Welmer Out; MSU vs KU
 

I guess reffing 52 games in 55 days will catch up to you sometime. Welmer said, "I think I pulled a bone in my right foot. I went to make a cut and something just popped."

It will have no affect on the game since Hightower is on the game and looks out of his primary area all the time anyway.

He looked like he was in pain running during the Wisc/NW game earlier this week. Then again, so did Burr.

Damn you beat me to it.

BTW, the other official is Dan Dorien (from my area) who is has been in the Big Ten for about 3 years. Good for him and his assignment, except for having to work 2 Person under these circumstances.

Peace

This is a great assignment for your friend especially for only being 3 years in the Big 10.

He will have to "step up his game" now that it is a 2-man crew. This could be a huge career builder for him.:)

Fractured foot. Lots of assignments are going to have to be re-filled over the next 2 months.

I'll have my cel phone by my hip at all times. :D

Tom Izzo is mic'ed for the game and when he was told that Welmer was out, it was caught on his mic, and I think it was Izzo saying "just put his a$$ in a chair at center court" I'm sure CBS is not too happy about that.

Gotta say, so far (8 minutes played, second half) they're doing pretty damned well even though the court coverage is a bit "different."

I see he's taken some time off. He worked every day from Nov. 14 until Christmas, including Thanksgiving Day. That's crazy.

Well considering that he has worked a couple of years in the MVC and other conferences before he got into the Big Ten, I am very happy for him. He is also was and is on a staff that I just joined in the Chicago and Northeastern Indiana area this past year. He has been very helpful to me personally and I was very happy to see him on this game. Usually a big name gets that kind of assignment.

My first reaction was, "OMG.....Danny Dorien is on the game." I saw Ed and Steve first and did not recognize Danny, until he got a close up.

I am very happy for him and he is a nicer guy than he is an official. Good family man and I wish him the best.

Peace

Did anyone else notice that Dorien and Hightower were working cadillac position for two man? Is this the CCA mechanic for two officials, or had it just been that long since either of them had worked with two?

I did not see the game much after Welmer was hurt. But having said that, there is no CCA Mechanics book on 2 Person mechanics. And what is "Cadillac" position? There is no such term around anymore and I never really knew what people meant by it anyway. :

Peace

When I reffed in college back in 1993 (or so), cadilac referred to having the players to your right when boxing the players in. If events led you the other way, you would use the next transition opportunity to slide over. Pretty sure this went away mid-90s.

Yup. Since I started in the mid-80s, I can tell you all about it.

You kept the players right (whether lead or trail) always. You would cross over as the trail at the first opportunity. Throw-ins could put both officials on the same side of the court as the lead would administer and the slide over to the other side of the court.

Looking back, it really was about as moronic as it got, but isn't that how mechanics evolve? I wonder what will be seen as silly 20 years from now that we do today?

1. Using one hand to report numbers.

2. Raising our hand to stop the clock on violations.

But how will the timers know? :D

Kansas vs. Michigan State - Recap - January 10, 2009 - ESPN

"The game was officiated for the last 24-plus minutes by two officials because veteran referee Steve Welmer limped off the court with an injured right foot."

Reporting a blarge as a double foul.

So how would it work when there is a double whistle with one official wanting to call a violation and the other a foul?

That is the rule, it is not a mechanics issue.

Doesn't hurt them in the NBA. I also work with (and sometimes resemble) a guy who frequently calls a PC foul with a point in the other direction. No blarges in 20+ years and if I had one it wouldn't exactly be the end of the world.

It's still silly.

Clock will stop automattically due to the sensors in our brains knowing we're going to blow the whistle. Timers will no longer be neccessary.:D

Or, they'll just hear the whistle. Oh wait, that's what they do now.

I can rearrange my schedule.........

1)diasagree, as I'm not good at it!

2)Strongly agree.

My point (literally and figuratively) exactly.

Can You Hear Barbra Streisand Singing In The Background ???
 

Me too. The trail would dictate the rotation. As the lead, you had to get used to different partners. Some would rotate too quickly, they were obviously uncomfortable working opposite, as it was called back then, even if there was a key matchup in their area. Other partners would take their time working opposite. I remember that I had a partner who once who suggested, in a low level game, that we work opposite for an entire period, just for fun. I remember this experience as being surreal (I definitely have been reading too many of mbyron's posts lately).

The same way it works now, the same way it works in the NBA and NCAA.

If there's a double whistle, I raise my hand and you raise your fist, we come together and discuss.

If there's a double whistle, I don't raise my hand and you raise your fist, we come together and discuss.

I bet you weren't good at bouncing the ball to the FT shooter or thrower but you've perfected it by now. :)

Good Idea To Mention This In Pregame Also ...
 

Good mechanic. Rookie officials pleae tazke note.

I dont know for 100% sure but I think the Welmer injury is affecting all levels of college ball. Reason I say this is because I have an NAIA D1 game tomorrow in the Kansas City area and our R has been removed from the game and replaced. Our original R for the game works in the big 12 and was working the K-State vs. Ok game Saturday, so I'm wondering if he had to go fill in somewhere for the Big 12....

Unfortunately, I Do Know What You're Posting About ...
 

You're showing your age. I bet that most of the members of this Forum have no idea what you're posting about.

1. I do not ever see this changing.

2. Might change, but who cares if it does.

Peace

Deaf timekeepers might care. I was taught at a clinic that whistle + hand so anyone deaf or blind could tell what's going on.

Or a timekeeper in a very very noisy gym. Anecdotal evidence: Before I became a certified official I was the timer at the local HS. I distinctly remember one game where we had a packed house and a close ballgame and toward the end a crucial call was made and the only way I knew to stop the clock was because I saw the calling official's hand go up, there was no other way to know, it was so loud.

That's the real reason for it.

Eh, not convincing.

Ball out of bounds, I point, it's as obvious as me putting my hand up.

Archaic mechanic that needs to be put out of its misery. Leave the hand for travels, carrying, other violations.

Putting an arm straight up is very distinct and different from extending one horizontally.

For example, an official starting a backcourt or closely-guarded count when the action is near an OOB line could easily be mistaken for a direction point.

The clearer that the signal is for the timer the better.

By your earlier thoughts, why not skip the raised arm in these cases as well and go straight to the signal for the violation?

As a former clock operator...

When you get down to the end of the game and it is crazy in there, and I'm sitting floor level looking through 10 players, it is quite possible that I could neither hear your whistle or see your point. Especially if its in the nearside corner in front of a bench. But I will see a hand that comes up open above everyone's head.

Typical out of bounds at any point of the game, especially when its obvious the ball is out of play, what's the point? But I wouldn't say its totally unnecessary 100% of the time.

Well said. :)

Better hope I'm not working your game, then. :D

Aren't there college arenas just as loud? Why isn't this a "problem" with them?

Because college officials use Precision Timing Devices, officials stop the clock with a mic that is hooked up to the whistle and start the clock with the starter that is on their belt.

All colleges? Really? And they used them 10 years ago, too?

C'mon, now. The discontinuation of the stop-clock signal was way before the first Precision Time device made its debut.

The NCAA Tournament doesn't use PTS. Do those officials raise their hand?

Sobriety returns to college campuses as the Steve Welmer drinking game takes a sabbatical.

On the men's side, yes they are supposed to.

Ha ha. Ha ha ha.

I have never seen a men's official do this, PT or no PT.

And in the tournament where there is no PT, I haven't seen it either. Where are all the later rounds officials coming from since I'm sure they're being punished for such a flagrant flaunting of the mechanics manual.

Ha ha ha.

Archaic, should be (officially) abolished. Rarely used with the people I work with regularly, BTW.

Here's the youtube video of Welmer telling the coaches what happened... You can clearly hear someone on MSU's bench (whether it be Izzo or a player) say that they should "sit his *** in a chair at half court."

YouTube - MSU-Kansas mishap

i could be wrong, but that sounds like Bill Self making the "put his a$$ in a chair at half-court, that's probably just as good anyways..." comment. trying to make a little joke out of the situation.

They just announced that Welmer has a stress fracture -- he was due to work the Texas/Oklahoma game tonight.

^ Beat me to it... haha.


The announcers just said during the TX/OK game (where Welmer was supposed to be tonight) that Welmer has a stress fracture. Ouch. I hope he gets well soon and can return back to the court! Sadly, it probably means he won't be back in action until next year though as those things suck to recover from...

A negative for one guy is a positive for many others as a large number of assignments are going to be redistributed. Perhaps someone else will shine in an opportunity that he would not otherwise have had.