5 Second Count....too funny!
 

One of my rec league coaches has no kids in the league, he just volunteers every year to coach in our league. Been with us for about 4 years now....all the guys who officiate in our league have also been around during this guys 4 years and we all know him, know his style, tendencies, etc....

This coach....He also happens to be a HS official...he's pretty animated on the sidelines and really gets into the coaching aspect. His team won the tournament 2 years ago and made it to the final 4 a couple times...so he's a pretty decent coach...

Yesterday, his team got called for 5-seconds on and inbound play by my partner at L....I was T, bench side and coach says to me "Mike...That can not be 5 seconds!"....I told him to ask my P...they have some dialogue and I see my P tell him he was counting/chopping...I'm laughing at the banter back and forth between coach and my P....Coach looks at me with a smile and says "He was counting???? What...2-4-6?"

I had to laugh...I did think my P's count was pretty fast...

I posted this story once years ago:

I actually practice my count. Every other game, I flick my wrist with the timing of the clock counting down to game-time. I do it away from the view of anyone, just in case they think that I don't know how fast a second is. :p

Back when I was coaching, I had a tournament 6 hours away and my car radio was el-busto. Two of my players were passengers in my car because their parents were working. While they were sleeping, I would practice a 10-count. It's amazing how accurate you can get over a few hours. :D

One of my trainers said he used to practice with the microwave at home.
He would set some food in (2 minutes or something) then he would walk away and without looking counting the 2 minutes, he said he ended up really good (so good he could get a count that long within a few seconds to right)

I time my seconds count at home. It takes exactly one second from the time I drop some food on the floor to the time my dog scarfs it down. :p

That's a pretty lazy dog. :p

Maybe the dog is considering the source.

If so, can you teach an old dog that trick?

BTW - it takes him exactly 10 seconds to eat a cheeseburger. I may take him to games to help with the timing. :D

Just tell 'em your game fees go to the dog's 'free' eats.

My standard answer to queries about the speed of a count is: How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on. ;)

I was once told that if your going to be wrong.. be slow... dont be fast.

It is better to be slow than fast - though only slightly slow. I aim for a 10-second count that ends between 10 and 11 seconds, and a five second count that is as close to five as possible without being under.

I hate the really slow count, because it penalizes defense. But if I call 10 seconds, I want to make sure 10 seconds have actually come off a properly started clock before blowing the violation. :D

Don't do as my partner did yesterday (ok he is terrible and everyone knows it, and this time I got the short straw I suppose) He was trail I was lead, pressing D. I had the 24 above (I didn't count since I was trail, if the 24 hadn't been there things would have been diffrent) the backboard from wich the players where coming. In other words I had a perfect and exact count. When 11 seconds had past I couldn't stand it and blew the violation from the lead. At the exact same time he signaled 8 seconds though, but when you're 3 secons to late, that's just bad.....

At home use a metronome...
 

you can set it to 60 bpm or 120 bpm.

fyi, Smooth Operator by Sade has 120 bpm. I could name some others, but that probably hits the demographic here pretty well.

For girls games, No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley -- 60 bpm ;)

Smooth Operator - sounds just like me. ;)