Ugh!

[dbking]

Your partner must be from KS. I worked a fill in game with ugh. UGH let me know ugh's philosophy as well. I stood behind every call that UGH made, no matter how bad I thought that it was or how upset the coach was, until late 4th quarter, home team down 3 with the ball. Girl is on a dribble drive to the basket.

"Tweet", I am lead opposite. Ugh is trail ball side and table side, aka coach is two steps from UGH. I am expecting anything but not what came out. We had a travel. Coach goes into orbit, "She was dribbling the ball how can we have a travel." Not bad for the coach to know the rule. I went and talked to UGH. I asked her what was the violation. UGH tells me it is a travel. I asked UGH politely if girl was dribbling the ball. UGH said yes! I told UGH we did not have a travel and it would be home team ball on the baseline. UGH was mad. Both coaches were happy that we got the call right. Visiting team coach was laughing at the call.

UGH did not talk to me rest of game. Thank goodness there was only 1:30 left.

I feel better now that I have vented.

UGH must get lots of frequent travel miles!

[ajs8207]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

Call the obvious equals:

Don't make **** up.

Don't look for stupid ****.

Call what you see, not what you think will happen.

You're a second year and even though you don't understand a lot of these principles being thrown at you, they are time tested and work. If you don't understand, ask questions. But don't assume it's ridiculous just because you don't understand it.

Maybe I was misinterpreting it. I was always interpreting it as lets let them play unless something crazy happens, and get out of here as quickly as we can. I guess I shouldn't interpret it that way?

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by ajs8207

Maybe I was misinterpreting it. I was always interpreting it as lets let them play unless something crazy happens, and get out of here as quickly as we can. I guess I shouldn't interpret it that way?

That's right. I tried to put it in nicer terms than Tony given that it's the holiday season, but you are really too new to have a grasp of this or any other basketball officiating philosophy yet. Give it time and stuff like this will come to you.
For now just go out and call what you see.

You did a good thing by coming on here and asking. You will get some helpful answers. You also helped me by giving me a better perspective on the mindset of new official. Hopefully, I can now be a better partner and communicate more effectively when I work with a newbie.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by ajs8207

Maybe I was misinterpreting it. I was always interpreting it as lets let them play unless something crazy happens, and get out of here as quickly as we can. I guess I shouldn't interpret it that way?

No it shouldn't.

Here's my take...

Relax and see the entire play....make no decision the instant the "foul" occurs but make the decision just after it occurs, your choices will improve. By waiting a second or two to blow the whistle, you'll find that some of those "fouls" didn't really matter and things just might work out better for the "fouled" player (and you can simply not call it) OR you'll know that it needs to be called. At the same time, most of the players/coaches will also know the same thing by the time you blow the whistle and will not be surprised.

If you're blowing the whistle as the foul is still occurring, you'll often be anticipating the call because you haven't seen enough of the play to know whether it should be a foul or not....take your time and make decisions, not reactions.

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by ajs8207

Maybe I was misinterpreting it. I was always interpreting it as lets let them play unless something crazy happens, and get out of here as quickly as we can. I guess I shouldn't interpret it that way?

Perhaps there are officials that interpret "call the obvious" as you have stated. But that's not what most us mean when we state it. As you call more games, you will see that there are calls made based on "circumstantial evidence", or what the official "thinks" happened. Those are not obvious calls, and those are the ones that get officials in trouble.

There seems to be a natural progression in officials as they gain more experience. Early, officials may be afraid to blow the whistle. Then they learn to blow the whistle all the time, even for things they think they see, or things that simply look funny. Many of these calls are made because the official is not in the proper spot to see the play. After a while, as they get better, they learn to distinguish what actually is a foul or violation from things that look bad. Those are the obvious calls. Then the really good officials learn about positioning, so they can be in position to see more of the obvious calls.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

There seems to be a natural progression in officials as they gain more experience. Early, officials may be afraid to blow the whistle. Then they learn to blow the whistle all the time, even for things they think they see, or things that simply look funny. Many of these calls are made because the official is not in the proper spot to see the play. After a while, as they get better, they learn to distinguish what actually is a foul or violation from things that look bad. Those are the obvious calls. Then the really good officials learn about positioning, so they can be in position to see more of the obvious calls.

Here's my take on the progression.

1. Afraid to blow the whistle.
2. Call everything, all contact is a foul.
3. Discover advantage/disadvantage and let too much go.
4. Settle into an ever improving balance.

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Here's my take on the progression.

1. Afraid to blow the whistle.
2. Call everything, all contact is a foul.
3. Discover advantage/disadvantage and let too much go.
4. Settle into an ever improving balance.

We aren't that far apart.

Dang, I was hoping to get into a knock-down, drag-out fight.

Maybe I could just yell about you from the other room...

[Adam]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

We aren't that far apart.

Dang, I was hoping to get into a knock-down, drag-out fight.

Maybe I could just yell about you from the other room...

What are you, a coward?

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

What are you, a coward?

Not if you're not actually in the room to tell if it's really me yelling.

Oh, wait, JRut would write me up and report me to the state.

Never mind.

[refnrev]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Here's my take on the progression.

1. Afraid to blow the whistle.
2. Call everything, all contact is a foul.
3. Discover advantage/disadvantage and let too much go.
4. Settle into an ever improving balance.

This is the sequence that ALL of us went through when we first got started... and it does take more than 2 years to go through this.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by ajs8207

On a related note, does anyone find the "call the obvious" philosophy ridiculous? I'm in my 2nd year, and it really throws me off when my partner, almost always senior to me, tells me that we should just "call the obvious." I've had my worst couple games as an official when I've been told that. Should I just ignore that comment, or how do I handle it so it doesn't throw me off?

No I do not. This probably suggests you do not understand what that means. After all you are a second year official and I would assume you have not learned what is "obvious" yet.

Peace

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by refnrev

This is the sequence that ALL of us went through when we first got started... and it does take more than 2 years to go through this.

One guy in our area hasn't gotten past "Stand at mid-court as trail and call at least one 3 second violation from there a game."

And he is not moving up any time soon.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

Not if you're not actually in the room to tell if it's really me yelling.

Oh, wait, JRut would write me up and report me to the state.

Never mind.

I will make sure that a "Special Report" is posted as soon as Monday morning.

Peace

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I will make sure that a "Special Report" is posted as soon as Monday morning.

Peace

Gee, thanks.

[refnrev]

Originally Posted by ajs8207

On a related note, does anyone find the "call the obvious" philosophy ridiculous?

Nope. This is not a direct answer, but these things might help you.
Let me give this a shot. I'll start with some and others chime in

• Don't call it if you don't see it.... not if you think you saw it or if it could have happened... only if you see it.
• Don't get too concerned with meaningless contact... like east-west ticky-tack stuff instead of play impeding the advancing the ball.
• 3 seconds could be a great call or a "clock killer" depending upon the circumstances.
• Just because it looks funny doesn't mean its a travel.
• Watch the defense.
• Over the back does not = on the back or displacement.
• Just because the coach is frustrated doesn't mean they deserve a T.
• Never go into a game looking for a specific foul or violation that you have in mind before the game. Call what you see and not what you want to see.
• Contact can be hard and still be legal.
• 10 players running in a confined area = contact. No way around it.

Add to it friends!