One Person Mechanics ...

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by mikeref

This is a no brainer for me...under no circumstances do I work a game alone. The liability factor is just too great.

Mike, I'm not a lawyer, so this is an honest question. How is the liability greater for an official who works alone than for a crew of 2? And does that mean that the liability for a crew of 2 is greater than that of a crew of 3?

I just don't understand how the number of officials affects liability. I have no legal background.

[inigo montoya]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

Mike, I'm not a lawyer, so this is an honest question. How is the liability greater for an official who works alone than for a crew of 2? And does that mean that the liability for a crew of 2 is greater than that of a crew of 3?

I just don't understand how the number of officials affects liability. I have no legal background.

It's a liability issue in this case, I think, because his state association says "no one-official games." So because the official broke the rules, the laws safeguarding official(s) no longer apply.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by inigo montoya

It's a liability issue in this case, I think, because his state association says "no one-official games."

Ok, I can certainly see that. I thought he was making a general claim that the liability is worse, so he would never do it, regardless of the state's position.

[Back In The Saddle]

Billy Mac,

I'd add one more thing to your list, in large, bold, all capital letters: DON'T GET SO CAUGHT UP IN "WORKING SOLO" THAT IT DISTRACTS YOU FROM CALLING YOUR GAME!

Not that it's ever happened to me

[cmckenna]

Billy,I know right were you are coming from with your comments earlier in the thread. We have several instances up here on Board 7 where due to lack of officials, some games are assigned only 1 official from the start. It's just the nature of the beast. Too many games / not enough officials. We dedicate one of or Better Officiating meetings to this very subject at the beginning of the season and go over with our brother and sister officials the best way to handle working alone.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Back In The Saddle

Billy Mac,

I'd add one more thing to your list, in large, bold, all capital letters: DON'T GET SO CAUGHT UP IN "WORKING SOLO" THAT IT DISTRACTS YOU FROM CALLING YOUR GAME!

Not that it's ever happened to me

That is kind of hard to do when you list a bunch of guidelines for what is basically an unusual situation.

Peace

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

That is kind of hard to do when you list a bunch of guidelines for what is basically an unusual situation.

Peace

The funny old thing about this human race thing, is that different people react differently in the same situation.

For me, it would have been helpful to have possessed more one-person knowledge going into the game I was thinking about. With only a handful of vague notions about how to work alone, I was WAY too focused on the details of how I was going to try to work the game, and not focused nearly enough on cleaning up guard play/hand checking, which would have saved me a LOT of grief during the actual game.

So I suppose Billy's list might consume one official, to the point where he cannot focus on the game, and yet free another official from having to think about mechanics so that he can focus on the game.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Back In The Saddle

The funny old thing about this human race thing, is that different people react differently in the same situation.

For me, it would have been helpful to have possessed more one-person knowledge going into the game I was thinking about. With only a handful of vague notions about how to work alone, I was WAY too focused on the details of how I was going to try to work the game, and not focused nearly enough on cleaning up guard play/hand checking, which would have saved me a LOT of grief during the actual game.

So I suppose Billy's list might consume one official, to the point where he cannot focus on the game, and yet free another official from having to think about mechanics so that he can focus on the game.

Once again, this is not supposed to happen. If it does happen I would not want to hold an official to a strict guideline when I am not the one who is going to be on the court. If I am watching someone work alone, I am certainly not going to begrudge them on how they do it. If you want a well called game, make sure you have 2 officials are working the game and it is better if you have 3 officials. If you want to come up with a guideline that is perfectly fine with me and many others here I am sure. I am just not going to downgrade an official for doing something very difficult even for the most in shape person. If anything I would only be concerned about are they trying to hustle. Other than that, they need to survive.

Peace