Called player running OOB the other night

[Juulie Downs]

fiasco, here's my $ .02. The most important thing with anything borderline is to be generally consistent with other refs in your area, so that a player knows ahead of time what to expect. I work in one rec league where we're supposed to call 3 seconds at 3 seconds regardless. Period. Everyone calls it that way and if we don't we get in trouble. In the high school ball I do, I'd get booed off the floor by other refs if I called that way. There's a much broader interpretation of "illegal advantage" as the operative phrase.

I personally would like to see certain rules called differently than they are around here (like 3 seconds!) but I don't have the authority to make that happen, and until it does, I can't just please my own interpretation. If I only do it MY WAY, it's not fair to the players.

Any rule is fair if it's called the same way for both sides, and if all the players know what's going on. It's one of the things that makes regional and state play-off games a little tricky. Refs and players have more adjusting to do.

If you really strongly disagree with the rules, you should lobby hard to change them, or change the interp that';s used. But you can't just do it your way. I think what Scrapper and M&M are saying is that they have adjusted to their level of play in their area and the way they are expected to call things. You sound like the sort of person who can do the same and learn to fit in. THat's the best way to be a good ref. Cooperation.