Venting and Confusion
 

I was doing the clock at a (televised) D-I game last week when, partway through the first half, I realized that the Precision Timing system wasn't working. No big deal, before a shooting foul, I turned the system off and turned it back on - not realizing that 3 seconds would run off the clock.

As soon as I realized what happened, I hit the horn and called over the R. I calmly explained what happened and the time to which the clock should be reset. When I asked if I could reset the clock, he looked at me like I had two heads and said to just not start the clock for 3 seconds after the FT. :eek:

I don't even let the timers do that in junior high games I ref, and was just shocked to hear it from a D-I referee.

-End Soapbox-

Weird.

maybe not the best way to handle the situation, but it certainly achieves the same result. I grew up in the big city where the saying goes..."there's always more than one way to skin a rat".....

I don't like this at all. This is a situation if some else happens the fault could be passed on to the clock operater.

:confused: You must have grown up in New York City. We skin cats around here. LOL

The clock can be reset in less tahn 3 seconds. It's a moronic way to handle it.

How exactly does the system work? So, how exactly did you realize that it wasn't working? Did this not cause the time to be incorrect also?

The PTS requires a clock operator to operate simultaneous with the referees so that when the system fails, the operator's mirroring actions, are just like a conventional clock system.

What I can't figure out is why restarting the system runs 3 seconds off of the clock.

It's good to know that a moron like me can keep officiating games as long as I get the calls right.

Here's a question for the group...if electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

I did this once in a lower level game. Told the kid operating the clock to delay restarting the clock for about 4 or 5 seconds (don't remember it exactly) - told him to just watch for me to chop it in. The ball is inbounded, and knocked right out of bounds. Inbounded and knocked out of bounds. Inbounded, pass - and out of bounds. all the while I'm still standing with my arm in the air! Never did it that way again. :o

I first noticed when the clock didn't start after a throw-in. I thought it was just one belt pack, but that was fine. A few minutes after, there was a whistle, and the clock ran off a second before I hit the stop button. After that, I was much quicker on the buttons until I reset the system.

Especially because I knew the exact time to which it should have been reset and the time was written in the scorebook (happened after a foul call).

The best part was that, since the PTS was now working, the U1/U2 started the clock on the rebound and I had to override it. :rolleyes:

Neither could I, obviously!

Powering on may have caused a "start" signal to be sent, but we power off the PTS and turn it back on before the start of a half. My only other guess is that one of the time-ins from the belt packs was "trapped" in the circuitry and the reset let it get processed. :confused: