have a clue half the time. Even coaches do not have a clue and that is when you give one signal. Valentine was just selling the call because it was not so obvious to everyone that the player touched it. He pointed at the guy that last touched it, then pointed the way it was going. I have even implemented that into my game. Because if I point at the guy that last touched it, it is hard to tell me I did not see it very clearly. Yeah they can argue, but I can better explain it if it comes up as an issue.

Peace

Re: You cannot listen to announcers.
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JRutledge

Quote:

You should know by now that announcers do not have a clue half the time. Even coaches do not have a clue and that is when you give one signal.

I'm not sure why we're talking about announcers, but I didn't bring it up. I didn't even hear what the announcers said. I had the sound muted b/c my wife was asleep. I agree, the announcers are usually pretty dumb when it comes to anything having to do with officiating. But my original point had nothing to do with the announcers.

Quote:

Valentine was just selling the call because it was not so obvious to everyone that the player touched it.

My point was that in selling it, he made it even LESS obvious. All he had to do was point emphatically one way (do it several times, for all I care). Then indicate the player that touched it LESS emphatically.

Ted's selling job was to point both directions with equal emphasis, and to do it several times each way. I just thought that caused more confusion that it alleviated.

As I've said before, I'm sure the call was right, and I thought the officials did a terrific job. I just thought that one thing could be done better, that's all.

Although I did notice Mike Wood give the "clean block/all ball" signal. I thought we all agreed that we shouldn't do that? :)

Chuck

Again,Big time officials get big time games! No one is taking a your reply out of context,you may feel like that and that's your right. I just love to defend Ted Valentine

Re: Re: You cannot listen to announcers.
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ChuckElias

Quote:

Although I did notice Mike Wood give the "clean block/all ball" signal. I thought we all agreed that we shouldn't do that? :) Chuck

OK Chuck, this is college ball. That is an actual mechanic, unlike what we do in HS ball. They also do not do the "stop play" signal either for the most part. College mechanics are very different that HS mechanics. And that is something they are allowed to use. So unless there is a bunch of college officials talking about college ball, then we are not allowed to do that. :)

Peace

Did anybody hear Coach K possibly scream out the F#@@ word twice. My son looked at me and I thought the same. The only reason I bring it up was it was loud enough for the Microphones to pick it up and that place was rocking (loud) most of the night....

Re: Re: Re: You cannot listen to announcers.
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JRutledge

Quote:

Originally posted by ChuckElias Quote: Although I did notice Mike Wood give the "clean block/all ball" signal. I thought we all agreed that we shouldn't do that? :) Chuck OK Chuck, this is college ball. That is an actual mechanic, unlike what we do in HS ball. They also do not do the "stop play" signal either for the most part. College mechanics are very different that HS mechanics. And that is something they are allowed to use. So unless there is a bunch of college officials talking about college ball, then we are not allowed to do that. :) Peace

Since when is this a collegiate mechanic???????

I saw the game also and thought they did a great job and I knew that they had to be some of the best officials in the game since it was Duke vs Maryland. I am just wondering which official was which. Who is the older guy with the extremely full head of hair? Which one is Ted Valentine?