Shooting into the sun
 

Had a situation earlier this year and would like to hear thoughts on it. This was an NCAA men's game. The gym where the game is being played has only one large window in it, and the window is directly behind one of the baskets. It is designated as the visitor's basket for the first half. There is a curtain, but it is not drawn, so the sun is coming through.

During warm-ups, the visiting coach gets my attention and says, "That curtain better be open for the second half, too. You better make sure that they leave it open."

His concern obviously was that his team would have difficulty shooting into the sun, and then the curtain would be closed in the second half, making it easier for the home team to see the basket.

My response was that it's simply not up to the officials. It's not a safety issue; it's more like bench location. I told him if he was concerned to let the game management know about it, but that I wasn't going to get involved.

So how would everybody else handle something like this? Should I have gone to the home coach to talk about it? Or is it better to stay out of it? Just looking for thoughts.

Ed Hightower would have solved the problem by creating an eclipse to block out the sun.

One of the NCAA games in the men's tournament had a problem with the sun being in the eyes of the free throw shooter. I think game management did handle it. But I think if it was my game, I'd at least be double checking to be sure that they actually do handle it.

Not the way you did. I would have went to game management myself and gotten them to close the curtain, or made sure the curtain didn't magically close in the second half.

I hate it when coaches do silly stuff like this for an advantage. And if someone thinks that coaches don't contrive crap like this - they're wrong! I've got first hand evidence that they do!

While I agree that it is a game management issue, I would mention it to game management that my game report to the league would include, in the interest of fairness, whether or not the blinds were closed in both halves; and that he is now aware of the situation which gives him no reason to avoid closing the blinds now, rather than at half-time.

Edit: game report to mention blinds only if blinds were open one half and not the other.

Me too.

If they can't close the curtain immediately, fine. But don't try to close it later either.

You need a reason to close a blond? How about to open one?

Wow... that was a bad typo! I'm sure there are lots of reasons to open a blond. I'm just not going to go there - b/c if I did, my account would be suspended!

I agree with Dan here. Being proactive always helps. Unfortunately, if they tell you they can't do anything about it, but it magically closes in the second half, I don't really think there's anything you can do about it. I would certainly make sure to report it to the appropriate league officials, however.

Coach, that aspect of the gym isn't under my jurisdiction. You can file a protest with the league., and I will also be making a report.

Or could a ref use 2-3?

Who cares what rule you use to fix this.

The coach has a real complaint that needs to be addressed pregame. Just do it (hey I like that, maybe I can sell it to some sneaker company as a slogan?)

I disagree

I think you should just tell the coach that it's OK for his players to wear sunglasses. Hey - they wear them in baseball. End of problem. :)

What, no cute picture?

You Want It, I Got It ...
 

No. It looks like she has an eye infection and needs an ex-lax.

No more pictures, thanks.