3 seconds....THREE SECONDS!!!

[eg-italy]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

I'm always amused at the fans who don't understand the nuance of the rule. Like last night when the ball was being shot, rebounded, shot, rebounded....some joker is SCREAMING at the top of his lungs how we apparently can't count to 3. Girls assistant coach thinks the semicircle above the 3 point line is part of the lane. Another fan wants 3 seconds cause "she was in the lane six seconds" even though the ball was never even in the frontcourt for 3.

Just today: team B steals the ball in their backcourt; B1 dribbles towards their frontcourt, but loses the ball just after having crossed the division line; A1 catches the ball and immediately passes it to A2 who was still in the paint; A2 is guarded by B2, so he passes the ball out to a teammate who shots and scores.

"Three seconds! He has been in the paint for a long time!" a person screams and repeats it many times.

Unfortunately he was not in the bleachers, but in front of a bench; yes, he was team B's coach. Even forgetting that the ball acquired frontcourt status only when A2 touched it, the entire play by team A was not more that a couple of seconds long.

The young officials I was assisting did not T the coach. They T'd him later.

Nice tourney (thirteen year old boys), good basketball, fairly good officiating by 16-18 year old officials (with instructors to assist them from the table, talking with them during time-outs). And there were interesting conversations with coaches about basketball officiating: many of them were eager to know from us what we are saying to the officials and to discuss calls in a friendly manner. Maybe sometimes first with a complaint, but usually understanding the explanations we instructors gave, even during play.

Ciao