BillyMac would have loved it :D
 

Had my first scrimmage tonight at my local high school. It was their annual black and gold game, mostly just a showcase game for the local community. But it was fun.

We worked four separate quarters, one each for JV girls, JV boys, V girls, and V boys. Each quarter started with a jump ball. It was just like the good old days, minus the short shorts.

The hardest part was going back to 2 person mechanics and coverage after working 3 person all summer at camps and JUCO scrimmages. Man oh man did I miss that third official. :(

Wait A Minute While I Get Up On My Soapbox ...
 

I was surprised, and honored, to wake up this morning to find a thread with my username in the title. You should have played the scrimmage under the experimental "BillyMac" rule:

Rule 6: Live Ball And Dead Ball
Section 2: Starting Game/Quarter
Article 1: The game begins when the ball becomes live for a throw-in, or free throw.
Article 2: To start the game, the ball shall be put in play by a throw in by the team that wins the coin toss between opposing captains at the pregame coaches/captains/officials conference. The referee will toss the coin. The home captain will call either heads, or tails, while the tossed coin is in the air. The referee will provide the coin for the coin toss. This coin must be legal tender from any country officially recognized by the NFHS, providing that it has an easily identified head, and tail, and that it's face value be at least one United States cent. The losing captain of the coin toss shall be allowed to keep the coin, thus insuring that all parties leave the pregame coaches/captains/officials conference happy. It is considered unsporting, and must be penalized with a technical foul, charged to the home team captain, for said captain to call, "Heads I win. Tails you lose", or any variation of said call.
Article 3: To start the second, third, fourth, and if necessary, extra quarters, the ball shall be put in play by a throw-in under the alternating-possession procedure.

(Alternative Article 3 for games played under the experimental "Mark Padgett/BillyMac" rule: To start the second, third, and fourth quarters, the ball shall be put in play by a throw-in under the alternating-possession procedure.)

I've printed a copy of your experimental rules and will keep them in my bag. I especially like the penalty for "heads I win, tails you lose" :D OTOH, I really want to keep the jump ball. I think it's a valuable, interesting, and still relevant (in limited quantities, of course) part of the heritage of basketball.

We did have one tense moment last night though. We got down to about 10 seconds left in one of the quarters/mini-games, and the score was tied. Fortunately I had my autographed and well worn copy of Mark Padgett's Guide To Basketball Officiating in my back pocket. During transition I flipped it open to the chapter on avoiding overtime and selected one of Mark's proven strategies. So with 5.4 seconds remaining, white's best free throw shooter went to the line and kept us out of overtime. ;)

Jump Balls, Overtime, Can't Live With Them, Can't Live Without Them ...
 

Heritage of the game? Let's bring back the peach baskets.

You've got a Mark Padgett autograph? I'll bet that it's worth a lot. If you give me ten dollars, and pay for postage and handling, I'll take it off your hands.

"Who's on First?"
 

I think I stole that from Abbott and Costello. I can't confirm it, but it sounds like something they would say, in this case Abbott would say it to Costello, who would claim it was unfair, so Abbott would respond, "OK, we'll do it your way. Tails I win. Heads you lose". Costello would reply, "OK. That's better". I don't know? Maybe it was two of the Three Stooges?

I'll sell you an autographed peach basket for $25. You pay the shipping. ;)

Seriously, I had a Joe DiMaggio autograph from 1951 personally wishing me Happy Birthday. He signed it on a paper cocktail napkin when the Yankees were playing the White Sox in Chicago. I had a cousin who was a hostess at the lounge at the hotel the Yankees stayed at back then and she got it for me. I gave it to my oldest grandson, who is a HS baseball player. I checked and it's worth only about $50 on the open market, but it's priceless to my grandson.

Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. Also Suggested That He Put A Hole In The Bottom Of The Basket ..
 

If it's autographed by Dr. Naismith, or Mark T. DeNucci, Sr., who suggested to the good Doctor that he use a peach basket instead of a potato basket, then it's a deal.

What is your hangup for starting a game with a coin toss determined throw-in? Every time a jump ball is brought up you bring this crap up time and again. Can you not make a good toss? You know you can designate if needed. :rolleyes:

I did a soph girls tourney today and after reporting the foul, I'd stay table side, I finally realized it and my friend and partner said, "hey you're the varsity big shot( he doesn't do varsity) I didn't want to say anything.:o

Hey - I was the one who suggested to the good doctor to use the peach basket. He wanted to use picnic baskets so every time someone scored, they would be rewarded with a sandwich. Not a bad idea, but it would really slow the game down. :D

Thanks For Helping Me Up Onto My Soapbox ...
 

Thanks for asking. I believe that you're the first one to do so. Finally.

I can make an excellent toss. I was tossing jump balls back when we were tossing jump balls more than a dozen times a game, especially in girls games. Jump ball tosses to start each period, at the center circle, and jump balls tosses for every held ball, at the nearest spot, which included circles around the center of each foul line. I was tossing jump balls when coaches actually had jump ball plays, plays when they thought they would win the toss, plays when they thought they would lose the toss, plays near their own basket, and plays at the opponent's basket. I was tossing when coaches taught their players the rules regarding jump balls, making our job as officials easier. I would practice my toss, as we all were instructed back then, by standing under a basket, and tossing up into the basket.

The problem today is not that we're tossing too many jump balls, it's that we're not tossing enough jump balls since the introduction of the alternating possession procedure. Officials, especially younger officials, who only toss a few times a week, don't know how to toss. As the umpire, I hate calling a jump ball back due to a bad toss, I don't want to embarrass my partner. Back in the day, I never had to call back a bad toss, we were all proficient, but today, despite my reluctance to embarrass my partner, I will call back several each season, including two in a row to start a game last season.

The players don't understand the rules, because they're not taught by the coaches, who also don't know the rules, so we see all kinds of weird things happening in a varsity game, that we only saw in a youth level game back in the day.

And this is the most important reason. Because officials no longer administer lots of jump balls, we don't know the rules as well as we used to, and these jump ball rules are difficult, jumpers, nonjumpers on the circle, nonjumpers not on the circle, marked spaces, ready to toss, ball is tossed, ball is touched by a jumper, ball touches the floor, or a nonjumper, etc. Now maybe you have no problems with these rules, but I've seen many officials, especially junior varsity officials, who have no idea what the rules are, and I've seen a few varsity officials who are just as bad, including me. I don't spend as much time studying these rules as I used to because I only get to be the umpire a few times a week, and I just hope that nothing really weird happens, and if it does, that it's obvious enough for me to blow my whistle. Also, interpreters don't spend as much time teaching the rules as they used to, because, we don't see a lot of jump balls anymore.

Other sports use a coin. I know for a fact that they use a coin in football , and soccer. Many officials, and interpreters, agree with me, and this change is presented to the NFHS almost every year, but for some reason, maybe for "tradition", it never passes. On the other hand, to support your viewpoint, I understand that they experimented with coin tosses in Iowa girls games a few years ago, and went back to the jump ball. I don't know why, but there must be some problem with coin tosses.

Again, thanks for asking. Now, please go and pick on Mark Padgett and encourage him to stop saying that he tries to avoid having overtime games. That gets my blood boiling as much as my anti-jump ball stance gets your blood boiling.

He's smarter than the average bear !!!
 

I think that you're confusing Dr. Naismith with Yogi Bear. And, by the way, it's correctly spelled "pic-a-nic baskets".

You're right. I made a Boo Boo. :p

Then, this is for you. Hope it helps.

NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES NO OVERTIMES and, oh yeah, NO OVERTIMES! :cool:

Tossing, Get it ???
 

Fifteen minutes? Come on Mark Padgett. I tossing them to you underhanded. What took you so long?

However, I'm nominating this for the most humorous, nonbasketball topic, nonimage, post of the month. I actually laughed out loud when I read this and startled my cat, Callie, who was in her usual place in front of my computer monitor.