Because you made a statement unsupported by rule, and I was attempting to clarify for officials out there who might take you at your word.

It's common practice around here, if you haven't noticed.

All you had to say is "my bad, you're right" and it would have been over. But you and fullor30 are trying to justify why the practice is necessary based on everything but the rule book.

ETA: And you, if you forgot, were the one who questioned my pet peeve. So, why was that so important that you took the time to question something that is fully supported by the rule book?

You know, I've been here a while. You'll never see me getting down and dirty with such minutiae, though. It bores me.

I would rather emphasize to others here that we (1) officiate with the rulebook, not using the rulebook as a script and (2) what is common practice locally is always more important to your advancement and success than what is explicitly written in those books.

Cause in many areas of the country, you'd be the only one not blowing his whistle. In that case, it's not a pet peeve, it's a failure to understand what's expected of you.

Fine, I'll go get the manual. Not that I treat it like a bible, but a rulebook is certainly not going to tell officials when to sound whistles and when not to sound whistles.

Interesting, then, why you started the minutiae to begin with.

Actually, it started with your pet peeve, which I found silly -- if you're keeping score.

That's all well and good, but maybe next time you shouldn't say

because to me, that reads like an official declaration of the way things are, not the way you're told to do things in your area.

If you think doing things according to what the rules say, rather than the way things are done in your particular area is silly, well, then bully for you.

This is entertaining and all....but I'll add my own.

Running the hand up and down the sideline or endline when calling an out of bounds violation. I understand why some do it I just don't care for it.

fiba signals
 

from the FIBA point of view, the Technical foul signal and time out signal are almost identical, many think I have called a T on the coach (at first) when I show the signal and point to his bench.
for those interested, below is a pic location of a time out, a t foul is open palm out instead of one finger but same setup

http://www.fiba.com/images/web/V3_Bb...strative_2.gif

a lot of high school referees, as I have seen, will tap the top of their head to say "under a minute left". That's not in NFHS at all. I did it in a game once, while I knew it wasn't an actual signal, and my partner jokingly asked "were you telling me your head was flat"? That was the last time I used that signal and I tell others not to do that. I'm usually taking a second to look at the clock when the ball is dead.

Because the official, not the clock, indicates there is under a minute left.

:D

I'm sure you will whistle every sub in from now on, too. See page 78 of the mechanics manual.

My point isn't that we shouldn't strive to do things right -- it's just that sometimes certain regions dictate their own mechanics. We aren't changing the rules of the game. Whether regions require officials to give certain signals or not isn't important as long as people are consistent on communicating.

The whistle at the end of the period is not specifically covered. I'll acknowledge that my wording was sloppy -- the period ends on the horn, not the whistle. Adding a toot doesn't change that nor does it make the toot wrong (unless you're in an area where it *is* considered wrong).

We point a finger in the air to alert our partners we're under a minute.

We also give the horns to each other on the 6th team foul and a little sideways two-finger signal on the 9th team foul.

Awareness isn't a bad thing.

Hey, don't drag me into your mud puddle with rich. You brought it up as a pet peeve and I'm telling you what every clinic does around here. I never blew it until I was chastised by a few guys. To me it dots the i's crosses the T's.

We start the game with a whistle, we end it that way. You do whatever you feel comfy with.

Now you've done it. I'm sure someone will say the game starts with the opening tip. :D