Ever go a long time without calling a foul?
 

Girls varsity last night. We had 10 fouls in the second half. I remember calling exactly zero of them. Didn't feel like I was out of the game or anything, but I think my two partners called every foul. I did have three or four travels, though, and the table was amazed that I always had the number of timeouts at my disposal like it was some kind of magic trick.

All in all, I think I called three fouls last night and two of them were the first two fouls of the game. Weird.

I've had games like that and have to resist the temptation of blowing just to feel part of the crew. It's strange. A few times I've had quick gun poachers for partners who feel compelled to do it all.

I had a TV game in Chicago area a few years back and it felt like I was in Cadillac all night and barely blew my whistle.

Darned if I was going fabricate a call.

I worked a state championship game about five years ago in which I didn't call a foul until there were about two minutes left in the fourth quarter! :eek:

I believe that my partners combined for only five in the first half.

There just wasn't anything in my area. Sometimes that happens. Of course, I didn't mind. I just took it easy. :D

I had a NCAA-W game last month and it was almost at the 10 minute mark when I had a whistle and that was a double whistle. So, it seems odd and I get nervous when it happens, so I just work a bit hard to make sure I'm not missing anything.

7th grade girls game the other night. 1st period ends and I go to the table to see if everything is in order.

Home book, with 25 yrs experience, looks at me and says, "Look at the scoreboard, I've never seen anything like it." I take a gander. It read all zeros except for 1 foul and the period (1). He then said to me, "That's six minutes of my life I'll never get back." :D

Fast game with alot of activity, but few violations/fouls. (Neither team scored until 3 minutes gone in the 2nd quarter!)

Amazingly, the second half was pretty good and both teams woke up!

I didn't feel obligated to blow my whistle either. But, that was one weird first half!

I also had a GV game about seven years ago in which only one foul was called during the entire game. I should have passed on it too. :o

Plus I was the referee for a U17G soccer game this summer in which one of my assistants signalled for the only foul of the match with less than two minutes remaining. He was absolutely correct and couldn't ignore it.

I've never had a clean slate in either sport.

Two Years ago. AAA varsity girls game. Didn't blow my whistle for a TO OB Foul or Violation until 2:43 left in the 4th. I kept asking my partners if I was missing anything!! Oddly both teams were in the double bonus, but they agreed that all of the action was never near me. Just one of those odd things. Later in the year Karma got me back in game with 60 foul game. We all threw the whistle we were using that nite away!

Was I with you last night Rich? 12 fouls in the first half and I think I called them all but 1 or 2. They were just all in my area. That's the way it is some nights...

3-person for me last night. We had a total of 23 fouls in the game (I just checked the boxscore -- home team 9, visitors 14). 62-27 game, 140 miles roundtrip in the snow.

If we're going to get pummeled on Thursday, I hope my game is wiped out on Friday. My parents are due to fly in and I'd like to meet them at the airport, but I'm not turning my game back :)

Last weekend, I had a 6th grade girls tournament game in which I called only one foul. My partner called zero. He said that was the first time he ever went an entire game without calling a foul. Frankly, both teams played such poor defense there wasn't anything even close to contact. The foul was for a trip, which was somewhat accidental.

I've said this before, but it fits with this thread, so here it is again. On the final Saturday of last season's local kids rec league games, I was working a 7th grade boys game with a young lady who was a HS senior. She'd been reffing for us since she was a freshman. In the entire game, we called a total of 5 fouls. After the game, the losing coach came up to her and said, "5 fouls - that's all? We took a lot of elbows out there." She replied, "You took a lot of elbows?" He said "Yeah." She said, "Then you'd better give them back. We can't have kids going around without their elbows."

His jaw dropped about three feet. I just cracked up. I asked her, "Where did you come up with that?" She said, "Hey - I've been working with you for four years." I felt like a proud father.

If you have worked three person for any lengthy period of time, this happens from time to time. Sometimes things happen completely away from you or every foul your partners clearly have. This has happen to me several times and sometimes multiple times a year. Then you have games where it feels like you have everything. All you can do is not over or under officiate plays just because of that has taken place.

Peace

It was actually a fun game to work. My partners had the same rotation philosophy I have (which is don't be afraid to over-rotate, you can always go back), so it was an actively officiated game. I didn't even think about not calling any fouls the second half until hours after the game.

This is apparently the philosophy here (it's my first season here) as well. I'm getting used to it. Since I've only got a dozen or so 3 person games experience, this is good for me.

Caught in the Slot?
 

Somebody can correct me if this isn't quite true or if I'm delving into hyperbole. But sometimes a person in a 3 man crew can get "Caught in the Slot".

Assuming your crew prioritizes having two men "ball-side", the center can feel that he doesn't have much action to call. Especially if you have two good, clean teams, neither of which is committing fouls on the center's primary side of the court, the center may well not have much to call in spite of the avid attention s/he is giving to primary. Without reporting a foul, s/he wouldn't be switching to tableside. The tableside and lead officials get into a rhythm of switching with each other time after time after time.

This may especially be true if you happen to have two teams, each of whom have set offensive plays only to one side of the floor, which I've seen.

No biggie if you're not getting any calls. As long as you're overseeing your primary.

Anyone else sensed this reason for the situation?

I worked a NCAA-W game about 6 years ago and we had 13 fouls in the first half all by one official all blatantly in is primary areas. So we had two officials looking really had to find a foul for 20 minutes. I did not have my first foul that game until the 13-minute mark of the second half. It is a very strange feeling, but we get paid by the game and not the foul count.