Tales from a 1st Year: Workin' my Mechanics

[Back In The Saddle]

Other than indicating that we are shooting, or identifying the OOB spot, there isn't too much emphasis on prelims here. But I have made it a PPOE this season to do a better job of this. I still rarely give the fouler's color/number. I will communicate number of shots and number of my shooter (along with pointing to him/her), or identify the throw-in spot. If there is some confusion I will identify the fouler and perhaps the type of foul. If the situation warrants, I may do a little "selling" at the spot.

My yardstick on this is whether anybody on the floor has to ask me questions. If a player has to ask, "Was that on me?" or "Who was that on?" then I didn't communicate clearly enough (I overestimated how obvious the call was). If, heaven forbid, my partner has to ask whether we are shooting, etc., then I didn't do a good enough job communicating with him/her.

I will say there is an official here who does a much more thorough prelim on most fouls, and I think it adds a lot to the credibility of his calls. So I'm slowly working on doing what he does to see if it works for me.

[BillyMac]

The only option we have here in Connecicut is a fairly recent one, whether we want to bird dog, or not. I'm a veteran official who has been bird doging throughout most of my career, so I still do it, almost every time.

Earlier this week. I had a varsity high school player raise his hand after I called him for a foul. He wasn't trying to take the foul for a nearby teammate who had a lot of fouls, because he wasn't near any temmates. It really felt weird, like I was in a time machine.

Veterans. When did players, by rule, stop raising their hand after a foul?

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Veterans. When did players, by rule, stop raising their hand after a foul?

Mid 70's iirc. It was a technical foul if they didn't before then for 2-3 years. They had 5 seconds to raise their hand straight up.

They changed the rule because it was...well....really dumb.

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Mid 70's iirc. It was a technical foul if they didn't before then for 2-3 years. They had 5 seconds to raise their hand straight up.

They changed the rule because it was...well....really dumb.

When I was a junior in HS, I had to raise my hand. When I was a senior [1974-75], it was optional. The reason they did away with it was one of those 'feel-good' measures. We don't want Johnny to feel bad because he did something wrong. I am not kidding.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by 26 Year Gap

The reason they did away with it was one of those 'feel-good' measures. We don't want Johnny to feel bad because he did something wrong. I am not kidding.

You might not be kidding but you're wrong iirc. The rule was instituted because the FED thought that it would help to make the scorer's job more accurate and easier. The FED took the rule out because they finally figured out that if officials simply reported fouls better, there really wasn't any problems. At the same time that they took the rule out, they emphasized that we had to use correct reporting mechanics. It was just a dumb rule that didn't make any sense from the git-go.