Officiate or keep score

[Oz Referee]

Your partner is WRONG. There is no way to couch this comments, he is just WRONG. Referees should never "make-up" calls, and I wonder how much this ref can be concentrating on the game, if he is keeping track of fouls as well.

I basically never know how many fouls a player has. The only exceptions are after each period when I look at the sheet to see if any players are on 4 fouls - that was I know that if I call the 5th then they are out. Also, when I referee players I know (especially my brother) I usually have a rough idea of how many they may have - but it is an unconcious thing.

As an aside, my younger brother holds the record for NSW State League (about the same as DIV2 NCAA, but open age). He played 2 consecutive seasons (all told about 60 games) fouling out in every game! He is not a bad player, a solid role player. Good rebounder and shot blocker, plays at the 4 but can shoot. However his hands are way slower than his head. He always goes for the strip or the block, but by the time his hands get there it's a foul. His coaches have always known this, but let him play it out anyway. He always fouls out quicker when I referee him, since I know all the little tricks in his game, and see a lot of the fouls that other refs notice. It's kinda funny, other teams hate me refereeing him, beacuse they think I am going to be biased towards him, when really it usually turns out the other way.