A few years ago, I had a coach ask me how far back the opposing player could be on an inbound play. I replied, "Until he falls off the edge of the earth, or until he reaches the bleachers - whichever comes first."

I don't think he got it. :o

There are simply a lot of officials (at all levels) that get this wrong. I see it every year...in HS games and even NCAA D1 games. More often than not (at the HS level), it is by officials that think they're hot stuff (and they actually are pretty good officials)...but think they're a little too hot and don't spend much time in the rule book. They've usually got a few of the mis-understood rules in thier head and they'll keep calling it. They're not going to listen to a coach and will likely not even listen to their peers. They won't open the rule book to check it out (cause they already know they're right. ;) ). Only a conference call from James Naismith, Hank Nichols, and at least 10 other authorities would make them consider they might be wrong (and only maybe).

Here's Dr. Naismith about to make the game's first dunk. Man - he's tall!

http://www.authenticbasketball.com/i...s_naismith.jpg

From the coaching standpoint, you can ask questions - but I don't think it will do you much good. If the official doesn't know the rule, you aren't going to change his/her mind by arguing...

Looking at it from a little different perspective, I find it hard to classify this mistake or mis-application as "egregious"...just doesn't seem like it's all that earth-shattering to be labeled that way...

Well...if the fans yelled at him, then you know it was a egregrious mis-application!:D

Any coach that can use the word "egregious" in a sentence...I'll listen to them

I don’t know. Chances are one of the students in his gym class gave him a word-of-the-day calendar.

Next game, he'll try to use "defenestration."

Oh, oh, I know this one...that's what the ball-handler does when he drives past all the defenders.

I always thought that this was from the German because Fenster is the word for window. I recently learned that it actually comes from the Latin fenestra.

I've recently been told by a German friend that the German language is a derivative of Latin. Must be the black-sheep of the Latin family.

According to the scholars German is not a Romance language -- meaning derived from Latin, such as Italian and Spanish. Germanic is its own branch, and English is said to come from that.

Quare si mihi cura est.

Agreed.

Fenster and fenestra just happen to be similar.

Can you say Gaul???

Try yelling, "What kinda egregious crap is this?"

Certainly got my attention.