Really had to think about this call

[Mark Padgett]

This weekend, I had a partner ask me what I would do in the following scenario that he had a few weeks earlier.

A1 has the ball in deep near his own endline. He wants to bounce pass to A2 who is on the other side of the lane, also near the endline. B1 is in between them. A1 throws the ball toward the court to bounce it to A2 and, according to my friend, the ball hits the endline and B1's foot, which is touching the endline, at exactly the same time. That is, part of the ball hits the line and part of the ball hits the foot.

I tried to envision this in my mind and I guess I got it, sort of. When he asked me what the call should be, I told him that if you were extremely anal, you would rule that both A1 and B1 caused the ball to go OOB simultaneously, so you would go to the AP arrow, just as you would if any two players from opposite teams hit the ball OOB at the same time.

He said he thought of that, but felt he would probably get both coaches mad at the same time, so he just ruled that the ball hit B1's foot while the foot was on the line and he gave the ball back to team A. He didn't think he could call a kick on B1, because he never moved his leg, but since everyone saw the ball at least hit his foot and that his foot was on the line, my friend figured no one would complain about the call - and no news is good news. It turned out he was right about no one complaining.

What do you guys (and Juulie, too ) think?