I blew one last night..

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by mbyron

So this isn't tapping. It's a pass back to the teammate who inbounded the ball. How can a player pass the ball without having control of it?

I agree with Bob Jenkins's ruling: if it's a pass, this is a violation; if it's a fumble, play on.

Because the rules don't require control to pass the ball. The ball may be passed by batting it. Says so right there in 4-31.

Do you believe that batting the ball constitutes player control?

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Because the rules don't require control to pass the ball. The ball may be passed by batting it. Says so right there in 4-31.

Do you believe that batting the ball constitutes player control?

Depends how long the hand is on the ball. If it's definitely a swing the arm, ball bounces off the hand bat, I'm with you. If the ball comes to rest in the hand for even a fraction of a second, I'll call this a violation every time.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

Depends how long the hand is on the ball. If it's definitely a swing the arm, ball bounces off the hand bat, I'm with you. If the ball comes to rest in the hand for even a fraction of a second, I'll call this a violation every time.

As I implied in an earlier post, if the ball comes to rest in the hand at all, it's a hold, not a bat. This still is consistent with the definition of player control requiring a player to be either holding or dribbling a live ball inbounds. Remember, it is possible for a player to "bat" the ball in a specific direction without having it come to rest in his hand. This is not a hold and does not constitute player control.