To reach or not reach

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

fiasco:

It is obvious from your posts, that you are either a very very inexperienced basketball official or a troll. I have decided that you are a very very inexperienced basketball official and not a troll. I am not going to tell you my basketball officiating background because there are many many members of this board that will tell you that like the E.F. Hutton commerials of old, when I speak, people listien (at least they humor me and act like they are listening, ).

Now listen carefully, and I do mean listen and do what I tell you. Your first responsibility is to officiate your primary coverage area (PCA), and NOT officiate your partner(s) PCA. I can assure you that with ten (10) players running around on a court that is only 50 ft by 84 ft (H.S. dimensions) in size, you will have all the more than enough to do without worrying about your partner(s) PCA.

With regard to fishing in my pond when you have enough fish in your own pond, you can bet your sweet bippy (Google Rowan and Martin's Laugh In) that the conversation that we have will be one sided and I will be doing talking and you will be doing the listen, and if you still insist in fishing in my pond I have the experience to make the rest of our game a living hell for you. And I can do it while still looking and acting professional.

So get your head and a$$ wired together (ask a Marine what that means) and get rid of the notion that you and only you have the correct call on everything that happens on the basketball court even if it happens in your partner(s) PCA.

Am I irritated with your attitude right now? Yes I am. I just wish that you could attend a basketball officials camp and I could be a staffer at that camp. Your attitude would go over with that camp staffers like a lead ballon.

I will end this lecture at this point.

MTD, Sr.

I may only have 22 years in this game, but when an experienced partner fishes in my pond, I normally respond with a "thank you." It's cause I was screened off or had other duties to attend to.

I hear the 25/75 studies passed around and I can honestly say I hope I pass on the ones that would've been incorrect calls. I do see things in my periphery but hope I have the experience and patience to pass on all those except those that need to be called.

The threatening part of this post I find disappointing, quite frankly. I do not sit and listen to halftime lectures from crusty old vets -- perhaps because I've slipped into those ranks myself without even realizing it. And sometime I am unhappy about a partner and what he does on the floor, but thankfully the game of basketball has a clock and I can spend my energies working the game and then getting out of Dodge as soon as I can afterwards. I'm certainly not wasting my energy on a "lecture" the guy wouldn't listen to in the first place.

[tomegun]

Wow, there sure is a lot of information in this thread. I missed this one because I've been at a camp and them working a "tryout" with pro rules. I only mentioned that because some pro terminology has been thrown around in this thread.

1. The pro game is different from the standpoint of off-ball fouls. Plus, with the size and skill of the players, angles are way more important and I feel that is a reason why officials may call out of what would traditionally be considered their primaries. In these situations, I appreciate the help.
2. There is a difference when talking about the high school or college game where the offenses/defenses require more attention off-ball. Take your best pro official and he/she would not call a college game the same way or it would confuse their partners (who normally do college). There goes part of the validation for comparison.
3. Officials like/love to watch the ball and that is why people always want to find a reason for doing it. For those (of us) officials who understand the fact that you don't call everything you see and you don't see everything, it burns us up when a ball-watcher is recognized.
4. What about team officiating? Everyone can't be the quarterback? Somebody has to do some zone blocking without watching the ball go down field. While all these plays are being recognized to "get it right" who is watching the hen house? How many threads to we have on here about getting a play off ball right? If all your partners need so much help with position adjustments, maybe you should be contacting your assigner, instructional chair or board member.
5. IMO, a good/experienced official knows when to reach and when to leave things alone.

[tomegun]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

I may only have 22 years in this game...

Does everyone realize that the amount of training, local games, etc. can make 5 years the equivalent to 20? Raise your hand it you've ever known an official who thought they deserved assignments because of how long they have been on the board regardless of their skill level. Yep, I thought everyone would raise their hand on that one.

Rich, nothing against you because I don't know you. I just wanted to point that out.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by tomegun

Does everyone realize that the amount of training, local games, etc. can make 5 years the equivalent to 20? Raise your hand it you've ever known an official who thought they deserved assignments because of how long they have been on the board regardless of their skill level. Yep, I thought everyone would raise their hand on that one.

Rich, nothing against you because I don't know you. I just wanted to point that out.

I've seen this work both ways, too. Guys who have 4 years of experience go to a couple of camps and think they're God's gift to officiating. Then something happens on the court and pants are full of poop. I know from my experience in this and a few other sports when to grab a call and when to acknowledge that I may see it, but not *see* it. Reaching across the paint from C at the far post is an example that comes immediately to mind. Unless I am looking through and see something off the wall, I trust my partners saw the play and chose to call nothing.

I only threw the number out to counter-bloviate MTD's post. I'd be more than happy to put my game up against any other little-ole HS official, though. Or are confidence and ego the same thing?

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

I only threw the number out to counter-bloviate MTD's post.

I bloviated on a counter once. But then I had to clean it up. YUK!

[tomegun]

Bloviate: to speak or write verbosely and windily. To bloviate means "to speak pompously and excessively" or "to expound ridiculously".

Thank you for using that word. I would have said, "I only threw the number out to counter the hot air MTD was blowing in his post."

Rich, you are 100% correct. Years don't necessarily indicate how good an official is. When I type something on this forum I often think about a young official reading it. Young(er) officials shouldn't think there is a magical amount of time served to get better games. Every official should attempt to give the assigner no other choice but to give them games. I've moved to several new associations and pissed a lot of people off because they thought I should be treated like a rookie official and they had X amount of years with the association. I don't feel for them one bit because every official has the opportunity to improve and make the assigner's job easier.