Whistle upon taking the court pregame

[Indianaref]

Almost sounds like a joke. Which got me to thinking, has anyone ever been the recipient or masterminded a joke on some other official. Such as baby powder in the whistle, etc....

[FrankHtown]

Yeah, it's done here in Houston also. The intent is to make the players aware the officials are entering the visual confines of the court, so if they are dunking they will stop. And the boys are even worse.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by FrankHtown

Yeah, it's done here in Houston also.

Maybe it's a Texas thing. Don't mess with Texas.

[fullor30]

Originally Posted by Indianaref

Almost sounds like a joke. Which got me to thinking, has anyone ever been the recipient or masterminded a joke on some other official. Such as baby powder in the whistle, etc....

There is a ref in our area who I got my first games from years back, and I had him as my partner my fourth or fifth date and was really intimidated.

We had a wild game in a wild gym at a wild school and during a timeout he came over to me and stood directly in front of me poking my chest reminding me of a mechanic or something. We come out of the time out, he inbounds the ball as I go to grab my whistle.........................gawn. He is soiling himself laughing so hard. pretty funny and he's good at it too.

[CLH]

The story I heard on this, is that several years back here in Texas, a crew had the door open and was leaving the dressing room. They were nowhere near the visual confines, noone could see them, no clue they were around, but they could see the court.

Well, the whacked a kid for dunking, and of course it raised a big stink. So, they came out with this whistle thing heralding the arrival of the officials on the floor. I hate it, because it draws every eye in the gym to you as you walk out onto the floor.

CLH

[Texas Aggie]

coaches to teach their kids not to dunk during warmups

The coaches tell their kids, "the refs won't let us dunk" and so that takes them off the hook.

Its been done for years in Texas, not just in the DFW area. Mostly boys games but our R did it the other night for a girls game. I only do it as an R for 1) a boys game and 2) in an arena where they can't immediately see we are there. Its neither right nor wrong, just a courtesy to the players, in my view.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Having the R sounds his whistle is the stupidist and most idiotic thing I have ever heard of, not to mentioin it is not sanctioned in the NFHS Officials Manual. The players and coaches know that they are not to dunk a dead ball. If they are stupid enough to dunk a dead ball and be caught by the officials too bad. I don't plan on moving to Texas, but if I did, no partner of mine would be sounding his whistle as we entered the court. I would take his whistle from him and would not give it to him until just before the start of the game. This mechanic is just a lot of nonsense because some officials are afraid to do their job and more importantly, too many coaches will not do their job.

And no I don't look for players dunking the ball. I have called exactly three pre-game dunking technical fouls in 38 years of officiating high school basketball. The first two were during jr. varsity games when the officials had to be on the court thiry (30) minutes (that's right 30 min for you youngins out there) and a varsity game about ten (10) years ago. Each time the player was dunking the ball as we walked onto the court. The look on their faces was the look of a deer getting caught in the glare of a car's headlights. In the two JV games, the head coach of the offending team was standing under the basket while his team was doing its pre-game layups, and was watching his players dunking the ball. The varsity game was better, the assistant coaches were on the court watching the players warm up while the head coach was still in the locker room because he didn't like to come out onto the court until just before the starters were announced. All of his assistants were afraid to go tell him about his indirect technical foul and that he had lost the coaching box for the entire game before it had even started.

MTD, Sr.

[FrankHtown]

Wow ..5 pages to an item that has its detractors and supporters. The NF officials manual is not gospel. Many states have their own rules for their officials to follow. In Texas, for example, the approved coaching box is 6 feet long, we don't do long switches on fouls in the backcourt, and also Texas decided to keep the Time out positions at the top of the key, and the low block, for 30 and 60 second time outs, respectively.

So, if this is a bunch of renegade Texans, I guess I'm a renegade...but I'll still get Varsity assignments doing what out State association tells us to do.

[Splute]

Originally Posted by FrankHtown

Wow ..5 pages to an item that has its detractors and supporters. The NF officials manual is not gospel. Many states have their own rules for their officials to follow. In Texas, for example, the approved coaching box is 6 feet long, we don't do long switches on fouls in the backcourt, and also Texas decided to keep the Time out positions at the top of the key, and the low block, for 30 and 60 second time outs, respectively.

So, if this is a bunch of renegade Texans, I guess I'm a renegade...but I'll still get Varsity assignments doing what out State association tells us to do.

True... and to get those assignments one must be a certified TASO official... and to be a TASO official one must call per the exceptions lists as outlined by TASO. I do not mind the exceptions, nor will I mind blowing my whistle upon entering the court if that is protocol. I am surprised this thread has received so much attention... although some of the jokes were pretty good. Just dont group us with Kansas.... Just kidding

[Brad]

Originally Posted by FrankHtown

Texas decided to keep the Time out positions at the top of the key, and the low block, for 30 and 60 second time outs, respectively.

Threadjack here...

Anyone know WHY this was decided on? The new NFHS mechanic makes a LOT more sense.

[jdw3018]

Originally Posted by FrankHtown

and also Texas decided to keep the Time out positions at the top of the key, and the low block, for 30 and 60 second time outs, respectively.

I'm confused - isn't this the NFHS mechanic? I'm looking at it right here in my officials' manual...unless we're talking 2-man?

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by jdw3018

I'm confused - isn't this the NFHS mechanic? I'm looking at it right here in my officials' manual...unless we're talking 2-man?

We're talking 2-man.

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

Having the R sounds his whistle is the stupidist and most idiotic thing I have ever heard of, not to mentioin it is not sanctioned in the NFHS Officials Manual. The players and coaches know that they are not to dunk a dead ball. If they are stupid enough to dunk a dead ball and be caught by the officials too bad. I don't plan on moving to Texas, but if I did, no partner of mine would be sounding his whistle as we entered the court. I would take his whistle from him and would not give it to him until just before the start of the game. This mechanic is just a lot of nonsense because some officials are afraid to do their job and more importantly, too many coaches will not do their job.

Yawn.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Back In The Saddle

Yawn.

Yeah, apparently he was taking JR's meds that morning. Made him grumpy.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Yeah, apparently he was taking JR's meds that morning. Made him grumpy.

Well, seeing I having given you my opinion yet, I'll give it to you now.

The practice of blowing your whistle before entering a gym is patently ridiculous, just like Mark said. It's just another excuse for (a) officials with no balls to avoid having to call a righteous T, and (2) coaches and players to circumvent and ignore a rule that's been in place forever.

It's just dumb to play little kid's games like this. The intent of the rule was never to put any kind of onus on the officials. The rule was made to stop dunking in the warmup. The onus for doing so was placed directly on all of the players and their head coaches. All this nonsense is doing is just saying "hey, dunk all you want. The officials are gonna warn you when to stop anyway." If Texas feels that there's nothing the matter with pre-game dunking, then they should just legalize it.

Stoopid monkeys.

That ain't being grumpy either btw. That's jmo.