Right, for me, the process of breaking myself of the horrible ball watching habit has been learning not to call what I see when it's in front of my partner. I have made too many phantom travel calls from 35 feet away.

Did your partner take home an equal game check?
Does the "exceptional" official get paid more for the extra calls which you advocate that he should make for his lesser partner?
I don't agree with doing someone else's job.
If you are doing more than your share of the task, then you aren't part of an equal partnership.

This is exactly why you don't go make that long distance call. Your partner had a valid reason for deciding that the action was legal. You have no right to overrule his judgment of the play. Why do you think that your opinion of the action is superior to your partner's? What do we do when two partners see a play differently? How do we decide whose call takes precedence? You seem to think that it is the one who sounds the whistle. I happen to believe that we should defer to primary coverage areas.

Do you really want to know what I would have done had my partner made a such a travel call directly in front of me? :D

If I deemed that the player didn't travel by rule, I would sound my whistle a couple of times and loudly say, "No travel. That's an inadvertent whistle," and then quickly administer a throw-in to the team which had the ball. If that embarrasses the other official, that's too bad. :eek:
I see no reason why he should get to overrule my decision in my primary coverage area simply by putting air into his whistle. The whistle isn't some magical device which makes one correct.


Was that cranky enough for this thread? ;)

I won't be as cranky as Smitty and Nevada, but I'm in the "let it go" camp on this one. It's not a train wreck that needs a whistle to save the game. It's not a player running down the court with the ball and not dribbling that grandpa can see from the parking lot.

BTW, on the 2nd one, I've made this call twice and regretted it both times because I was wrong. I apologized to both veteran officials before they even had a chance to ask me about it.

Don't make me call you cowardly. :D

If I told you to shut up, would I come across as less cowardly?

Yes, we want to get the call correct. BUT, remember: 1) Stay true to your boundary lines; 2) Officiate your primary; and 3) TRUST your partner(s).


Yes, there are times when an official should extend his primary but 99.999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 ,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,9 99,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 ,999,999,999,999,999...% of the time it should be off ball coverage in the same area that your partner has on ball coverage.


AND, DO NOT be a ball watcher.

MTD, Sr.


P.S. I delveloped a great training aid for officials who want to watch the ball and make calls on the ball out of their primary. It involves electrodes and a heavy duty marine battery, :D.

So Pure, It Floats ...
 

Wow. That's higher than Ivory soap, 99 44/100 %.

I would really, really love for Tomegun to chime in on this topic. :D

See paragraph 2 of post #7

It has nothing to do with fear. It has to do with the coach being right.

I couldn't care less what you would do. I couldn't care less if I make you look bad, either. If I see something that you miss, and I'm in position to make the call, I'm doing it. I'd rather get the play right than worry about your ego.

Remeber, "Calls may be made outside an official's primary area, but the primary official should be given the first opportunity to make the call."

And what makes you think I missed the call. Officiate your primary and trust your partner (especially when it involves him making a judgement call on the ball). I won't say anything the first time you put air in your whistle to make a call on the ball when I have on ball coverage; I will assume that you had a brain fart. But if you persist in making a habit it we are going to have a serious one sided conversation very quickly.

MTD, Sr.

Uh-oh. One game suspension for using the words "coach", "being" and "right" in the same sentence. :(

Who knows. Maybe you didn't have a good angle. Maybe you are the one who had the brain fart. Maybe you just plain missed it. But as I said before, if I see it, and it’s not outrageous for me to be looking there, and you miss it, and I’m 100% sure, I’m calling it. I don’t have time to go through all the scenarios as to why you didn’t call it. It just needs to be called.

Trust me, it won't be one-sided. I’ll happily point out that, as I’ve said before, it’s not called your ONLY area of coverage, it’s called your PRIMARY area of coverage. I’ll give you the chance to put air in your whistle, but if you don’t, and I see it for sure, I’m blowing the whistle.

As I said, in my pre-game, I’ll tell you to do the same for me, and at the next timeout, or at halftime, or after the game, I’ll ask you what you saw and say thanks for getting the play right.

This isn't my personal philosophy. This is NFHS by the book. Get It Right, No Matter What.