Time Out

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by Cubs Baseball

The scenario we are discussing is: A whistle was blown with Team B dribbling in the backcourt with no real "play" occuring. The official clearly had not granted the time out; he raised his arm with the whistle and before awarding Team A the time out; play stopped. He had two options: Award the time out to Team A or declare "inadvertant whistle"... In my conversations, in polling fellow officials:

It seems the jury is still out; but the ones I have polled said that judgement is huge here. But, inadvertant whistles are part of the game; and that as long as, the pace of play was slow; to use inadvertant whistle. If we blow the whistle during a "play" you will probably have to award the time out and 'suffer the consequences"; but as a whole, the officials I have talked with are not "definitive" in they're opinions.

If the coach requested a TO, and the official blows the whistle to stop play, that official has granted the TO. There is no judgement on this play; the case play is clear that the TO is granted, and it is also an inadvertant whistle. The judgement comes in as to the official not being aware of the situation and blowing the whistle in that case, especially if "the pace of play was slow". If the coach is requesting a TO when they are not entitled to one, the official should simply not blow the whistle, or tell the coach they are not entitled to one at that point.

Simply calling an inadvertant whistle and not granting the TO is setting aside a rule to avoid embarrasment by the official. Too bad - the official should be aware of the game situation and not acknowledged the request in the first place.

I hate disagreeing with a fellow Cub fan, though.