No offense taken
 

First a bit of logic: if it truly didn't distract the shooter, then why would a defender do it? Secondly, I guess you never got tapped in the stomach when you weren't expecting it. Third, some people are ticklish in that area., I am not one of them, but all my kids are. For clarification, I don't ascribe to this as a displacement issue. Being tapped/poked/jabbed, whatever you want to call it, will have a deleterious affect on a shooters shot and his concentration. I have no problem with the affect on the concentration, I have a problem with the physical response of the stomach tap.

A list?

OK.

A tap on any body part that you judge as having affected the shooter.

It's a straight judgment call. If you're sure that the tap affected the shooter, make the call; if you're not 100% sure, don't call anything. And trust your judgment and don't second-guess your calls.

Jmo.

rockyroad's on your ignore list...?

First, that's not logic. That's simply a rhetorical question. Why do they do it? Who knows? Why do coaches yell "3 seconds"? Does yelling it make it true? No. So does tapping (not pushing, remember) a player in the stomach make it effective? No. (By the way, that's a bit of logic. It's an argument from analogy. It's not a great argument, I'll grant you. :) )

Of course I have, and I can tell you firsthand that it doesn't cause a large enough reaction to affect a shooting motion. That's just ridiculous.

Who the bleep cares? Are we really going to be watching for ticklish reactions on the court? This "tap" should be around #417 on the list of things to be looking for during a shooting sequence. This isn't even a subject for serious consideration, IMO.

Well, we're 5 pages into the subject, so somebody must be taking the subject seriously.

Even the Monty Python parts........

Iow, I disagree with you. Some taps will definitely affect the shooter imo.

Scrapper
 

Belly taps affect my shot, always have. Contact that affects the shot is whistled in my games. Brother, you call your games how you like. Rock on.

Yes, Scrapper, and rhetorical questions are not meant to be answered but to spur discussion towards an end. I was hoping you'd use logic when pondering the rhetorical question. And, how you KNOW that tapping a player in the stomach is not effective in all cases makes you a much more effective ref than me. Wish I had your super powers, dude!