... don't call me Shirley

It's because he does commercials for the new Timex Donkey (tm).

<i>"Takes a licking and keeps on ticking!"</i>

I Am Serious ...
 

No sh1t Billy, thanks :rolleyes:

Wtf

Word.

Of course if there isn't an advantage I'm going to bite the whistle (generally). I'm not the gestapo.

-Josh

I'm just trying to flesh this out; my wife would accuse me of picking on words.
You say "generally." I'm inferring from your post that you think there can be a foul without advantage, and that when you pass on such a "foul" you are "letting them play."
Am I reading you correctly?

Actually I just put "generally" in there for the heck of it. There are always situations where I wouldn't let things go, however. If there has been a problem with two guys, then I might call a foul (even without an advantage/disadvantage situation) just to keep things under control. For instance, two post players have been at each other all game and one of them just gives a little shove to the other as he is crossing over to the weak side of the lane (from the strong side). If there hasn't been a problem all game, I would probably tell them to clean it up. But since there has been a problem, I would grant their request (they are asking for a foul, right?) and give them a foul. With that said, these are hypothetical situations and it's difficult to describe live game situations.

-Josh

Like I said, my wife would tell me I was picking on words. It appears this would be a case in which she was correct. She doesn't need to know.

Too late. Wives know everything, didn't you know that? :)

I talk to the players for a quarter or so, then let my whistle do the talking for the rest of the game. It is a great way to communicate to the players that you see but are passing on some things that are approaching the line. It also communicates that to the coaches. Last season I called a 3-second violation in the 3rd quarter. Players got a stern look from the coach and shot the comment at him "Who calls that?" Coach yelled back..."He warned you twice in the first half, move your rear out of the lane."

Not only do I talk to them, but I tell them in the captain's meeting that we will talk to them and that they should listen to us, and then I talk to my partners at time outs and/or halftime and we tell each other who we talked to and about what, such as "I already told white 12 to watch his screens" or "I've talked to blue's big guy about staying out of the lane." I like it. My partners like it. I think the players like it and I think the coaches like it (in general). The one problem is that you have to finally follow through if you do talk to them. You cant wind up being the ref that is always warning and never penalizing. 'Cause coaches will tell their players the refs arent going to call things if in fact you never do. Then there is no point in talking to them. The point in talking to them is to prevent minor violations and keep the game moving properly. Just my $0.02.

i like to say easy, solid, straight up..stuff like that

You're still talking about basketball, right?