Officiating without a lanyard.....
 

I know I've been doing this since started but a few guys told me some frown on it.

Wonder why?

Not sure what the rule# is, but maybe because it's part of an officials uniform?

But I would much rather see no lanyard than the bright, white lanyard w/ volleyball whistle :eek: :eek: :eek:

I heard that Tim Duncan and his wife are renewing their vows and he's asked you to be his best man.

Is it true?

i worked with a guy earlier this year who forgot his lanyard. At least 1/2 a dozen times when he blew it, the whistle would fly out of his mouth and scoot across the floor. He would just go get it, wipe it off and continue play.

At halftime he asked the AD if he had a lanyard and all he had was a neon green shoelace type. I chucked to myseld the whole second 1/2 while he officiated with a neon green lanyard.

I just watched a varsity game and the R in a 3 man crew didn't have a lanyard. He also did the opening tip with his whistle in his mouth. :eek:

I was SHOCKED.

Very good official except for that.

I had the lanyard ripped off of my shirt during the opening jump (the whistle was not in my mouth by the way). The little loop on the v-neck shirts was ripped off and I tried to do the game without my whistle attached to anything but I'm accustomed to blowing the whistle and then letting it fall out of my mouth. I had to pick it up off of the floor several times until I could get in my bag to get my "around the neck" lanyard.

You didn't have a spare he could borrow?

look, mike, you have made some interesting and valuable contributions to this board, and I think you'll probably be an important member in the future. But you're gonna have to work on your vocabulary. This phrase, for instance, needs to fit the pattern, as follows,

I was SHOCKED! Shocked, I tell ya!

See how that flows? Nice little cliche. That's how we like it.:D

I actually had the pleasure of watching a varsity crew with one fellow who didn't use a lanyard call a game this year. He was quite adapt at using the whistle and quickly putting in his pocket to make the violation/foul call. I was watching with another sub-varsity official and we remarked that we would have spit the thing across the floor at least a dozen times.

The only other time I've seen that is Billy Crystal in "Forget Paris" where he plays an NBA ref. Kind of a quirky character trait, and an interesting film.

Hold the whistle in your hand (or, in your case, wrap the lanyard around your fingers) and put it in your mouth when you need to make a call. It will force a patient whistle.

I don't use a lanyard when I ref. A few of the officials in my area frown upon it here. I don't like the lanyard around the neck or the one on the shirt. Just a personal preference. I think I picked up the habit from using the finger whistle in football...

In 19 games I have dropped the whistle once and that was because a player threw the ball at me immediately after I blew the whistle...funny thing was she picked it up for me...lol...i wouldn't have done that if I saw that...

Question from a lurking football official:

Why is it verboten to have the opening tip with the whistle in your mouth?

That is the first logical explanation I have heard for why people do it other than to emulate NBA officials....interesting theory I wonder how well it would work...

Only the the ref.. or the tossing official.

Do you value your teeth??

Safety. ;)

Because you will get your teeth kicked out. You will at some point during a basketball game get kicked, punched or pushed (inadvertently of course) by the jumpers and the last thing you want to do is be biting on a whistle when you are hit in the mouth. You will easily lose your teeth.

Peace

Exactly. I've worked on it in AAU games. It's not difficult to master. It definitely makes you think before you blow it. i don't use it in HS because we have a lot of schools that use Precision Timing.

Because it's a good way to lose teeth. Jumper catches your lanyard and out come teeth and whistle.

Of course I do I just didn't think of that reason. Thanks for the responses, now back under my rock.

Feel free to come back any time.

It works fine. Practice it in the summer. Perhaps even hold the whistle in your right hand so you get used to signalling with the left (assuming you're right handed and you want to get used to signalling with the left on some calls).

I am going to try that, thanks....what about this business of always signalling with your outside hand if you are T or C? I have been told that that is techincally the correct way to signal, although I have always just used my left hand for the stop clock/violation/foul signal, meaning sometimes it is the inside hand, sometimes it is outside...it is a minor point for sure, but do others subscribe to this? For a while I tried to get used to it, but I had a hard time ever coming up w/ my right hand when it was outside...

4 years ago someone suggested I work some off season games to w/o a lanyard to help slow down my mechanics and it worked. My whistle only hit the floor once and I a afew nice snags where it almost did. I liked it alot til I showed up at camp and was told to put on a lanyard and I have not tried going w/o it since. I think it can look pretty smooth but you also risk dropping your whistle and looking funny while you scramble to pick it up.

Consider it an advanced technique. Also, use the outside hand when play will resume toward the opposite end (usually, but not always a TC foul). And, use the hand toward which play will resume on an OOB situation (may be the inside or the outside hand).

So you are saying "punch" with the outside hand, even though the fed mechanic is still a "punch" directly in front for TC, correct? Although my "punch" is always in the direction that we are going....again habit carried over from PC call and I think it communicates what happened better...

Initials PB?

Wait fullor are you a LC guy too? B/C if you are I know the PB you are referring to...

He's very smooth with it. I'd never attempt it. Good official.

I have worked with him a few times over the last several years and this past summer was the first time I saw him go sans lanyard....didn't notice him mucking it up too badly:) Not sure if he is sticking w/ it during the season, I am pretty sure the association and assignors would frown on it...just a hunch..

In N VA it is verboten to ref w/o a lanyard....we just got a nasty gram. Coincidence? Hmmmm.....:rolleyes:

Didn't catch his name.

breif description.. He was an african american gentleman about 6 ft tall military style hair cut.

Thats all I got guys. I was scouting mechanics.. not names.

My first thread seems to be a good one:)

I suppose. It's been discussed before as you can see by using the search feature.

One of my partners did this a couple of weeks ago. I decided to try it at the wreck league on Sunday. I actually did alright with it, the whistle did not hit the ground. However, I felt insecure the whole game and will return to using a lanyard of a full-time basis.

Officials should not be allowed to hold their whistle in their hand. PERIOD! Looks bad and problems do come of this during a game.

Not the same official I know.

nope me neither

Don't hold back so much. Tell us what you really think ;)

The last two games I didnt use my lanyard. It slows me down and help me focus more when I dont use one. This is my humble opinion.